Jürgen Klopp will no longer be the coach of Liverpool FC. The farewell will be emotional and possibly very successful – four titles are possible. Klopp has already given the club a gift that is priceless.
Of course Conor Bradley remembered. There was a lot of space in front of him, he said. He received the ball and then, yes, he just shot it, flat into the corner. This is how it happened, the first Premier League goal in the career of right-back Bradley, 20, whose most urgent tasks do not include scoring goals.
In the win against Chelsea FC, Bradley not only scored one goal for Liverpool FC, he prepared two goals and also defended very resolutely. So it happened that club employees later looked after him. That Bradley talked about it all, the goal, the emotions, his connection to LFC. He said: “A dream came true.”
Conor Bradley – suddenly important for Liverpool
The story of Conor Bradley is one that reveals a lot about football and the times, sometimes a strange interaction. Last season, Bradley played on loan for Bolton Wanderers in League One, England’s third division. Big football was far away. And now, almost half a year later, big football is not that far away. Bradley is now a part of it.
When he returned to his training club Liverpool in the summer, this was not foreseeable. Not just because Bradley was injured in his back. He didn’t get fit until months later. But also because Trent Alexander-Arnold actually plays in his position for the “Reds” and has for many years, and he often plays very well. But when Alexander-Arnold was injured in January, Bradley was fit and suddenly important. He played two Premier League games, scored one goal and prepared three goals – things can sometimes happen that quickly.
On Sunday (February 4th, 2024), Liverpool FC as first in the table (51 points) will play in the top game of the Premier League against third-placed Arsenal FC (46 points), the sports show shows a summary of the encounter. And it is not unlikely that coach Jürgen Klopp will call Bradley into the starting line-up in this game too.
Alexander-Arnold is back, he made his comeback against Chelsea. But Klopp is no longer under pressure. He has Bradley. And Alexander-Arnold can not only defend at right-back, he can also play in the center of midfield.
The sporting upheaval is Klopp’s legacy
Jürgen Klopp will leave Liverpool FC in the summer after almost nine years. The club will miss him, as a coach and as a person. Because he shaped Liverpool into a top team again, because he won titles, because he might win more. The championship, the FA Cup, the EFL Cup and the Europa League – everything is still possible. It would be a great achievement.
Klopp has already given the “LFC” a farewell gift, even though he is still there. He mastered a sporting upheaval, replaced deserving players and integrated new ones. He has formed a team that plays Klopp-style football but can also be successful without him. That is his legacy.
It was like that: last season was a disappointment. Liverpool finished fifth and missed out on the Champions League. Attacker Roberto Firmino’s contract expired and he left for Saudi Arabia. Midfield strategists Jordan Henderson and Fabinho also moved there, and Liverpool received a lot of money for them.
The new signings like Wataru Endo (VfB Stuttgart), Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig) and Alexis McAllister (Brighton & Hove Albion) also cost money, they cost a lot of money. But they are already shaping Liverpool’s game and they could play together in midfield for a few more years.
Klopp says of Bradley: “He did great”
But Klopp not only put expensive footballers together into a team, he also developed those who didn’t cost a lot of money. Who moved to the “Reds” as very young players or were even trained there. Curtis Jones, 23, is an example of this.
Last season wasn’t his, he only got better towards the end. Only then did he play as he had done before. Then you could see again why Jones was considered a future international player for a long time. This season he took the next step. Most recently, he was in the starting lineup five times in a row as a central midfielder.
And then there is Bradley, the right-back, who also sometimes scores goals. He is the surprise of the past few weeks. After the win against Chelsea, when Bradley also assisted two goals, Jürgen Klopp was also sometimes asked about him. He said: “That was very, very good. The goal he scored – the whole performance. He did a great job.”