It has been ten years since Liverpool won the League Cup, a trophy which they once held what seemed permanent possession of in the 80s. But Jurgen Klopp will be hoping to overcome memories of a far more recent final: 2016, just over four months after he joined the club and a penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester City.
The German boss has built a habit of overcoming initial disappointments since arriving at Anfield; he took the club to the 2018 Champions League final, lost it, sang about winning it the next year and then did so. A similar story unfolded in Premier League terms, runners-up in 2019 by a single point before winning in 2020. Now he has the chance to right the wrongs of his first final with the club.
At the time, the Reds were just starting to show the hallmarks of that first iteration of Klopp’s Liverpool: energetic pressing, some fantastic attacking phases in games and Roberto Firmino as a crucial, central cog to it all. Times have changed and so has the team; the modern Liverpool is better at both of the former two traits, Firmino is higher upfield and not always in the team - won’t be this weekend either, through injury - and the emphasis of play is far more on control than chaos.
Central to all those improvements are the gradual, but enormous, upgrades in the centre of the park, the rotating cast of three who Klopp expects and demands to be not just a supply line for the attack, but also to act as the most important parts of the defensive structure, the smotherers of opposition hopes and the difference between a great attacking team and a trophy-winning one.
Much of the time the boss has to simply choose between whichever four or five are fit, but right now there are, unusually, eight available options.
It would still be an enormous surprise if the chosen three were not Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara and Jordan Henderson.
The latter, as captain, may have been picked regardless but he has probably won his way into the team of late, seeing improved form while Harvey Elliott tries to recapture full sharpness, Curtis Jones has been in and out and Naby Keita continues his on-off impact. Henderson has had stand-out performances this season - the Merseyside derby springs to mind - but his own form has wavered wildly at times. Right now it’s on the up and he’s an on-pitch lieutenant for the manager.
But it is the other pair who have been constants when available, and more importantly constants in seeing Liverpool emerge victorious.
The midweek 6-0 thrashing of Leeds saw Thiago make his 50th appearance for the club since joining from Bayern Munich; there’s still a struggle to keep him at full capacity on a regular basis but his fitness looks to be being well-managed for now. It’s important that continues as trophy season approaches.
In his debut campaign on Merseyside, he and Fabinho shared nine games together starting in the midfield line-up; the Reds won eight and drew the other.
They did both feature in the XI on a further seven occasions, but that came during the period when Virgil van Dijk and Co were all sidelined - Fabinho lined up in defence for those. The Reds won none of them.
This season, it’s ten wins from ten when both the No3 and No6 are in Klopp’s starting midfield.
In those fixtures, Liverpool have conceded precisely one goal, scoring 28.
It isn’t a coincidence that they have a 95% win rate together.
In Thiago, the Reds have a player who not only exudes style on the ball and dictates the tempo, but who is among the very most elite in the game today in doing so effectively: He ranks fourth in all of Europe among central midfielders (with more than 700 minutes) for final-third entries per 90. Those ahead are fulcrums in domestically dominant teams: PSG’s Marco Verratti, Real’s Toni Kroos and former Bayern team-mate Joshua Kimmich.
The forward line wins games for Liverpool with frequency, sure, but they are able to do so because of the quality and consistency of the supply.
Klopp’s side often seem to keep teams under relentless pressure even after an attack breaks down; part is the forwards and their high press, but the other part of it is the ‘net’ which they loop around the area of the pitch they are attacking. The midfielders are key here, and the positional play and aggressive stance of Fabinho and Thiago in particular have proven incredibly difficult to bypass. The forwards cannot press effectively if the gap to the midfield line isn’t perfect; that in turn makes it far easier and more frequent for teams to go direct without pressure, behind the full-backs, causing the defence trouble. It’s a knock-on effect of slow midfield positional play, and Fabinho and Thiago are masters at eradicating that problem.
It’s also overlooked how good they both are in the air - only the centre-backs better the duo for aerials won per game in the Reds’ squad.
And so they head to Wembley, near-certain starters and up against a Chelsea side whose midfield zone is also one of their great strengths when all are fit and functioning.
This should be the 20th time Fabinho and Thiago pair up in the centre, and the most meaningful match so far.
If they produce another showing as stellar on and off the ball as they have been doing of late, there may be little Chelsea can ultimately do to prevent the third part of the Reds’ midfield triumvirate from lifting the trophy at the end of the afternoon.
