Keita and Minamino point to the future
It wasn’t just about ticking the last remaining box and drawing a line under a memorable campaign for Liverpool.
With the Premier League trophy finally nestled snugly in the trophy cabinet, Jurgen Klopp used the end of the season to offer a taste of what might come next quarter with five changes.
It was a well-deserved start in a row for Naby Keita, Liverpool’s true winner since the season resumed a month ago.
This has been a key period for the Guineans, whose consistency and availability have finally ended any debate over whether he can cut it off with the Reds. He can. And now only durability can stop it.
Equally encouraging was the performance of Takumi Minamino.
The Japan international has been largely employed by the middle or the right when he has been given opportunities since his arrival in January.
But to the left, Minamino shone, regularly cutting into his right foot, connecting well with midfield and Andy Robertson and taking a brilliant save from Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka with a fierce shot.
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Like Keita, he demonstrated good strength when necessary and an appetite for hard work. Minamino seems to belong.
With Neco Williams improving after a shaky first quarter and Curtis Jones busy when he showed up late, the indicators for next season were clear.
Salah knows where he is better
Mohamed Salah, the wonder of the three seasons.
Once again, the Egyptian has finished the campaign as Liverpool’s top scorer.
Only the width of the post kept him from recording a 20th league goal for the third straight season and becoming the first Reds player to do so since Roger Hunt, some 54 years earlier.
And while Salah was joking around a bit in an interview this week when he indicated he didn’t know what the future holds, don’t be fooled.
He knows where he thrives the most, in a Liverpool team that is set up to make the best of himself and fellow forwards Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
All three were brought in shortly after the hour with the Reds already in the lead, and played properly with Newcastle’s defense in an almost ruthless manner.
Salah was further denied by a block and his own poor touch, Firmino opened his box of tricks and moves and passes without looking, while Mane appropriately scored the final goal of the campaign in an effort to finish with 22 in all competitions. – One less than Salah.
The introduction of Firmino and later Trent Alexander-Arnold from the bench meant that the duo joined Virgil van Dijk in every game, the first time in 36 years that three field players had accomplished that for Liverpool in the same season.
And Van Dijk also became the first player since Robbie Fowler in 1996 to always be present in consecutive league campaigns, his big equalizer header is a good way to mark achievement.
All eyes on Edwards and company
So, about 352 days after kicking a ball in the Premier League, and more than a year after their preseason preparations began at Tranmere Rovers, the Liverpool campaign has come to an end.
In truth, there were many within the club who feared that this moment would not come, such was the null talk during the blockade caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
This has been a season unlike any other in many ways.
And, for some, it will be the last in Liverpool.
Adam Lallana had already been fired earlier in the week, while Dejan Lovren’s absence underlined that his career at Anfield had been run, Zenit St. Petersburg the next stop.
They may not be the only ones, with doubts about Divock Origi’s long-term future, despite a characteristic departure in which a brilliant lens was the highlight of a frustratingly inferior demo, while Xherdan Shaqiri has hardly been seen in the past 18 months.
The focus will now be on the transfer window, which opened a few hours after the final whistle at St James’ Park.
How Klopp, Sports Director Michael Edwards and Fenway Sports Group better decide to keep the momentum going and reinforce next season’s trophy challenge will be of great interest beyond Merseyside.
Goodbye, then, to the 2019/20 campaign. The new season starts here.
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