Premier League 2018/19: SWOT Analysis Of Liverpool

LIVERPOOL - Opportunities

Alisson Becker's arrival

Alisson could make Liverpool genuine title contenders

Jurgen Klopp sanctioned the purchase of Brazil international goalkeeper Alisson from Roma in a previous record £67m deal.

While eyebrows were raised over that figure being expended on a goalkeeper, the truth is that the amount of money available to clubs means that such figures will become commonplace (as evidenced by Kepa's subsequent record purchase by Chelsea), and there's nothing we can do about that. Moreover, that is beside the point.

The goalkeeping area was one aspect that had given Klopp a lot of headaches over the last three years, as neither of his first-team goalkeepers could find any sort of consistency meriting the first choice shot-stopper of a top European club.

Both Simon Mignolet and Lorius Karius took turns in committing laughable schoolboy gaffes, leading to numerous dropped points in the league for Liverpool. If league errors were not bad enough, each also had their horror moments in cup final games with Mignolet costing Liverpool in the League Cup final against Man City in 2015, while Karius infamously handed Real Madrid two goals in the Champions League final only three months ago.

Alisson's arrival will help address that, as he is an extremely confident goalkeeper, who can be depended upon to bail his team out with world class saves, coupled with the marked improvement of their defense since Virgil Van Dijk's arrival.

It is a known fact that title-winning teams are mostly built on having a good goalkeeper, and Alisson is as good as they get, being referred to as the 'Messi of goalkeepers' by Roma Sporting Director Monchi.

A world-class goalkeeper could pull off saves worth at least 10 points in a league season, and those saves could be the difference between achieving the season's objectives and failing to do so.

In Alisson, Liverpool finally has a dependable goalkeeper that could aid in their title-winning quest.

New arrivals

Liverpool are the Premier League's highest spenders in the just closed transfer window, spending a total of £182.2m on new arrivals such as Alisson, Naby Keita, Luis Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri.

All of these transfers are important arrivals, and strengthen areas of weaknesses for The Reds. Shaqiri would be a useful addition off the bench as backup for Liverpool's terrific front three, Naby Keita's energetic style of play will bring grit into the engine room of midfield, while Luis Fabinho is a multi-functional utility player adept at playing numerous positions, and as touched earlier, Alisson is an absolutely necessary addition.

With the good piece of business Liverpool have done in this market, if all the players live up to expectation, all the missing pieces of the puzzle may have just come in place for Liverpool to finally achieve something.

Virgil Van Dijk's presence

Virgil Van Dijk is Liverpool's defensive marshall

After a prolonged transfer squirmish lasting two windows, former Southampton skipper Van Dijk finally arrived Anfield in January for a record fee for defenders of £75m.

The 27-year-old Netherlands international is a natural leader, and on his Liverpool debut in the Merseyside derby could be heard shouting orders and organizing his defensive teammates in scenes not seen in a long time at Liverpool.

The club showed marked improvements defensively upon his arrival, with The Reds conceding 21 goals in 22 Premier League matches before his arrival, but just 12 in 16 after he came to Anfield.

Van Dijk is a calm and calculating defender, and this trait would help keep the rather irrational and impulsive Dejan Lovren in line. All great title winning teams are built on a solid defense, and in Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool have a long-yearned-for quality defender who could aid them in their Premier League quest.