Naby Keita: Liverpool Trying to Improve on Last Year

Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Echoing the sentiments of others at the club, Keita doesn’t just want to be remembered for that one Champions League triumph.

Objectivity is difficult to come by in football. We all have our own biases, our own Red/Blue/etc-tinted glasses through which to view things on and off the pitch; the exact same challenge is either a stonewalled penalty or totally acceptable contact in the box, depending on who is wearing the correct badge.

But objectively, Liverpool fans cannot possibly expect more from the lads in Red than last year’s 97-point league point tally and a Champions League triumph. It’s a points haul that should have won them the league. And winning the European Cup will make last year’s squad club legends, regardless of what else they accomplish.

And yet, we do want more. It’s an absurd request to top 97-points (whilst presumably also competing to defend their European Champion status), but that’s the world we’re now living in. According to Naby Keita, who appears to be in contention for today’s match—despite coming off with a knock the other night—the team is also looking to break their own records.

“That’s the goal we all set ourselves as players, as a club and as the manager too,” Keita told the club’s official website. “I believe we will remain focused and calm and continue to make progress.

“We know we have players who like to beat our own records. We know what we achieved last season, but we’re not going to just look back on that achievement with any sense of complacency – we’re going to try to do even better than last year.”

Well, if we do one better in the league (whether that takes 98 points or 107), while also competing for other trophies, this squad of players that Klopp has assembled will truly go down as club legends.

This rendition is arguably already as good as the “golden era” from the 70’s and 80’s, but without the requisite trophy haul, there will always be caveats and asterisks attached to the squad.

There’s still a long way to go, but league games against Aston Villa and Manchester City, as well as the Champions League tie against Genk midweek, will be important steps along the way, if Keita and the Reds achieve what they want to achieve this season.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com