Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 5-2 Norwich City

It will go on.

Jurgen Klopp’s impact on this club and this place will not end in May this year. 

He has left an indelible mark on Liverpool that means that he will forever be connected to the place and his impact will always be felt.

And you see a performance from Conor Bradley today. Liverpool have found another bright talent. He is superb today and the best performer on the pitch.

It’s players like Bradley, who are so young and have so much time ahead of them, that will be part of Klopp’s legacy.

What he leaves behind.

Jarell Quansah has yet another good outing and he’s one that has shot to fame this season from being a relative unknown. 

Whoever comes into the club this summer will be dealing with a squad that is in a remarkably healthy place in terms of dynamics, ability, balance and sustainability.

Klopp is leaving and no-one is happy about that - the man is the best the club has had in generations, he has delivered things that couldn’t have even been dreamt about previously - but arguably his greatest act for the club will be handing it over in such a flourishing state.

A squad bursting at the seams with incredible talent and world-class players but underneath it, a line of precocious young players who could prove to be very useful.

I can’t think of any manager anywhere who’ll have taken over a squad in a better place than whoever Klopp’s successor is.

Bradley’s performance is just another tick next to his name. He is your classic full-back and the biggest compliment I can pay him is that he looks like a right-footed Andy Robertson.

Having Robertson back is good news for the team and for Joe Gomez, who has done superbly at left-back, but now doesn’t have the same pressure on him. 

Bradley’s work for the second goal is so similar to Robertson. It’s reminiscent of what Robertson does for his own goal against Red Bull Salzburg in 2019.

Does well to win it on the touchline in his own half, finds Diogo Jota and plays a neat one-two with him. Suddenly the field has opened up for Bradley and he drags Ben Gibson and Kenny McLean out of position before feeding Darwin Nunez with a perfect through ball.

Nunez applies the finishing touch with an incredible degree of calmness and it feels like he’s starting to hit his stride in the last few weeks. He hits the post with a beautiful curling effort early on and is once again everywhere.

Eleven goals and ten assists this season. He’s not the finished article but he’s a real prospect for the new manager to work with.

Back to Bradley and he caps his performance - which features five tackles and four recoveries - with a second assist, volleying Luis Diaz’s unnecessarily ostentatious cross back into the box and into an area for Ryan Gravenberch to head home.

Three assists in a week for Bradley and he has covered supremely for Trent Alexander-Arnold this month. There’s obviously a long way to go but there’s the makings of a mature and capable player there.

He isn’t the only academy product starring, with James McConnell’s first start for the club going as well as could’ve hoped. He makes the first goal with a gorgeous floated cross to Curtis Jones.

McConnell tires as the game goes on but has a good hour or so where he doesn’t look out of place. I’d have liked to have seen some of Bobby Clark from the start today but McConnell specialises more in that DM role and in the precautionary absence of Alexis Mac Allister, was the more suitable option.

Jones is starting to score more and more regularly and it’s the simple goals he’s scoring which are so effective. Arriving at the back post to finish here - Spurs at home last April and West Ham at home in September before it was disallowed - it’s something he’s looking to do.

I love him. He’s ridiculously underrated. Everything he does is effective.

He’s heavily involved in the third goal with a long searching ball over the top for Jota to chase, and after Ben Gibson makes a meal of his header, Jota adjusts his feet and absolutely leathers it into the back of the net.

He’s clever today, is Jota. His movement in the first half was great, largely on the right-hand side, and could’ve been found more often.

He gets one chance, and buries it. We’re coming to the business end of the season now and he is someone who I feel will be crucial for us.

As well as Robertson, we get the returns of Dominik Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the squad picture starting to look a lot healthier, and some bright cameos from those I mention too.

It’s interesting that Alexander-Arnold comes on in midfield, with Robertson inverting from the left - could that be something he’s studied during his time on the treatment table? 

There’s some really good squad management from Klopp too, with not only getting minutes into the legs of the returnees, but he doesn’t play Jones, Gomez or Ibrahima Konate any longer than he has to - recognising their recent workload and what’s to come.

Virgil Van Dijk comes on and scores a bullet header from a very well-delivered corner by Szoboszlai and at 4-1 you’re expecting a cruise.

But an iffy header from Quansah and some lax defending from Van Dijk allows Borja Sainz to shoot from distance and beat Alisson with a fabulous strike.

They were always unlikely to win today but the likes of Sainz, Gabriel Sara and Marcelino Nunez would surely be happier playing for a more adventurous manager than David Wagner.

Despite the goal, Quansah is largely very good and once again is very reliable with the ball. He’s been the find of the season but with Bradley, McConnell and Clark all now coming into the picture, it’s been a good season for the academy.

Gravenberch gets himself on the scoresheet at the end and he celebrates it like a big moment. It’s not been a good period for him and today you see him press well and intercept well but lack quality with execution. Defensively, he allows Gibson to get in front of him for the first Norwich goal.

He’s probably the final signing of Jurgen Klopp’s time at the club but I’m still not particularly convinced on him.

The pressing and intensity is superb today. Liverpool have Norwich in all sorts of bother so many times. Their ability to pressure and intercept meant that most of the first half was just wave after wave of attack.

Cody Gakpo could’ve come home with a hat-trick and bafflingly hasn’t got a goal and will feel disappointed with his performance after a good few weeks. A few times he finds himself with presentable opportunities after turnovers.

Pressing will surely be something Liverpool want from next season’s manager. Roberto De Zerbi is my personal favourite but I wouldn’t be against a more experienced candidate like Simone Inzaghi, Thomas Tuchel or Diego Simeone.

There’s criticisms of Simeone’s style but I think that’s an outdated opinion - Atletico are playing great stuff these days. 

De Zerbi and Alonso are the favourites but the data-driven approach to this appointment could work in the favour of Ruben Amorim and Thomas Frank - definite dark horses.

It’s a pretty strong set of players that are involved, considering it’s only the fourth round and it’s a Championship side. But, Klopp wants the lot in his last season and his team selections against Bournemouth and West Ham in the League Cup make more sense now.

It’s Watford or Southampton next in the FA Cup and the draw is opening up for the Reds in this one too.

Both are in very good form in the Championship and the game is straight after the League Cup Final but Klopp has got so many players he can call upon right now that he will still be able to name a very competitive lineup, even if there’s a large number of changes.

After Friday’s news, today was always going to be weird. To have a strange feeling, an unusual one about it.

But for Liverpool, nothing changed and there was nothing unusual about this performance. They are purring.

Daniel