Is It Finally Liverpool's Year?

"This year is our year". A sentence uttered by the majority of Liverpool fans at the beginning of a new season, and is also a sentenced mocked and laughed at by the majority of the footballing world every season. However, this year those often 'deluded' fans might actually have some logic behind their words. In this article I'll be analysing Liverpool's chance of a first Premier League title.

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Influence of Klopp

Since Klopp took over one of the most iconic clubs in world football from Brendan Rodgers last October, he has done a lot more than just change the style of football The charismatic German has brought a fresh of breath air and has injected the Liverpool faithful with a re-discovered passion and belief, something that was defiantly lacking in the Hodgson, Dagleish and Rodgers eras. This passion has been reflected on the pitch by the players and there is no doubt the passion from the stands has pushed the players harder, this was evident in there outstanding result against Borussia Dortmund last season.

Klopp deploys a high pressure tactic, it has so far worked well in both the Premier League and in Europe, rushing the opposition and pressing them into mistakes, a tactic he used during his 7 year stay in Dortmund. Klopp won his first honour at Mainz 05 where we won promotion to the Bundesliga, a league he went on to win twice with Dortmund. During his time in Germany he also won two DFB Pokal cups and German football manager of the year awards twice as well.

One thing that will put doubt in Liverpool fans heads about 'the normal one' is that he is prone to finishing as a runner up. Jurgen Klopp has lost his last 5 finals including two in his first season at Liverpool ( the capital one cup final against Man City on penalties and the Europa league final against Sevilla, a game in which they were simply outclassed). So as good a manager as Jurgen Klopp has proved he is, if Liverpool are finally going to win the Premier League, the club and the manager need to stop bottling it.

Potential of New Signings

Liverpool are linked with big players every transfer window, but too often don't sign any top class or proven talent. The likes of Markovic, Carroll and Downing all turned out to be huge flops who had a lot of money spent on them and if Liverpool are to win the title next season, the players they sign this summer need to perform from the off.

Liverpool have already signed 3 players this summer, goalkeeper Lorius Karius from Mainz 05, centre back Joel Matip from Schalke 04, and Serbian international Marko Grujic from Red Star Belgrade. Karius, the 22 year old German, has been brought in as the new No.1 keeper', to the relief of many Liverpool fans who feel Simon Mignolet isn't good enough to be the first choice goalkeeper. The highly rated Cameroon international defender Matip is another probable starter for next season, standing at 6'5 and being athletic he seems perfectly suited to premier league football. Marko Grujic seems to be one for the future, but with a signing like this you can never predict what they'll do.

Many players have been linked to Liverpool, but for me, a few of these really standing out. One of these is Mario Gotze. The 23 year old German is a well known name in football worldwide after scoring the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final. He made his name at Dortmund under Klopp, and after a disappointing season at Bayern Munich, a reunion between these two doesn't seem that unlikely. Alvaro Morata is another big name being linked with a move to Anfield. The 23 year old Spaniard has won the Champions league at Real Madrid and has since won the Serie A at Juventus. With Daniel Sturridge being injury prone and Divock Origi still being inexperienced bringing in a top class striker could be a smart and possibly vital move from Klopp. Southampton's Saido Mane is another being linked with a move to Liverpool this summer. He has premier league experience and at 24 years old is not at all past his best. He also beat Robbie Fowler's record for scoring the fastest Premier League hat-trick, so maybe a move to Merseyside is written in the stars.

Young Talent they already possess

Liverpool historically had top talents come through their academy over the years. During the 90s players such as Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and most well known Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard. Unfortunately for the Liverpool faithful during the 2000s it dried up with Martin Kelly and Jay Spearing the most famous names graduating in that era, evidence that this was a decade the Liverpool academy would want to forget. However, in the last six years it has picked up. Raheem Sterling, an England international (although a pretty dreadful one admittedly) and the most expensive English player ever at £50 million, all at only 21 years old, not a bad bragging point for the academy set up. Players in the squad now include, Jordan Ibe, Jordan Rossiter, Shey Ojo and John Flanagan. Along with the other young players in the squas such as the new keeper' Karius, one of the best attacking midfield players in the league with Phillipe Coutinho, the electric Belgian Divock Origi and one of Germany's best young defensive midfielders in Emre Can. Mixed with a manager who has been heavily praised for intergrating young players into the first team, the future looks bright for Liverpool.

The Belief

If Wales can get to the Semi finals of the European Championships and Leicster City can win the Premier League then why can't Liverpool win the Premier league. A question many fans should be asking because anything is possible in football. With the backing of (in my opinion the most passionate fans in England) then a young and talented side should be able to win the Premier league. Although it's not the best and most constructed argument, it's still a good point.

Combine this with the other Premier league title contenders next year, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs and Leicester.

Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City have arguably have a handful of the best managers in the world, however, Conte and Guardiola are new to English football so it wouldn't surprise me if they took a season to adjust. Mourinho is bigged up a lot but he failed at Chelsea less than a year ago so I am confused why everyone thinks he will be the Mourinho of 10 years ago all over again. Arsenal and Spurs always bottle it full stop, so no need to worry about those and I really can't see (even though I really want to) Leicester repeating last years incredible season.

Writing this article has actually changed my opinion from 'Liverpool fans are still deluded' to 'I can actually see them wining the league'. Only time will tell but these Liverpool fans can really believe this season.