2022–23 Liverpool F.C. Season

The 2022–23 season was Liverpool Football Club's 131st season in existence and their 61st consecutive season in the top flight of English football. Coming off their 2021–22 campaign, Liverpool competed in this season's editions of the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

Liverpool kicked off the season with a 3–1 victory over reigning Premier League champions Manchester City in the FA Community Shield for their 16th Community Shield and 68th official trophy, the latter being an English record. Furthermore, that piece of silverware completed the set for Jürgen Klopp, as he had won all available first-tier trophies with Liverpool.

After narrowly missing out on a possible quadruple the previous season, the 2022–23 campaign was a bitter disappointment for Liverpool. Inconsistent form in the Premier League ruled them out of the title race, whilst the Reds were knocked out of both cups in the fourth round. Liverpool's Champions League campaign also ended in disappointment as they lost 6–2 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the round of 16. Despite a 11-game unbeaten run in the league at the end of the season – including 7 straight victories – this was not enough to secure a top-four position and Liverpool ultimately finished 5th, failing to qualify for the next season's Champions League for the first time in seven years. Overall, the team's form was poor all season, which spurred major changes in the squad for the following campaign.

This season was the first since 2015–16 without Sadio Mané, who transferred to Bayern Munich and the first since 2013–14 without Divock Origi, who departed to AC Milan. At the end of the season, it was announced that Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta were confirmed to leave the club as their contracts would not be renewed.

Season overview

On 30 July 2022, Liverpool opened the 2022–23 season by achieving victory in the 2022 FA Community Shield with a 3–1 win over Manchester City. On 27 August 2022, Liverpool achieved a 9–0 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League in which Roberto Firmino scored his 100th goal for Liverpool. The match was the joint-largest win in the history of the Premier League, and equalled Liverpool's biggest ever win in the top flight, achieving the same scoreline at Anfield in the 1989–90 season against Crystal Palace. The match was also Bournemouth's worst ever top-flight defeat. On 12 October 2022, Liverpool achieved a 1-7 away victory over Rangers in the UEFA Champions League. In the game, Mohamed Salah broke Bafétimbi Gomis's record for the fastest Champions League hat-trick of all time.

On 28 December 2022, Cody Gakpo agreed to sign for Liverpool for a transfer fee of between £35.4 to £44.3 million (€40 to €50 million) once the transfer window opened on 1 January 2023. On 5 March 2023, Liverpool recorded their biggest ever competitive win against Manchester United with an historic 7–0 victory at Anfield. Cody Gakpo, Darwin Núñez, and Mohamed Salah all scored braces with Roberto Firmino netting the final goal. This surpassed Liverpool’s previous record set in October 1895, a 7–1 victory in the Second Division. Furthermore, this was Manchester United's joint-biggest ever defeat and the heaviest since Wolverhampton Wanderers beat them by the same scoreline in 1931. On 10 March 2023, Liverpool announced Firmino would leave Liverpool at the end of the season after he decided not to extend his contract. Klopp stated that he was a "little bit surprised" by the decision but wished Firmino good luck, saying that he would “be grateful forever” for his contribution to Liverpool. On 20 May 2023, Roberto Firmino scored his last Liverpool goal at Anfield in a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa. Firmino also scored in his last ever game for Liverpool on 28 May 2023, being assisted by fellow Brazilian Fabinho.

Aftermath

Liverpool narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification, with winger Mohamed Salah describing himself as "totally devastated". It was suggested that reasons for their failure to qualify for the Champions League included the declining form of key members of the team Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho and the vast amount of injuries suffered by Liverpool players. On 21 May 2023, addressing the reality of being in the Europa League next season, Klopp stated that Liverpool would "make he Europa Leagueour competition".

After the season ended, many prominent players departed the club. Captain Jordan Henderson left to join Al-Ettifaq for a reported transfer fee of £12 million and Fabinho left to join Al-Ittihad for £40 million. With the expiry of their contracts, Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all departed the club. Following Jordan Henderson's departure, Virgil van Dijk was named as Liverpool's new captain on 31 July 2023. Trent Alexander-Arnold succeeded James Milner as vice-captain. With a midfield rebuild necessitated, Liverpool duly signed Alexis Mac Allister for £35 million and Dominik Szoboszlai for £60 million. Moreover, with attempts to sign first and second-choice defensive midfielders Moisés Caicedo and Roméo Lavia having failed, Liverpool signed Wataru Endō from Stuttgart for £16 million. Upon Endō’s transfer to Liverpool, Klopp stated on 18 August 2023 that he was “really happy” and also commented that the Japanese captain was also a “machine on the pitch”.

Kits

First-team squad

:''As of 28 May 2023''

New contracts

Transfers

In

Out

Loans in

Loans out

Transfer summary

Spending

Summer: £ 73,200,000

Winter: £ 37,000,000

Total: £ 110,200,000

Income

Summer: £ 59,500,000

Winter: £ 0

Total: £ 59,500,000

Net Expenditure

Summer: £ 13,700,000

Winter: £ 37,000,000

Total: £ 50,700,000

Pre-season and friendlies

Liverpool announced they would be touring South East Asia, starting with a match against rivals Manchester United in Bangkok on 12 July, followed by a trip to Singapore to face Crystal Palace on 15 July. On 16 June, the Reds announced a further two pre-season matches, against RB Leipzig and Strasbourg, and later announced another friendly against Red Bull Salzburg in Austria on 27 July.

During the mid-season break as a result of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Liverpool announced they would be travelling to Dubai to take part in the Dubai Super Cup friendly tournament, facing Lyon and Milan on 11 and 16 December, respectively.

Competitions

Overall record

Premier League

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 16 June 2022, with the season starting on 6 August.

FA Cup

The club entered the competition in the third round and were drawn at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. They were drawn away to Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round.

EFL Cup

Liverpool were drawn at home to Derby County in the third round, and then away to Manchester City in the fourth round.

FA Community Shield

The traditional season curtain raiser was played between the previous season's league champions and FA Cup winners. As winners of the 2021–22 FA Cup, Liverpool faced 2021–22 Premier League champions Manchester City. Normally played at Wembley Stadium, this season it was played at Leicester City's King Power Stadium to avoid clashes with the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 competition.

UEFA Champions League

Liverpool entered the competition in the group stage.

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 25 August 2022, with the fixtures announced two days later.

Knockout phase

Liverpool advanced to the knockout phase as group runners-up.

=Round of 16

=
The round of 16 draw took place on 7 November, and Liverpool were drawn to Real Madrid, who they last met in the 2022 final.

Squad statistics

Appearances

Players with no appearances are not included on the list.

Goals

Assists

Clean sheets

Disciplinary record

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:2022-23 Liverpool F.C. Season
Liverpool F.C. seasons
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
English football clubs 2022–23 season