That time of the year again. When everybody is a seer or a clairvoyant who raise the hopes of the gullible only for them to be eventually crushed. When supporters, especially LFC’s, end up bickering with each other, only for them to end arguments by criticizing the club and the way they operate. And of course, the owners face the full wrath of the mob. There are always few who can’t help themselves but tweet abuse to them and want them out.
Furthermore, there are rumor mills that churn out endless lists of players that the clubs are in various stages of negotiations with. It is three months of pure pandemonium and rightly termed as the ‘silly season’
Everybody gets sucked into it, try hard as they might try avoid it.
Liverpool is a club that seem like they’re forever in transition. It is partly because of purchasing too many players and purchasing the wrong ones too.
This translates into a season of failure to integrate the signings into the team correctly, which necessitates another summer of numerous transfers.
What we must realize is the countless problems that we undoubtedly have cannot be solved in a single transfer window. It will take time and at least another season to weed out the incompatible parts of the squad.
Also, to compile the squad requirements and formulate a plan for the transfer window, we need to analyze the team’s performances under Klopp. We only need to resolve the most pressing issues in this window.
To do that, we must analyze the absolute basics; the aspects that Klopp has improved and those he hasn’t been able to because of the lack of players with certain traits (let’s face it; it isn’t Klopp’s fault he hasn’t been able to implement his ideas and methodologies).
Let’s start with the defence, which must be our number one priority. This is an area which Klopp hasn’t been able to rectify yet. One thing that’s been axiomatic since the Rafa Benitez days is the consistent leakage of goals. We’ve conceded around 46 goals on an average in the league every season since he was sacked. Rarely do teams get top four conceding that many.
Now that particular stat tells us a lot of things; the managers we had were inept in coaching defences, we never replaced the spine we had under Rafa or we replaced them with the wrong players. Our main weaknesses are conceding goals from set pieces, crosses and throwing away leads. It would be prudent to just buy players who’d solve these issues in this window. More importantly, we need to buy only those players who’d be an upgrade over our current starters. Players who can bench them.
With the goalkeeper problem solved, we need a defensive midfielder, a right centre back and a left back.
A DM is the first player we should look at; a proper ball winning midfielder with positional sense, who doesn’t bomb forward unnecessarily and protects the defenders. We don’t have any in our current squad. James Milner has no qualities to be starting in the midfield and Jordan Henderson is ineffective unless it’s a three-man midfield.
No matter the system we’d employ in the future, without a DM, it wouldn’t work. Also, a partner for Emre Can would improve him as well.
Next on our list should be a centre back. With Mamadou Sakho looking likely to be available for selection, upgrading on Dejan Lovren should be next on our list. He has improved but not enough for us to not buy another defender. We have brought in Joel Matip, but it’d be surprising if he started as a right centre-back, considering he’s played mostly on the left.
Joe Gomez is another option but he’s been out for a year and it’ll take some time and a few U21 games before he fully recovers.
With plenty of good, affordable defenders available in the market, it’d be wise to get one in.
Finally, a new left back would set us up nicely. Alberto Moreno has his qualities, but his weaknesses cannot be ignored any longer. If we get a DM and Sakho starts every game, he might do. But this isn’t a perfect world and we cannot count on that. A left-back who doesn’t make poor decisions consistently is needed.
As specified above, LFC should prioritize the defence alone this summer. The offence isn’t much of an issue. We’re the highest scoring team in 2016. Scoring goals was never a problem under Jurgen, nor was creating chances.
Since our players came back from the mid-season injury crisis, we improved as a team, evident from the run in we had in the cup competitions. That said, we do need a wide player to offer us more penetration. But with Lazar Markovic back from his loan spell, it’d be better to offer him games than spend £30million pounds on Sadio Mane. Even Sheyi Ojo, considering his potential, could do well given enough chances. Klopp was able to manage Daniel Sturridge’s game time and the striker was able to enjoy an extended run in the team, never losing his scoring touch. With Divock Origi and Danny Ings available and Roberto Firmino able to play as a false nine, getting a striker isn’t the most pressing issue at the moment. Or any other forward, for that matter.
There are certain numbers we could look at, just another metric. These are taken from the league tables from the last six years. On an average, teams that had a goal difference of 29 or more, finished in the top four. Those teams conceded, on an average, just 40 goals. As mentioned above, in that time, we’ve let in 46 goals on an average. We need to bring that number down. And that’s why we need to sort our defence first and foremost; hence, just get in those three players.
Also, those numbers mean the team has to score 69 goals or more. With a fit Sturridge (and if Klopp manages his game time like he did last season, he can remain fit), a settled Firmino (his first season is quite underrated, even by LFC supporters; he is a player to watch out for next season), an improving Origi (his form at the business end of the season makes him a threat) and Philippe Coutinho (we know what he can do), we can cross that mark.
To conclude, there are a few exceptions, but if we limit the number of conceded goals to 40 and score 70, we have a higher chance of getting CL football.
We only have the league to focus on. Just one game every week, which is an advantage for the players as they have more time to recuperate, which directly lessens the chances of injury.
Also, Klopp has more time to analyze the opponents and implement his tactics better as he can plan more training sessions with the team. If we take the correct approach, avoid another summer of multiple squad additions and bring in just the three players (who’re an upgrade over our current players) to shore up the defence, there’s no reason why we cannot have a successful season next year.
