Liverpool Celebrate Cup Success Which Could Make Them Hungry For More In 2022

For all Liverpool’s recent success, winning the Champions League and the Club World Cup in 2019 and Premier League in 2020, the 2022 EFL Cup was the first domestic cup they have won under Jurgen Klopp.

It also returned them to the top of the pile as the most successful team in the history of the competition, with the penalty shootout victory against Chelsea taking them to nine titles in what has been historically known as the League Cup, now the EFL Cup (or the Carabao Cup being its latest sponsor name).

Manchester City have dominated the tournament in recent years, with their superior squad depth seeing them regularly perform well in the EFL Cup, winning six of the last eight editions prior to this season.

Liverpool have now been in five finals in all competitions under Klopp, winning the most recent two. If you include the Club World Cup, Super Cups, and Community Shields they have played in nine finals during the German’s time at Anfield.

On top of this they have been genuine title challengers on two occasions—three if you include this season’s ongoing campaign—winning their first league title in 30 years in 2020 and finishing just one behind City’s 98 points in 2019.

Klopp will hope that this latest trophy makes his players hungry for more and breeds a winning mentality within the squad.

Though many of these players were present for the previous success, it is the first medal for others such as Ibrahima Konate, Harvey Elliott, Luis Diaz, and Kostas Tsimikas. The players who are the future of this club as well as the present now have a title to their name too, and will be looking for more.

Prior to this weekend’s game the Liverpool manager spoke of the importance of turning good performances into winning titles.

“We will try with everything to have a Wembley moment,” Klopp said in the build-up to Sunday’s final. 

“We all know that in this moment the people are really happy with this team. 

“But in 20 years if you talk about this team, I would not be surprised if people would say, if we don’t win anything anymore: ‘Yes they were good but they should have won more.’ 

It was a closely fought game against Chelsea in which both teams had chances to win, but Liverpool edged it in terms of controlling possession and having more shots on goal. 

They were more often the team looking to make things happen and also edged the expected goals tally despite Chelsea having a couple of very good chances.

Liverpool remain in with a chance of winning every competition they have taken part in this season.

Talk of a quadruple has often been aimed in the direction of City and Pep Guardiola in recent years, regularly to the Catalan’s annoyance, but Liverpool’s triumph in the EFL Cup this season means they are now the side with the potential to win everything.

City still haven’t won the quadruple despite threatening to. The Champions League continues to elude them, though they did win all three domestic trophies on offer in 2019.

Guardiola’s side will likely have a say in which trophies Liverpool don’t win in 2022, but the Reds have already ended their new rivals’ EFL Cup dominance.

City are expected to defend the Premier League title they won in 2021, but Liverpool are at least in with a shout at challenging them. They are six points behind the leaders with a game in hand, a better goal difference, and a chance to take points off City at the Etihad in April.

It’s unlikely Liverpool will win a quadruple given the difficulty of keeping a squad fresh and firing in the three remaining competitions, just as it has proven difficult, and so far impossible, for City in previous years.

Though it may be unrealistic to expect all four, Liverpool and Klopp will be disappointed if they fail to add at least one more trophy to go with their EFL Cup this season. But for now this victory is to be enjoyed, even though it falls in the middle of the season—an awkward time for celebrations.

It’s more likely to be a boost for the players as they strive to build on this success rather than it introducing any sense of ‘job done’. Liverpool are back challenging on all fronts, and are not hiding the fact they want to win more.