The problem when you have a great team that has achieved great things is where you go next. As Liverpool’s (statistically) most successful manager Bob Paisley knew, football is a game of constant evolution: stand still and you go backwards. He may have worn a cardigan and carpet slippers, but Paisley was as ruthless a leader as they came, never given to sentimentality and always pruning and developing. And that perhaps explains the twitchiness of Liverpool fans recently: for Takumi Minamino to have been the biggest signing over the past two seasons felt like inviting trouble.
Tottenham’s problems toward the end of Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure are evidence of the dangers of too much stability in a squad.