Highlights
- Liverpool’s lackluster performance against Arsenal gives Arsenal a chance to reignite the Premier League title race.
- Xabi Alonso is the frontrunner to replace Jurgen Klopp as the manager of Liverpool, with interest also from Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
- Alonso’s style of play differs from Klopp’s heavy-metal, counter-pressing style, focusing more on controlled, short passing and a three-man central defense.
Liverpool’s tepid performance at the Emirates Stadium handed Arsenal the flame to reignite the Premier League title race, Jurgen Klopp’s side engineering their own demise in an error-laden display.
Still top of the table after 23 matches (though this will change if Manchester City win their game in hand), Liverpool are firing on all cylinders and in good positions across the three cup competitions too.
Klopp has rebuilt the Anfield side after last year’s struggles and the new manager, whoever they will be, has the instruments to fashion illustrious success, but securing the right name is, of course, paramount.
Liverpool’s search to replace Jurgen Klopp
Numerous names have entered circulation but there’s little question that Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso is the frontrunner, with Fabrizio Romano hinting that the Spaniard is in pole position to succeed Klopp’s legacy.
However, FSG are not alone in their interest, with struggling Chelsea losing patience with Mauricio Pochettino and seeking to replace him with Alonso, according to French outlet Sports Zone; Liverpool and Bayern Munich are also named suitors.
Why Xabi Alonso is perfect for Conor Bradley
Liverpool will fight fiercely to give Klopp the glittering swansong he deserves but more important is the replacement to sustain the fluency built over many years.
Alonso is working wonders over in Germany and has created a truly special team at the BayArena, with Leverkusen currently first-placed in the Bundesliga – though Bayern Munich lurk ominously behind by two points – and undefeated across all competitions.
Stylistically, he does differ from Klopp while still maintaining an attractive and enterprising approach. Liverpool’s heavy-metal, counter-pressing trademark has blown opponents away on countless occasions, but Alonso – who won the Champions League and completed 210 appearances for Liverpool as a player – focuses on controlled, short passing, favouring a three-man central defence.
While Liverpool would need to adapt, undergoing a liminal process of sorts in the 42-year-old’s maiden days at the helm, the squad as tactically astute and brimming with first-class talent and there is no reason why Alonso could not implement his ideology, having been praised for his “extraordinary” work with Die Werkself by Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi.
Should he stick with three at the back, the style could bring the best out of Conor Bradley, who has enjoyed something of a meteoric rise over the past month.
Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up a knee injury just shy of one month ago in what handed Bradley the keys to the right-back position, and having now scored one goal and supplied five assists during January, he has been heralded for his “superhuman” start by The Redmen TV’s Jack Gill.
|
Liverpool: Most Assists 23/24 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
# |
Player |
Played |
Stat |
|
1. |
Darwin Nunez |
35 |
11 |
|
2. |
Mohamed Salah |
27 |
8 |
|
2. |
Trent Alexander-Arnold |
28 |
8 |
|
4. |
Conor Bradley |
9 |
5 |
|
Source: BBC Sport |
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With such blistering pace, dribbling prowess and an innate ability to wreak devastation on opposition defences, Bradley could slot into an Alonso system without seam, buttressed by the extra man in defence.
Given that Alexander-Arnold is destined for a future in the centre of the park, Bradley may well find that the right channel becomes his own in the years to come and it is now vital that Alonso is secured to take hold of this talented squad and continue the illustrious success.
