Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans has claimed that the competition for places in the Reds squad this year will aid their title bid.
Jurgen Klopp added the likes of Alisson and Naby Keita this summer, and Evans feels that the club’s fringe players pushing the first teamers for their spots will be a big boost for the team this season.
“I think we’ll be up there with always two, three or four teams that have got a chance of winning it,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Star. “It’s competition for places. You don’t give players a place just because they’re part of your squad.
“Sometimes you have to say: ‘You have to show me in training sessions that you’re better than what’s in the team at the moment.’
“If we get that right it can only make us better and Jurgen is on top of that.”
OPINION
Klopp has certainly demanded that his new players come in and earn their place in the team, that’s for sure. Only Alisson has started all four of the Reds’ games so far this season, while Fabinho has yet to feature at all. Xherdan Shaqiri has had to wait to make an impact, while Klopp sent a message by dropping Keita for Jordan Henderson in the team’s last game against Leicester. The German is clearly happy with the players he had last season, and is waiting for his new arrivals to show they’re worthy of ousting the established stars from the team. This Liverpool side now has at least two good players for each position, which is a sign of a good team. The challenge is for this talented squad to go on and win trophies this season. If they push each other in training every day, like Evans says, then they should accomplish that goal this term.
