There’s that old saying in life that success breeds success, but at football’s cut-throat top table it can create problems too.
For a club like Liverpool, success leads to more games to be played – be it in domestic cup competitions or on the continent.
Throw into the mix a ‘nuisance’ like the Africa Cup of Nations, and you can see why managers like Jurgen Klopp can be so frustrated by the fixture pile-up that can ensue over the festive period and into January.
That’s just one of the reasons why Klopp has taken a dim view of the FA Cup in recent seasons – a competition he considers to be of lower-grade importance when compared to the Premier League and Champions League. Hence the Reds have not gone past the fifth round in any of the last five seasons…
A well-taken strike from Kaide Gordon 🤩
The moment he became our second-youngest ever scorer ⚽️👏 pic.twitter.com/XFZwkLdbo1
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 10, 2022
But change could be afoot. While it’s not suggested that Klopp’s view of the tournament is warming, he now has a stronger squad to call upon – quality fringe players and those with promise are very much the order of the day. The online betting site Paddy Power has the Reds posted at odds of 5/1 to lift the FA Cup this term, and that could yet prove to be excellent value.
Flash Gordon
One of the perks of FA Cup participation for Liverpool fans is that they get to see the next generation of talent in action when Klopp makes his customary sweeping changes to his starting eleven.
One of the brightest of those emerging is Kaide Gordon, who found the net in the third round of the competition against Shrewsbury in January. That goal, and his overall performance, was enough persuasion for Klopp to describe the winger as a “special” talent.
Gordon could yet prove to be just the tip of the iceberg. Tyler Morton (19) is so trusted by Klopp in the defensive midfield role that he was entrusted to start a key Premier League game against Tottenham in December. A young talent with incredible maturity in a particularly tactical role, Morton has already completed 90 minutes in the Champions League against AC Milan and FC Porto.
Caoimhin Kelleher (23) has already usurped Adrian to become Alisson’s goalkeeping understudy, Conor Bradley (18) has become a full Northern Ireland international and Max Woltman (18), born and bred in the Wirral, has played in both the FA Cup and Champions League this term for the club.
Joe Gomez (24) and Curtis Jones (20) are hardly footballing dinosaurs either, and in an era when big clubs try to hoard talent by splashing out huge sums on new players, perhaps Liverpool can hark back to a bygone era when teams were staffed by those who had shown promise in reserve team action.
Either way, the future is certainly bright for Liverpool – the FA Cup representing the perfect platform for their promising hopefuls strut their stuff.