Liverpool have done a bit of a shake-up to their squad this season and it appears that Jurgen Klopp has stacked his team with a number of tall players now.
The Reds have done a complete midfielder revolution this season after Klopp realized that a lot of old legs were holding his side back. The Reds went in bought the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch in the recently concluded summer transfer window.
The German manager appears to have realized his side’s weaknesses and brought in players who can bring back that relentless intensity to their midfield and help his side rediscover the might of his ‘heavy metal’ football style.
With these new acquisitions, Klopp has also built a team filled with really tall players to intimidate the competition Premier League brings. Here are all the players over 6 feet tall in the Reds’ squad –
Liverpool’s tallest players
Klopp opted to give the captaincy after Jordan Henderson to defender Virgil van Dijk, who is also incidentally the joint-tallest player in the squad.
Standing at a towering 6’5’, the Dutchman is among the tallest defenders in the Premier League and is quite proactive for his physical build.
Alongside Van Dijk, defender Joel Matip is also standing at an intimidating 6’5’. There is a reason why the German defender has little problem in winning aerial duels and is considered a major threat in set-pieces.
Just an inch shorter than them is Liverpool’s no.1, goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
The Brazilian is at an impressive 6’4’, which helps him collect crosses nicely and also make use of his long hands to make clutch saves.
Alongside him, Ibrahima Konate also stands at a similar 6’4’.
The French centre-back is the regular partner to Van Dijk due to his impressive pace & ability to cover for teammates and ensures that opponents have trouble winning headers from the Reds.
Something that might surprise some fans is that Cody Gakpo also stands in at 6’4’.
The Dutchman might not be one for winning a lot of headers or trying to make himself really physical, but he’s extremely well built for the Premier League.
Liverpool’s newest signing Ryan Gravenberch stands in at 6’3’, which should help him cope strongly against the physical PL players.
The Reds’ also have another player standing in at 6’3’ in the form of their young defender Jarel Quansah.
The shortest centre-back in the first-team squad for the Reds is Joe Gomez, standing in at around 6’2, but he does seem to make up for his considerably lower height (in comparison) by winning duels and being quite quick.
Darwin Nunez is also standing at 6’2’, which helps him win a lot of aerial duels in the final third and battle strongly against opposition.
The Reds also have quite a few players standing in at a height of 6’1’. This includes inspired summer signing Dominik Szoboszlai, who has had an amazing start to his career at Anfield and already looks a perfect fit for the Premier League.
Along with this, young midfielders Curtis Jones and Stafen Bajcetic also come in at the 6’1’ height category.
The two will, however, have to work extra hard to earn regular game-time for themselves this season after the arrival of so many new midfielders.
Of course, the impressive build of this Liverpool squad makes them a major set-piece threat. The Reds scored 17 goals from set-pieces last season, and would be expected to surpass that tally easily with the number of tall players in the side.
It’s not like a 6’ ft height is needed to score a lot of headers either. Diogo Jota, standing in at 5’8’, has scored eight of his 48 Premier League goals with headers. So Liverpool definitely have many options, towering or not, to win aerial duels going forward.
