Liverpool took plenty of people by surprise this season by cruising to the Premier League title. However, Paul Scholes says he saw the signs from early on.
Despite many attempts to underplay the achievement, it is a matter of record that very few people fancied Liverpool at the start this season, as it embarked on the transition from Jurgen Klopp to Arne Slot. None of Sky Sports’ 40 pundits tipped the Reds for the title.
Yet with four games to spare, Liverpool has won it for the 20th time, moving level with Manchester United. For Scholes, things have been looking ominous for a long time.
“I actually thought Liverpool would have a chance of winning the league when I saw them playing at Old Trafford back in September,” Scholes wrote in his TNT Sports column. “I know that Manchester United aren’t in the best shape, but I was really impressed by what I saw from Liverpool.
“There are goals all over the team and I thought if Virgil van Dijk and Alisson stayed fit, they’d stand a great chance. Even though Alisson missed a few games, Van Dijk was still there and winning the league is an amazing achievement.”
Fitness has been an important factor for Liverpool. When you consider that Man City has been without Rodri all season, and Arsenal has been trying to close the gap without a recognized striker since the turn of the year, that much becomes apparent.
Yet that’s no fluke. Slot’s injury prevention record was a factor in Liverpool’s choice, with Richard Hughes sent out to the Netherlands to secure the club’s top pick to succeed Klopp.
And of course, Slot has still had to find ways to get the available players performing on the pitch. He has been doing that superbly since day one, and the win at Old Trafford was as good a demonstration as any.
(Image: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
It was a performance of minimal fuss. Liverpool took three shots on target and scored them all, courtesy of Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, without ever looking especially troubled in a defensive sense.
Yes, this was hardly a vintage version of Manchester United. But it’s a fixutre that can never be taken for granted — as Slot himself experienced in the reverse encounter, which ended in a disappointing 2-2 draw, despite the gulf between the two teams having grown even wider by that point.
At Old Trafford, Slot turned up and imposed his style and game plan, despite being mere months into his tenure. It was a stark contrast, with Man United seemingly still drifting following Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, a succession of coaches having been unable to create any real club culture.
Identity, quality and availability is always likely to be a potentially title-winning formula. Scholes saw it early on, and he was proved completely right.
