It’s fair to say, Liverpool have had a pretty horrid 2017 thus far.
Fourth in the league, 1-0 down in the EFL Cup Semi-Final, and just the one win in all competitions, which came against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup.
Not to mention having to witness some pretty uninspiring football at the same time. I mean, it’s not great is it?
With Sadio Mané off to the AFCON, all fans knew there would be a drop off, but the level of performance has been poor, really poor.
Jürgen Klopp has shuffled around his squad to make up for his absence but so far has failed, leading to inquests as to why we’ve bought no cover whatsoever in the January transfer window.
While I get the sentiment, as we desperately need wingers in this squad, I back Klopp’s decision to not buy if they’re not the right player.
Everyone knows we need wingers, fans know it, pundits know it and Klopp admitted to it multiple times. That much is clear. However, I’m not of the notion that we need to bring in someone just for the sake of it – otherwise we would have just kept Lazar Markovic (remember him?).
Klopp clearly eyed out targets with the likes of Julian Brandt and Christian Pulisic, but those clubs weren’t willing to sell right now. And why would they? It’s January, the middle of the season and we’re asking them to offload their best young prospects to us who have to also live up to the high standards set by Mané.
There are two sides to a negotiation, and we have to accept that.
Even so, our squad may not be deep but you’d forgive Klopp for thinking there is enough quality to cope.
Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi, Adam Lallana, these are all national team players who have all failed to sufficiently fill the right wing. These aren’t bad players, far from it, it just hasn’t worked out – it happens in football.
We need to remember we’ve been riddled with injuries, we need to remember we’ve been terribly unlucky on and off the pitch, and we need to remember that this current squad wasn’t built for a title challenge. I’m sure Klopp never intended to be this close to it in only his first full year in charge of a team that finished 8th.
Our minds have been skewed by our early season form, by Chelsea’s insane winning streak and our long wait for a league title. We’re going through a rough patch, that’s all. It’s common to take it out on the squad, but our squad is good enough and it has proven that over the past few months.
Perspective is needed.
We’re Liverpool. We have boss players and a boss manager. Come the end of the season I’m more than confident we will have some silverware to show for that. Let’s stop moaning and get behind them,
Up the Reds!
