Football

3 games, Jurgen’s farewell, new kit and new manager? – Liverpool FC in May

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6m ago

May 03, 2024 / 3255 Views

Evan Walker

A rollercoaster season is almost at its end and so is Jurgen Klopp‘s time at Liverpool. May signals the end of one era and the start of another, but there is Football to play before then.

One month ago, hotels were booked for Dublin, days off were planned in the case of a Premier League win and a trophy parade was on the cards.

April transpired to bring down Liverpool’s season, though, and now the picture looks very different. With the pressure lessened, hopefully the Reds can regain some form to send Klopp off on a positive note.

Elsewhere, the U21s go for glory in the Premier League 2 play-offs, Liverpool Women have three tough games to conclude a good WSL campaign and a new home kit is to be launched.

The new home kit

Official Images: Liverpool FC x Nike Home ? pic.twitter.com/UpK8WrEkby

— Sneaker Market RO (@sneakermarketro) April 27, 2024

With the new home shirt being launched very soon, expect to see the players wearing next season’s strip in the final match of the season against Wolves.

It could be Nike’s last new kit, with Adidas reportedly set to take over as supplier from 2025. Some of the leaks online have divided opinion, so let’s hope it looks better in person.

Spoiler, it’s red!

Tottenham (H) – May 5

Tottenham manager and boyhood Liverpool fan Ange Postecoglou brings his team to Anfield, with considerably more on the line than the Reds.

The North London team go into the weekend with a Champions League spot out of their hands, knowing they must capitalise on any slip-ups from Aston Villa, whom Liverpool in the subsequent match.

Meanwhile, the Reds will be playing for pride, but also to impress incoming head coach Arne Slot who will no-doubt be intently watching from the Netherlands.

Should Liverpool pick up a point from this match, they will mathematically secure a top-four finish.

Aston Villa (A) – May 13

Liverpool must then wait eight days for their next match, against Aston Villa.

Originally, the Reds would have expected to be playing a European semi-final in the build-up to this one, but it will actually be the opposition who have less preparation time.

Aston Villa‘s Europa Conference League semi-final second leg takes place, against Olympiacos in Greece, on the preceding Thursday night, and the Reds will be hoping to their extra rest proves an advantage.

Klopp’s Anfield farewell – May 19

It is a day that we hoped wouldn’t come to pass for a long time but, when Klopp dropped the bombshell that he was leaving at the end of the season, supporters quickly started planning for his last match.

Due to the results in April, the match itself against Wolves won’t be of much significance. However, the occasion will live long in the memory.

Expect a display of art and passion from the Kop, celebrating the manager’s near-nine years at the club.

Given the circumstances, it is fair to say there won’t be a dry eye in the house among those lucky enough to be there, and that includes the departing manager.

The new era begins

With Feyenoord’s season finishing on the same day as Liverpool’s, Slot should be off on holiday after that, but we can still expect an official announcement from the club in the subsequent couple of weeks after the season’s climax.

While Slot is unlikely to do much actual work at the club in May, behind the scenes, things will be prepared for his arrival as the club begin to ramp up transfer and contract talks.

The new sporting director, Richard Hughes, officially starts his new role on June 1.

A tricky finish to a solid season

Liverpool Women have enjoyed a quietly satisfying second campaign back in the Women’s Super League, and they could even finish as high as fourth.

This wouldn’t bring a Champions League place, but it would mean a finish above rivals Man United, whom they play on May 5.

Before that, though, they face title-chasers Chelsea, on May 1, in a difficult match at Prenton Park that, if won, would represent arguably their best result of the season.

Finally, they finish the season with a trip to Leicester on May 18 after a 13-day gap between fixtures.

U21s can still win silverware

The nature of the restructured Premier League 2 means that the top 16 have the chance to lift the trophy.

Having finished eighth, Liverpool enter the play-offs and will play Crystal Palace at home on May 5.

Should they progress, they will have two more matches to win before a final that would decide the overall champions.

Despite having a strong squad to finish the season, they actually lost three of their last four matches. Coach Barry Lewtas will hope that now, with a few games back together under their belts, they players can gel for the play-offs.

Expect to see Jayden Danns, Lewis Koumas, Bobby Clark, James McConnell and even Stefan Bajcetic involved.

U18s finish the season

The 2023/24 season has been full of ups and downs for the U18s. With some of their key names being promoted to more senior Football, they have had a very inexperienced squad at times.

Before the likes of Danns and Koumas were taken, there were some promising performances that included a 7-1 win over Arsenal in the FA Youth Cup.

The latter part of the season hasn’t gone to plan, though, with the nadir a 9-1 home defeat against a strong Man United side.

The young Reds will hope to end the season on a high when they play Derby on May 11, a match live on LFCTV.

Heysel anniversary – May 29

At the end of the month, like every year, we should mark the anniversary of the Heysel disaster, when 39 supporters died before the 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.

This was the result of an unstable wall collapsing at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels following fighting in a neutral section of the ground, that culminated in a charge from the Liverpool side.

Fourteen Liverpool fans were convicted of manslaughter while the head of the Belgian FA, Albert Roosens, was given six-month suspended prison sentence and police captain Johan Mahieu was given a nine-month suspended sentence.