The Premier League season kicks-off today and we’ve already done preview pieces with fans of Arsenal, City and Chelsea. We ran this feature a late this year, so the vast majority of Premier Leagues clubs are left out, but that will be amended as the new campaign hits fifth gear.
The conclusion this series of articles I spoke with Liverpool fan David Ryan. From Ireland, David travels to and from Liverpool games regularly, and has built a reputation among friends and locals for sorting tickets whenever available.
Unlike fans of later generations, this Liverpool fan has not been spoilt with success. But that doesn’t stop him cheering on his club every year, which, is admirable when you have c*nts at Old Trafford that will be wearing a replica shirt belonging to another club next week.
Anyway, Liverpool continue to sign mediocrity as they fail to attract big names. Nothing has changed despite that scruffy prick Klopp taking charge.
You can follow David on Twitter. Thanks for answering the following questions.
Supporter Q&A
I find it mind boggling that Liverpool fans were buzzing about their run in the Europa League last season – very much the highlight of Klopp’s first campaign as Anfield boss – yet you all pretend as if no European football is now a good thing. Surely you would prefer to be in more competitions than focus on a domestic title Liverpool won’t be winning?
The thing about the Europa league last year was that from February onwards we almost resigned to the fact that winning the Europa League was our best chance of getting Champions League Football, and it turned out to be that way.
The fact we beat United and won an extraordinary tie against Dortmund added to the whole hype, it was a great few months for a Liverpool fan.
I wouldn’t say no European cup is a good thing, we would bite your hand off to be in the Champions League, but we definitely believe we have a better chance qualifying for that tournament via a top 4 spot rather than playing Europa League again and travelling to the back arse of Europe on Thursday nights which is a hinderence.
Despite talk early this summer linking Coutinho with a move to PSG, Liverpool have kept hold of the Brazilian and strengthened the attacking department with Mane. Who will be your main treat this season?
Keeping little Phil was a must, the lad is a typical Brazilian, tricks, flicks and is well able to finish (as seen in OT last March).
Bobby Firmino also seemed to hit form in patches last season, need him to become more consistent this year.
Bringing in Grujic, Wijnaldum and Manè has bolstered our squad big time, Grujic has really shown glimpses of class in pre-season scoring a few great goals. Manè is the one that I’m really looking forward to seeing what impact he will make, I was at Wembley last week and the man is lightning and also got a good goal.
From last years squad we still have Lallana, Origi, Ings, Markovic (back from loan), Ojo (a younglad from the academy) and of course Daniel Sturridge. Even though our squad has a lot more depth this season, the latter mentioned can be the difference between us making a big push and hopefully pushing for some sort of silverware or not, it’s the big question that kills us all, can he stay fit?
Klopp has fans on his side but so did Rodgers, who had Liverpool very close to winning the league title. That changed quickly so how can the German prevent that?
Rodgers gave us some great memories but when King Luis departed the ship seemed to sink a small bit. I think the thing that irritated Liverpool fans the most with Rodgers towards the end of his reign was he never publicly criticised performances and seemed almost happy even if we had been outplayed by a team destined for relegation. He always mentioned great ‘character’ shown and ‘passion’ when really there was nothing.
No one shows ‘passion’ better than our man Jurgen Klopp, I think he fits the bill perfectly, since day one Liverpool fans fell in love with him, he brought a new lease of life to the whole club. He also instilled belief and confidence into players that were lacking, the likes of Lovren and Origi have come on leaps and bounds since his arrival.
It goes without saying that we need silverware. Klopp guided us to two cup finals in his first year, if he can do that again, and hopefully bring one back to Merseyside this year we will be happy. If the man can somehow bring home the Premierleague trophy to Anfield I think I would die a very happy man.
Overall if he keeps doing what he’s doing, improving players, improving our chances of winning silverware and keeps that passion on the sidelines he will be loved at Anfield.
Can Liverpool break into the top four this season? Give us your prediction.
I think with Klopp at the reign and with the signings made we can definitely make a break through.
With the exception of both Manchester clubs, the other ‘top’ teams haven’t made a massive impact in the transfer window, and I believe with Klopp 1st full year in charge he can put the belief in the squad that we can make a push for top 4 and who knows after that. We now seem to have more attacking options than we have had in many a year.
We shown under Klopp last year that we can bother the big teams home and away it’s a matter of finding that consistency.
I think the top four will be:
City
Chelsea
Liverpool
Utd
What department needs strengthening?
The one position we are crying out for is a left back. As most people know, Moreno is liable to do anything, he is alright at going forward but the lad is limited at defending and can often mistake him for a headless chicken.
Hector from Köln is the man we are looking for, being linked with him all summer but hoping we can sign the German international before the 31st of August.
How do Liverpool fans in 2016 find the club’s owners?
In fairness to The Fenway group haven’t been the worst to us following what we had before them. Their transfer policy has caught us out in the past alright but it seems to have steadied since Jurgen came in.
They attempted to raise ticket prices last season but following protests (As I’m sure ye are aware of) they scrapped their idea and froze ticket prices. Thankfully be have an additional 9,000 seats this season in the main stand which was badly needed. We’ve been waiting along time for an extension to Anfield but slowly but surely we’re getting extra seats.
And finally, people said Klopp would attract big names. That’s not being the case and he’s already made excuses for it. Why?
I’m not so sure about him not attracting big names, with the way the transfer market is gone you have to be smart with your cash instead of going splashing massive money on players. Klopp has always being excellent at this.
In the past Klopp, especially with Dortmund has bought players that might not have raised eyebrows but turned them into some of the most gifted and talented players in the world. Lewandowski, Hummels, Gundogan were all purchased for a total of 10M, while Aubamaeyang was bought for in the region of 10M. These are examples of players bought that mightn’t have been ‘big names’ at the time but certainly are now. We are hoping the same for the coming season or two.
