By Steven Northover
With the league season in full swing (albeit after one game), attention turned to the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, and to this year’s draw for the League Phase of the Champions League.
Liverpool, having just scraped into the competition at the end of last season, will be somewhat confident with a draw that will mean playing both Atletico Madrid and Porto at home - in what will be Andoni Iraola’s first taste of European football.
Villarreal and Lens will also visit Anfield, whereas the Reds will look forward to a return to the San Siro to play Inter Milan. Yet another return to Istanbul to face Fenerbahce - a team Liverpool have never actually played in the competition before - and Glasgow Celtic’s eventual conquerors LASK, with a visit to Belgium and Club Brugge somewhere in the middle.
The adage of ‘there being no easy games in Europe' may be true - but there are certainly more difficult run-ins - Manchester United, for example, have to contend with Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Sporting CP on their return to the table of European football for the first time in four seasons.
But enough about them; does Liverpool have the ability to progress given those fixtures?
The short answer is yes - LASK needed a monumental performance against a lacklustre Celtic to progress into the League Phase, whereas Atletico Madrid - in a similar vein to Liverpool - may have qualified for the competition, but we're still over 25 points behind d La Liga champions Barcelona.
Moreover, a decent performance in the League Phase does not necessarily equate to a decent run into the latter stages of the competition. Liverpool ‘won’ the league phase two seasons ago, before being dumped out by eventual winners PSG - despite finishing eighth.
On top of this, despite an increase in games and teams within the Champions League at this point, eleven points (or three wins, two draws, and three losses) will almost certainly guarantee progression into the next stage - even if that is into the qualifying round before the third round proper - roughly the same as the group stage format from several years ago.
That is all to say, qualification from the League Stage has never been an issue for the Reds - there is an argument to say that as a ‘bigger’ team, Liverpool are almost garunteed a place in the knock out rounds, given how the current format is weighted towards those teams (the top eight going through to the knock rounds, with teams placed 9th - 24th entered into a two legged qualifying round), and nor should it be.
So if qualification is ‘likely’ as opposed to ‘certain’, what would be a success for the Reds this season?
It's always tempting to say ‘to win it!’ but given the shortcomings in the first team this season (even with the imminent arrival of Bradley Barcola), they seem a long way off, at least for this season.
Indeed, as with the Premier League, this season appears to be one of transition, as the squad moves on from Arne Slot’s patient, measured style of play and towards Iraola's aggressive attacking football that the fans (and players) have been calling out for.
All the while trying to mend the holes left by the departing Mo Salah, Andrew Robertson and Ibrahima Konate.
So, if Liverpool do qualify for the knockout stage, what would be ‘success'?
Given that the Reds have routinely qualified for the Round of 16, invariably getting as far as the quarter-finals, and on occasion getting to the final, success may not be based on finishing position, but how they get there.
Last season, for example, Liverpool were knocked out in the quarter-finals against eventual winners PSG; however, we're often criticised for unimaginative football, which preferred cautious build-up over attacking flair - losing 1-0 to Galatasaray in the group stages and again in the last sixteen (before turning the tie around in the second leg at Anfield) were key examples of that.
Put simply, in Europe, to do ‘better’ than last season, Liverpool need to play in a manner that the fans feel like they want to be there, and have a manager that is looking to beat teams routinely.
Given the mood music, even this early into a season, it seems like the Reds have that - now is the time to prove that it's true.
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