Liverpool, as was the case in 2020/21, are preparing for battle with Manchester City with a weakness we are all aware of. They should probably do something about it…
You may remember some concern in the summer of 2020 over Liverpool’s squad depth, particularly at centre-back. They sold Dejan Lovren with a year left on his contract for £10m and had three senior central defenders in the squad by the time the transfer window closed.
It was thought Fabinho could fill in as back-up to Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip if required, with Billy Koumetio, Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams as options in cup competitions.
Given the injuries which had plagued both Gomez and Matip up to that point, it was a huge risk which infamously came back to bite them.
Van Dijk and Gomez were both on the sidelines for the majority of the season and various knocks for Matip and others forced Jurgen Klopp into using 18 different centre-back partnerships, including Jordan Henderson and Fabinho for four games.
Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies arrived on loan in January to little effect and only a remarkable late-season run rescued Champions League qualification.
Midway through that season, Klopp admitted that he was denied the chance to sign a centre-back by the Liverpool board in the summer.
“I am not a five-year-old kid any more and if I don’t get what I want I start crying. Most of the time in my life I didn’t get what I wanted, so pretty much used to that. We talk about a centre-half, and yes, it would help 100 percent. We discuss the situation pretty much on a daily basis, and I make recommendations. But I cannot spend the money. I don’t make these decisions.”
Liverpool were unfortunate then, as they have been at the start of this season, with the number of players hit by injuries. But just as Klopp knew then the benefit of strengthening at centre-back, one wonders whether he knows now how useful a new midfielder would be.
He said he did not “understand” the calls for a new midfielder when asked about it last month, as he listed his options.
“We can go through it. Where do you want to start? So, Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Milner, Keita, Jones, Elliott, Carvalho, Oxlade-Chamberlain. Now you tell me what kind of player are we missing?”
Klopp admitted that they don’t have a ‘Golden Cow’ midfielder – someone who scores goals as well as the other stuff he covets – but explained how he has all the bases covered in his squad.
The Liverpool boss…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…