How 2024 Can Be A Lot Better For Liverpool
The talent/age balance of Liverpool's squad is suddenly incredibly impressive
While things can always go wrong in unexpected ways, I see various aspects of this Liverpool team that can grow and develop in 2024.
A year ago we saw an old team, huffing and puffing.
Without the sense of a total reshaping of the squad (only four signings in the summer), everything has changed, as I felt would be the case; noting on this ZenDen side-Substack throughout last season about how much young talent there was, and how a couple of top youngish signings could reduce the average age considerably.
This team is ahead of schedule – top of the league as I write, with Arsenal having a game in hand – and is mostly full of younger players.
Only three really key men are aged over 25, and one of those is a goalkeeper at the peak of his powers; while Virgil Van Dijk, and Mo Salah with an altered game, are as good as ever.
This side, more likely than not, will improve and improve, even if progress is never fully linear. I think there is phenomenal potential.
Indeed, bar a couple of exceptions, the Arsenal team the Reds are vying for the title with are perhaps ahead simply on time spent together with fewer new players (and have fewer first-XI absentees), while the Reds remain ahead on the knowledge of how to get over the line.
Man City and Arsenal are still top teams, but on the TTT Main Hub I've outlined in detail what I see as their far greater fixture difficulty in 2024, and their massive risks for fatigue with so many players having already played so many minutes. Both those factors could collide in February, March and April.
Right now, Liverpool are also carrying more key injuries than either side, but I see things as being setup perfectly for a title-challenge, should that situation not worsen, and if things develop as I expect.
Indeed, several of the squad have already exceeded my expectations so far in 2023, with a couple of players far exceeding them.
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