On Thursday, we face Augsburg in the second-leg of our Europa League encounter, a game which will hopefully produce one of those special Anfield European nights. Three days later we face Manchester City in the league cup final at Anfield South, a game which has consequences beyond the immediate task of winning the competition: a cup win can propel a young, developing squad into a team capable of domestic dominance; that first taste of silverware can be the catalyst needed to transform a team into a bastion of invincibility – a feat everyone at Liverpool wants us to achieve once again.
The Europa League encounter will be a challenge, of that there are no doubts. Augsburg are doing remarkably well for a club of such origins, and they displayed their ability and endeavour against us in Germany. Colloquially referred to as the ‘mini Dortmund’, they press, hustle and aggressively harass their opponents in a manner similar to that of Jürgen Klopp’s former side. Our boss will need to ensure we counter such tenacity with aggressive pressing of our own if we are to prevail.
If we are to beat Augsburg, the prize at stake is a place in the last 16 of the Europa League, a competition which has become more sought-after over the past decade. A quick look at the teams left in this competition and it becomes clear there is real quality: Fiorentina, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, FC Porto, Tottenham, Athletic Bilbao, Marseilles to name a few. These are all teams capable of competing in the Champions League; obviously with the exception of Pass-The-Ball-Backwards-United. Nonetheless, Klopp is right to consider the competition as a mini Champions League, and success would be excellent progress for building on next season.
Moreover, the winners of the Europa League are rewarded with a place in the following season’s Champions League. Hence, given our deficit domestically, realistically the Europa League presents our best chance of competing in next season’s European creme de la creme. Perhaps Klopp should prioritise the Europa League over Premier League games: it is extremely unlikely that we are going to secure a top four finish, and so does it really matter whether we come 6th or 7th in the League? Who reminisces about such mediocre domestic campaigns? The Europa League on the other hand offers two prizes: the competition itself and a Champions League spot. Maybe, we should reserve our top players for the Europa League and rotate our domestic squad – a reversal of the normal approach.
Looking beyond to Sunday’s fixture and we have the chance to get our first trophy in four years. The League Cup and Liverpool go hand-in-hand, it is practically our competition and that is the mentality the team should adopt. City may be the footballing class of the oligarchy, but we are the famous Liverpool: we have won the League Cup 8 times before. However, past success counts for nothing on the day, and we need to approach this fixture like we have previous meetings with City. Our record against them is rather good and we do best when we dominate the ball and get in their faces. City may be able to buy almost any one in world football, but they can’t buy the ball and Liverpool should remember that and get on top of the game from the off-set.
How Klopp shapes the team for the final will be interesting. I personally would stick with the approach that brought us success at the Empythad this season. We deployed a very narrow formation that day, with a strong spine running through the core: this prevented City from playing the ball through the middle and somewhat stifled their most creative players. The route of our success that day was so obvious however, that one would expect Pellegrini to adapt his team to prevent events repeating themselves. We should also expect a better performance from City on the day this time round.
Regardless of how we approach the final, the aim is clear. Aside from generating a spine-tingling atmosphere, there is not much we fans can do to influence the outcome of the game. But there is one thing we can do: enjoy it; this applies to the Europa League fixture too. Supporting Liverpool is an up-and-down experience, but this, a European night at Anfield and a cup final is what its all about.
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