5 players who are lucky to be playing for Liverpool

Liverpool are flying pretty high right now – they’re chasing for a top-four spot in the Premier League for the second season running, and they’re also in the last sixteen of the Champions League. Since taking over in October 2015, Jurgen Klopp has done a pretty stellar job, and only a fool would now deny that the Reds are back in the hat of genuine title contenders.

However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t carrying a handful of players that – no offence intended – are lucky to still be able to pull on the famous red shirt of Liverpool. Whether it’s down to injuries, a playing style that simply doesn’t fit the system that Klopp deploys, or other issues, the following five players should probably be thankful every time they run out on the pitch at Anfield.

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#1 Simon Mignolet

Simon Mignolet is clearly the weakest keeper in the Premier League's top six

Sir Alex Ferguson once famously claimed that a genuinely great goalkeeper is worth around fifteen points a season, and if you look at the other teams in the Premier League’s ‘big six’ then that certainly makes sense given the calibre they can boast. Hugo Lloris, David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois are amongst the world’s best keepers, Petr Cech is still an extremely dependable pair of hands, and while Ederson is still somewhat unproven at the top level, he certainly looks the part right now. The same can’t be said for Liverpool’s #1 Simon Mignolet.

It’s not that Mignolet is an outright bad keeper – top teams have carried far worse in the past – but in comparison to Liverpool’s rivals he just doesn’t cut the mustard. A year ago, Klopp began to lose faith in the Belgian and dropped him in favour of Loris Karius, but he soon restored Mignolet to the top spot and to be fair to him, he’s started this season decently and hasn’t dropped any major clangers yet. But it could be argued that a better keeper may have prevented Liverpool from conceding 25 goals so far – the second-most of the Premier League’s top six.

Given that very good goalkeepers are available at the smaller clubs of the Premier League – the likes of Jack Butland, Kasper Schmeichel and Tom Heaton, for instance, and one extremely good goalkeeper in Jordan Pickford actually signed for Liverpool’s Mersey rivals Everton in the summer – it’s a surprise that Klopp has kept faith with Mignolet for as long as he has. And given Liverpool haven’t been linked with any goalkeepers despite having the huge windfall from the sale of Philipe Coutinho, the Belgian can certainly consider himself lucky to be keeping his spot.

#2 Daniel Sturridge

Daniel Sturridge doesn't seem to fit Jurgen Klopp's playing style

In terms of actual talent, you can’t really question the skills of striker Daniel Sturridge. Many people would argue that he’s the most natural finisher in England – even ahead of Harry Kane – and in 2013/14 he was simply outstanding, scoring 21 Premier League goals in 29 games alongside his equally deadly partner Luis Suarez. But since that season he’s struggled to replicate that form, or come anywhere close. And it’s not due to the loss of Suarez, as he’s shown flashes of brilliance since, but it’s more due to his fitness and his playing style.

2014/15 saw him injured for the majority of the season and he only made 12 appearances in the Premier League. The subsequent two seasons have seen him feature a little more – 2015/16 saw him appear 14 times, and he increased that to 20 in 2016/17, but 13 of those appearances last season came from the bench.

His goals have dried up too – a meagre three in the Premier League was his return last season. The problem for him has largely been that Klopp employs a far different attacking style from his predecessor Brendan Rodgers, meaning that fleet-footed forwards like Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have been preferred to the England striker.

Sturridge is still a tremendous natural finisher – witness his goal for England against Wales at Euro 2016 – but his injury problems and the form of his rivals (Mohamed Salah, in particular, this season) have restricted him to the point where realistically, he’s lucky to still be part of the squad at Anfield. And with current rumours flying around that the club will be looking to offload him this month – and the suitors probably coming from outside of the Premier League’s top six – his luck may well be about to run out.

