da wazamba： It has been a fantastic season on the pitch so far for Liverpool this term.
da gbg bet： The Reds are currently 22 points clear at the top of the Premier League table, and are still unbeaten in the top flight after 25 matches. Their lead at the top is the biggest margin in the history of English’s football elite division. Not only that, they have also already won the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup, and they are still in with a chance of winning both the Champions League and FA Cup as well.
No clues: Can you name the season these iconic Liverpool images belong to?
Off the field, too, there are plenty of positives. According to The Athletic, Liverpool are set to announce a record revenue for when they publish their financial accounts for last term, whilst their state-of-the-art new training facilities should be ready to use by the start of next pre-season.
The building includes two gyms, a large indoor sports hall and a swimming pool amongst plenty of other things, but there is one interesting Klopp decision that could have a huge influence on the club’s youngsters. The Athletic says that the training ground has been designed so the academy players don’t automatically have access to designated first-team areas. This, they say, is because, “the manager wants them to have to earn the right to be allowed into that side of the building. That is the next step they have to take through hard graft.”
Back in the day, academy players had to earn respect. Most youngsters would have to clean the boots of a senior player, for example. Now, though, according to Premier League footballer Seamus Coleman: “I don’t know if young players, have got that same — it’s not level of respect as they are respectful — they’ve just been mollycoddled a bit through the academy, it’s all they’ve ever known: good food in the canteen, state-of-the-art gyms, their kit washed for them, their socks put in their kit, grown men having to do their laundry after games for them, they get all that done for them.”
Klopp is bang on the money to effectively segregate the younger players from those in his first-team squad. Reaching the senior side and competing with the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah for a spot in the starting XI should be the absolute pinnacle, and the possibility to train with them should not be given unless you have proven yourself at a lower level first.
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When you hear of some teenagers earning mega-bucks – The Daily Mail reported in 2014 that Andreas Christensen, then 18, was earning £20,000 a week despite never playing for the first team – you do wonder what they have as a carrot, what do they have to reach for? Klopp, though, is showing here that it isn’t a plain-sailing path to the top. He can’t always decide what players get paid, but he can do certain things to keep those youngsters hungry. For this, the 52-year-old deserves respect.
Meanwhile, this former World Cup winner says Liverpool will not have it as easy next year.