da aposte e ganhe： “I won’t say weak,” wrote Robbie Fowler in the pages of a popular national newspaper, “because that’s an injustice to the lads in the squad.”
da bet7： Liverpool’s starting XI, according to Fowler, is as good as any in the league, but it’s their squad depth that remains the problem.
He clearly feels that signing Mohamed Salah should just be the start of his former club’s spending this summer, and he believes the rumours flying around show that Jurgen Klopp agrees with him, too, citing Champions League football as a reason to be cheerful: the Reds’ new-found status within club football’s elite gives them the chance to attract players they haven’t been able to tempt over the last number of years.
It’s a fair analysis and one which will resonate with lots of fans, and so too will his call to learn from the past. Liverpool, Fowler believes, have been close to winning a title before, but failing in the transfer market has hindered them many times. They now need to make this summer count, he thinks.
What Liverpool seem to need is a defender and a defensive midfielder, and whilst it’s tempting to think that Salah is the second Sadio Mane that Liverpool so desperately needed at times last season, that wasn’t really the root of their illness. Just the symptom.
Clearly, last season, the absences of Sadio Mane made Liverpool infinitely less effective. They missed his pace and ability to beat players, and without him they were left attacking with a front three who normally play better with players ahead of them or are used to more central roles.
What that means is Liverpool now have two wide attackers who are used to actually playing in wide areas, rather than cutting inside, and that will presumably allow them to stretch the pitch from touchline to touchline, creating space in the centre for creativity and intelligent runs. And they have players who can do that.
That sorts one of last season’s recurring criticisms – that Liverpool were too narrow and ponderous, and too slow in possession without Mane.
What they haven’t added yet – and let’s be fair here, the transfer window only actually opens this week, so there’s plenty of time left to do this – is a solution to the problems that led to Liverpool’s lack of mojo, particularly in the second half of last season.
A shaky defence and worries about vulnerability on the counter-attack seemed to make Liverpool more cautious and less courageous last year. Becoming so worried about your defensive capabilities stifles creativity. Just look at Manchester United under Louis van Gaal, when every pass was played with safety in mind so as not to lose possession and suffer a counter-attack.
Manchester City, too, became less gung-ho as last season wore on, winning games by finer margins because they were careful not to lose possession. They knew doing so could end up in a shot on target, and when your goalkeeper is Claudio Bravo, that usually means a goal. Liverpool, for their part, were bitten very early on after having 80% of the possession yet losing 2-0 at Turf Moor in only the second game of the season.
In a team with that kind of mental complex surrounding counter-attacks, a player like Mane is crucial because he’s a livewire who can create chances without the need for teammates running ahead of him. That meant Liverpool didn’t have to over-commit when he was available. Without him, though, they failed to create chances because Philippe Coutinho is at his best when players are ahead of him: but that involves risk. Something Klopp seemed reluctant to take at times last season.
The solution to a weak attack isn’t always a strong defence, though. Sometimes adding a player like Salah is what’s needed to bring some spark up front. But in Liverpool’s case, you get the feeling that they relied too much on Mane last season already, without adding another player to do the same job. The solution seems to be a midfielder who can break up counter-attacks before they become dangerous, or who can slot in between the centre-backs when the rest of his team bomb forward in attack.
That doesn’t mean to say that the club don’t get it. So far, in terms of transfer rumours, Liverpool have been eerily quiet – which is probably a fair response to the Van Dijk situation as the club don’t want any more leaks – but the players they have been linked with do seem to be the right kinds of players. Naby Keita has been linked, but the comical €70m price tag suggests the club will have to look elsewhere, whilst the Van Dijk situation at least shows Klopp is prioritising a centre-back.
Robbie Fowler may not have called Liverpool’s squad weak, but he called their squad weak. And he’s right – beyond the starting XI, it is. Just look at Klopp’s inability to make substitutions that changed games, particularly in the final few months.
But where Fowler is also right is in saying Liverpool have often made the wrong signings when going about strengthening for a title assault. Essentially, the best way to strengthen your squad is by buying players who make the first team better: you don’t buy players for the bench, you buy players who can start. And if they displace your current starters, then you have a better bench by default.
There’s still plenty of time left this summer for Liverpool to do the right thing. But the signing of Salah will only relieve the symptoms of the problem. The illness still needs to be cured.