#3 Dejan Lovren

Dejan Lovren had a shocking game against Tottenham earlier this season

When Croatian international Dejan Lovren signed with Liverpool in the summer of 2014 in a deal from Southampton, he brought with him a reputation as one of the Premier League’s strongest defenders. Three and a half seasons on and that reputation has suffered greatly. But despite being blamed for a large majority of the goals Liverpool have conceded since he signed, he’s still largely been an ever-present for the Reds, whether it’s been alongside Martin Skrtel, or more recently Joel Matip or Ragnar Klavan.

Earlier this season he put in what was largely considered one of the all-time bad Premier League defensive performances in a 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, and found himself substituted after 31 hapless minutes. And yet despite this, for the most part, he’s still been Liverpool’s first-choice centre-back this season.

Admittedly, Matip and Klavan haven’t exactly looked solid themselves this season but when your own manager is having doubts about you – Klopp said that he could’ve done better himself at Wembley in a pair of trainers – you’re lucky to remain at your club.

Liverpool have recently splashed out a world-record fee for a defender -- £75m -- to bring Virgil van Dijk to Anfield, and given that he started alongside Matip in his first game, it could suggest that it might be curtains for Lovren, at least when it comes to being a regular starter. But even since the sale of Philipe Coutinho, Liverpool haven’t been linked with any other defenders in this transfer window at least, meaning Lovren should be lucky enough to be pulling on the red shirt for some time yet.

#4 Jordan Henderson

Some observers are unsure what Jordan Henderson adds to Liverpool's midfield

It seems strange to suggest that Liverpool’s club captain could count himself lucky to still be at the club, but to be honest, that’s exactly the case when it comes to Jordan Henderson. Despite showing a lot of potential a few seasons ago – he was a key player for Brendan Rodgers in 2013/14’s title challenge – the more Henderson plays, the more questions invariably end up being asked of him. Namely, what exactly does he add to Liverpool’s midfield? Sure, he covers more ground than most midfielders, but that simply doesn’t make him an effective player.

He’s not the most creative midfielder and certainly won’t be able to fill the hole left by Philippe Coutinho, who will likely need to be replaced with a similar player capable of picking open a defence. He’s not a bad holding midfielder, but his performances there for England have always been lacking due to his slow ball turnover, and in all honesty, Georginio Wijnaldum and Emre Can have both performed better than him in that area. And the amount of times he misplaces a pass in a doomed attempt to look like the second coming of Steven Gerrard is simply sad.

With Klopp clearly unafraid to drop his captain – he was left out of a key Champions League tie with Spartak Moscow recently despite being fully fit – and constant questions being asked about exactly what he does in the Reds’ midfield, Henderson should certainly consider himself lucky to remain a key player at the club, let alone their captain. He should also consider himself highly lucky to still be a part of England’s squad, although that’s another article entirely.

#5 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could consider himself lucky to be a Liverpool player

This one’s a bit different because where the players previously mentioned have all been part of the Liverpool squad for some time now and should consider their longevity lucky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a brand-new Jurgen Klopp signing – one who should quite honestly consider himself lucky that he was signed in the first place.

Klopp spent a monstrous £35m to bring the England international over from Arsenal, who must’ve been rubbing their hands together given he wasn’t a key player at the Emirates and only made 16 appearances in Arsenal’s starting line-up last season in the Premier League.

Since arriving at Liverpool his form has been patchy at best. He’s done better since settling in, as the beginning of his career at Anfield was simply disastrous, but he’s still only started in 7 Premier League games since his move, bringing into question exactly why Klopp was willing to part with so much money for him in the first place. He’s clearly got talent – he was pretty fantastic when he burst onto the scene some six or seven years ago – but it just feels like Chamberlain’s lost his way somewhat and is still struggling to find it.

When he moved to Liverpool the word was that he’d moved in order to get a chance at playing as a central attacking midfielder, as he’d always been deployed by Arsenal as a winger or a wing-back, and for England, his holding midfield displays had been awful.

With the sale of Philipe Coutinho he may end up being given his chance, but the fact that he’s at Liverpool in the first place means that he’s a lucky player – after his most recent performances for Arsenal, it seemed far more likely that one of the Premier League’s smaller sides would move for him. If he fails at Liverpool in the long run, that may yet happen.