2019-20 Liverpool Season Preview

This season preview will read a lot like the last. Because this season should look a lot like the last. Which, as I suspect you remember, is very much a good thing.

I mean, Liverpool probably won't get 97 points again – a total only two sides have ever surpassed. Real Madrid's three-peat from 2015-16 through 2017-18 is the the only time there has been back-to-back Champions League winners in the last 30 years, since AC Milan in 1988-89 and 1989-90.

Doing those things again is gonna be hard.

That said, if you've spent your summer complaining about Liverpool's lack of transfers, you probably shouldn't have. For multiple reasons.

Sure, there's the sanity aspect. Sun being good for everyone and all. Your favorite internet basement clichés. But more importantly, Liverpool really didn't need to add anyone. Honestly. Not after what was spent and who was signed in the previous two or three windows. Not after what Liverpool accomplished last season, which seems to feel mostly sustainable; Liverpool ran hot at both ends of the pitch at times, but neither xG nor xG allowed was a ton different than actual goals scored and conceded. And not with a handful of players already on the books expected to play far bigger roles this season.

There ain't a whole lot of room for improvement. There are marginal gains to be made, to be sure, but continuity and cohesion are the priority.



The only surprise is that Liverpool failed to sign a back-up left back after Moreno's exit, but Klopp's gotta be happy with Milner and Gomez if needed. He's definitely happy with Gomez to play at right back, and Clyne's gotta still be at the club for a reason. And for what it's worth, both Adam Lewis and Yasser Larouci had runs in preseason too.

"Like a new signing" is often nonsense, but Keïta, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gomez, and Origi will all play more minutes than last season, and some by a vast difference. Three of them are between 24 and 26 years old, while Joe Gomez turned 22 a couple months ago. Plus, Adam Lallana, which, whatever, he exists and is squad depth. I'd be surprised if Shaqiri didn't see more minutes as well. And I'm setting the over/under for Rhian Brewster's minutes at what Origi saw in 2018-19: 585 minutes.

I will be surprised if Keïta or Oxlade-Chamberlain don't become close to regular starters, taking a decent amount of minutes off either Henderson or Wijnaldum or both. Last season, Klopp compensated for a lack of creativity and goals from midfield with both fullback involvement and that front three, but it was still one of the bigger concerns. Not that any of Klopp's sides over the last few seasons have featured goal-scoring or table-setting midfielders; Oxlade-Chamberlain's five goals and seven assists in the PL and CL in 2017-18 are still the high-water for a Liverpool midfielder in the last four seasons. But it would be another helpful arrow in the quiver.

And yeah, you can probably find more talented players than Origi, Shaqiri, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Brewster – Liverpool's primary attacking back-ups – in the transfer market. But Liverpool aren't paying £40m or more for back-ups to this XI, and – tweaks, injuries, and questions in midfield aside – this is the XI.

Plus, it really is a reasonably deep side. And, more importantly, it's a side that's found the tenuous balance between being in relatively young and/or in its prime and being both settled and experienced.






Liverpool have the same players, many of them peak age, after a 97-point domestic season where Liverpool won the Champions League. Liverpool will play the same formation and style, with few tweaks to the starting XI, at least at the beginning of the season.

All but eight players who'll probably feature this season were either signed or promoted from the Academy by Jürgen Klopp. Lallana, Lovren, and Clyne don't much count at this point, while Firmino, Milner, and Origi have all played the vast majority of their matches – and vastly improved as players – under this manager.

13 of 25 players listed in the "When Did They Debut?" graphic have made more than 76 Liverpool appearances – two full league campaigns – but only five have made more than 150 appearances, with only Henderson above 200.



10 of Liverpool's 11 projected starters are between 24 and 29 years-old, with Alexander-Arnold still only 20. Aside from the 33-year-old ageless miracle that is James Milner, Liverpool's primary backups are 22 (Gomez), 24 (Keïta, Origi), 25 (Oxlade-Chamberlain), and 27 (Shaqiri). All of them have been at the club for at least one full season, if not longer.

Liverpool had the youngest average squad age in 2017-18, and the fifth-youngest in 2018-19. I suspect they'll be slightly higher up that table in this season.

Reasonably experienced but still reasonably young. Still with a bunch to prove, yet already having won the most prestigious trophy in European football.

It is very hard to find that balance.

Even Liverpool's fixture list isn't too bad, although it'll undoubtedly be made harder by some very congested periods.




October into November will be tricky, and December and January have some less than fun matches back to back to back – especially since the Club World Cup's gonna truly mess December up – but there are few stints where you go "oh crap." Which, again, is a lot like last season.

Injury or act of Fowler aside, Liverpool will remain very good. But so will their peers.

Tottenham clearly look like improving, adding Ndombele, Lo Celso, and Sessegnon, whether or not they sell Eriksen today. Spurs made the Champions League final and finished fourth, and probably would've finished third if not for the European distraction. I am curious how they adjust to new faces after going nearly two full seasons with the same XI but they're still probably the third best team in the division, and the biggest threat to leap-frogging Liverpool.

Chelsea and Arsenal remain in periods of adjustment. Chelsea's on yet another new manager and lost Hazard but added Pulisic and remains Chelsea and who the hell ever knows with them. It's Year Two for Unai Emery and Arsenal's spent a pile of money on Nicolas Pepe but still has that defense, even if Tierney and David Luiz should make it both better and more amusing.

At least we still get to point and laugh at Manchester United, who could well be passed by one or two from Everton, Wolves, West Ham, and Leicester if they start the season poorly.

And Manchester City are still Manchester City. That fucking team. Liverpool were one point off their insane pace last season thanks to millimeters and goal-line technology. Liverpool start this season one step behind yet again, losing on penalties in the Community Shield after controlling the majority of the match. Like Liverpool, they're mostly peak age. Agüero, Fernandinho, Otamendi, and David Silva are getting up there but Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Jesus, Sané, Laporte, Ederson, Rodri, Stones, Foden, Zinchenko, and new signing Joao Cancelo are all 25 or younger, while Gundogan, de Bruyne, and Mahrez are still only 28.

Sigh.

It will be a hell of a challenge to usurp City. But Liverpool remain the best placed to do so.

So, that said. I've a bit of housekeeping.

This'll probably be the last thing up on Oh You Beauty for a while.

A few of you already knew. More may have guessed, especially when I went an entire summer without writing – although an almost complete lack of transfers probably didn't help.

It's been almost 13 years. Nearly 2400 posts. I don't even want to guess how many words.

There is an insane surplus of writing talents around these tubes these days. And that certainly wasn't the case two, five, ten years ago.

Andrew Beasley remains one of the best stats writers. Grace Robertson is my favorite "new" writer, putting in great Liverpool work in a bunch of places. Kristian Walsh has a hell of a group getting going at Liverpool.com. I am thrilled that the good folks at The Liverpool Offside are still around. There's Anfield Index, there's The Anfield Wrap.

There will be good information and analysis on the internet and I may even write some of it. Just not every week. I will still be on Twitter, making terrible jokes that I demand more of you laugh at. And I might throw something up here, or for somewhere else, from time to time. But no more deadlines, no more weekly infographics or match reviews. At least for now.

It's time to actually enjoy a season. Because we're probably going to damned well enjoy this one.