During Jurgen Klopp's near seven-year stay at Anfield so far, plenty has changed.
Firstly, there is a new £50m state-of-the-art training ground for senior players. Anfield's capacity has increased thanks to an impressive build on the Main Stand and there have even been alterations to the personnel who make up Klopp's coaching staff.
Even so, to some supporters, these may appear to be minimal, insufficient tweaks that the average follower may fail to take notice of.
However, one transition that has been anything but ambiguous during that seven-year span has been the change in Liverpool's style of play. From the relentless 'heavy-metal' football during the early days of the German's tenure to the more considered, self-contained practice during Liverpool's crusade to becoming champions of England for the 19th time. Klopp has always ensured his side continues to evolve, year-on-year.
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It's a belief he shares with close friend and Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders, who believes it is vital that an ounce of 'unpredictability' is added to the side's makeup ahead of each season. It's a mantra that explains the rationale behind the decision to spend a potential £85m on the services of Darwin Nunez earlier this month.
The deal was signed and sealed just weeks after Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti revealed how straightforward it had been to prepare for the Champions League final against Klopp's men as a result of their distinct style of play.
"I think it helped that Liverpool were easier to decipher than the others because they have a very clear identity and we could prepare the way that we did," said the Los Blancos boss.
“We knew what strategy to take, don’t give them space behind the defence to run into. Perhaps our football wasn’t extraordinarily beautiful tonight on an aesthetic level, but playing out from the back to incentivise their pressing wasn’t a great idea. We had a few more long balls, then when their press in our half of the pitch lessened, we got to control the ball more especially in the second half.”
Following the decision to sell Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in January 2018, a 4-3-3 set-up has always been the go-to formation for the Reds ever since. It's a system that has been assembled on the durability and tactical awareness of the three central midfielders, who are required to plug gaps in a bid to allow the expansive full-back pairing of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson to make their mark further up the pitch.
But even after four years of such a prosperous system, which has brought domestic and continental glory, Klopp and Lijnders refuse to slack. Which was amplified by Lijnders, who - when speaking after the arrival of midfielder Thiago Alcantara in September 2020 - explained why high-calibre additions are crucial in allowing the team to take their game to the next level.
"Thiago also needs time to understand our game but we also need to understand and use the skills of Thiago," said Lijnders.
He added: "There will be different timings, different passes, different dictation of play. We have to stay unpredictable and Thiago gives us unpredictability from the spine of the pitch."
In an era where Liverpool have sensationally amassed 90+ points on three separate occasions in the Premier League, only for such an extravagant tally to be deemed worthless in two of those campaigns due to the existence of Manchester City, being able to add unpredictability to their ilk during the off-season will only enhance their chances of competing for the game's greatest honours.
For instance, last season's evolution centred around the areas that Alexander-Arnold and Robertson obtained during attacking phases, with Liverpool's 23-year-old scouser finding himself involved in more central positions than the previous overlapping ones he had taken up during his imminent post-academy days.
There was even a mid-season tweak to the positioning of Sadio Mane - who uncharacteristically went eight league matches without scoring between November and January - but an intelligent, subtle shift from the left-hand side to a centre-forward role saw Mane finish the campaign with one of the finest spells of his Anfield career. Managing eight goals in his final 13 league outings for the Reds.
But, ahead of the upcoming season, another development could be enforced in the forward department following the 30-year-old's departure to Bayern Munich earlier this week, as Liverpool mourn the loss of one of Europe's finest partnerships.
During their time as team-mates, Mane and Mohamed Salah were without a doubt two of the finest finishers in the Premier League, with the pair netting 195 league goals between them since the summer of 2017. It's a return that was harvested by Klopp's revolutionary deployment of wide forwards in his gegenpressing-centric 4-3-3 system.
However, the arrival of Nunez, coupled with the exit of the Senegalese forward, could allow Klopp to revert back to his favoured 4-2-3-1 set-up next season. A system that successfully transformed his Borussia Dortmund side from the nearly-men of German football into back-to-back Bundesliga champions.
The prospect of a return to that system is boosted by how impressively Nunez led the line for Nélson Veríssimo's Benfica side at the tip of a 4-2-3-1 formation during April's Champions League quarter-final tie at Anfield, on a night where his dominant showing grasped the attention of all those who entered the turnstiles.
Despite facing a much-rotated backline, the 23-year-old impressed while up against Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate as he ended the night having won 50% of his aerial duels and 67% of those that took place on the ground, according to FotMob.
As well as proving to be a persistent thorn in the side of Liverpool's defence all night long, the Uruguayan's ability to link-up play was eye-catching as he repeatedly brought his team-mates into play from deep and subsequently moved Benfica away from their rigid defensive shape and into more advanced areas. Making Liverpool sweat during the closing period of the game as they just about held onto their 6-4 aggregate lead.
And while it appears that Nunez will become the focal point of Liverpool's latest revolution, it's not to say that Klopp and Lijnders will completely tear up their blueprint from their past four years of working together on Merseyside.
Of course, it's a system that has led Liverpool to domestic and continental kingship, but the addition of their new No.27 will certainly ensure the Lijnders' promise of unpredictability is met as the Reds target Premier League glory in the upcoming campaign.
The unpredictability of Nunez's game extends to him being able to operate out on the left-hand side, or even his ability to play centrally off another striker. With all of Liverpool's current forwards - except the long-serving Roberto Firmino - all being cut from the same inverted-winger cloth, the addition of the Benfica talisman will undoubtedly hand Klopp an extra dimension over the coming years as his side continues to battle against their remarkable Premier League rivals, Manchester City, for the biggest honours on offer.
But for now, with the latest Anfield additions, Lijnders will undoubtedly be happy.
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