Liverpool: Evolution or Falling Behind?
ARTICLE BY MATTY
When we made the signings of Thiago, Jota and Tsimikas in the summer of 2020, I thought the team was about as close to perfection as it could be. But then the injuries came and made it essentially a lost season. But this season was supposed to be our triumphant return to the top, right? Not so much. Sure, the Champions League is there for the taking and we certainly have a squad more tailor-made for cup competitions than a 38-game league season. But the Premier League? Likely already wrapped in a nice gift basket for City. In normal years, I think we’d all be happy with what we’ve seen so far. We’ve played brilliant attacking football, with a defense that is shaky at times but can be overcome by our other strengths. But even dropping a single point might be the different because of just how damn good City are. So the question I’m posing, the one in the title, is this: Are Liverpool still improving or have they reached their peak and are now falling behind?
I remember reading an article recently about how Klopp’s ambition in signing Thiago and Jota was to bring back the attack from 2017/18, which had Coutinho, Firmino, Mane or Salah scoring or assisting every 20 minutes (absolutely absurd, I know), while also keeping the defensive steel that won us the Champions League and Premier League in back-to-back seasons. In my opinion, the attack is certainly there, but the defense is not. Too many times this season we’ve seen a lack of concentration from not the defense so much, but the midfield. Henderson’s form has been patchy this season, with some great games mixed in with some howlers like we saw against Leicester. Naby lad apparently never figured out how to tackle someone and has been at fault for some goals conceded. Ox is still maddeningly inconsistent. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our midfield hinges on having both Fabinho and Thiago present. Fabinho provides the defensive shield while Thiago gives us an extra creative weapon, a true playmaker that, as the Leicester game showed, is clearly needed. It doesn’t surprise me whatsoever that our best games have come with those two at their best. Harvey Elliott, in my opinion, should either be Thiago’s backup, as they have similar play styles, or go straight into the starting eleven once he comes back. Unless Henderson, as he always does, steps up his game another notch and proves himself as the best option to play alongside the duo of Fabinho and Thiago.
I’ve also seen some people on here suggest that this defensive problem wouldn’t be happening if Wijnaldum were still here. And, to an extent, I agree. I think Gini’s steel and ball control would’ve been the perfect compliment to Thiago and Fabinho, providing us with the perfect all-around midfield that would definitely fix whatever defensive structure problems we have. However, I also have to think that we let him go for a reason. Surely, we weren’t so stupid as to expect Naby or Ox to fill his shoes? If we were, whoever made that decision should be fired on the spot. But no, I think Klopp had a different solution in mind, one we haven’t seen much of this season: Curtis Jones. Jones has shown much more of an attacking threat this season as his game further develops, but last season was surprising to me because of how well Curtis seemed to mirror Gini. Curtis last season was a master of ball control and, quite surprisingly for a young player, had a strong positional sense. Now, who does that sound like? To me, that sounds a lot like Gini. In terms of the pure engine and steel that Gini gave us, I do think Curtis does lack that a bit. But we really haven’t seen much of him at all this season, so perhaps he’s developed some of that too. My feelings on the Gini situation are this: it wouldn’t have made too much sense to have half of our midfield be over 30 years old, but it would’ve made sense to roll with that weakness if it meant keeping Gini. Unfortunately, we can’t change the past so I don’t really want to talk about him that much. Plus, his PSG stint has gone so well that they want to loan him out next month so he might be coming back anyways.
Next, we get to the other perceived problem that’s hung over us like a cloud this season: “No Depth FC” and good old FSG. Obviously our problem has to be that we haven’t spent as much money as City, right? And for that FSG must sell up to someone who’s gonna spend more, right? I don’t think so. If you look at the team now, we really don’t have many “problem players”, or as Dimi affectionately calls them, “passengers”. The only ones I can think of are Ox, Keita, and Gomez. Even then, Ox and Keita have had their moments and Gomez is still young enough to get his career kickstarted again. Otherwise, I’ll go through this list and you can tell me who you think doesn’t belong here right now: Alisson, Trent, Kostas, Robbo, Virgil, Matip, Konate, Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson, Jones, Elliott, Milner, Salah, Firmino, Mane, Jota. And beyond that, there’s also late-game hero Origi, slowly-developing Taki and Neco, and youth products such as Morton and Gordon. And the Irishman, of course. Milner probably won’t be around much longer as a player, at least, so there’s another spot opened up. In my opinion, the midfield could use two players: a replacement for Gini and someone who can be what Keita was supposed to be: a pressing machine who can dribble past players and score goals. Curtis Jones could develop to be either of those players and Elliott could do the same, making those possible transfer ideas seem unnecessary. But, unless we can’t sell Ox and Keita and are forced to keep them another year as they run their contracts down to leave for free, we will likely only have five midfielder for three spots. And that’s not smart either. There’s also the question of the attack. Jota and Salah have been scoring like crazy while Mane’s hit a dip in form and injuries have prevented Firmino from finding any sort of consistency. Which brings up a good point I’ll discuss next, but I digress. I think another attacker, preferably someone like Jota who can play across the front three, would do us some good just to give us some more firepower when Mane and Firmino aren’t performing up to standards.
And now, after analyzing reasons why we might be falling behind, I now look towards the future and the evolution of the club. I said in the previous paragraph that Mane and Firmino are struggling at times this season. This is especially worrying since last season didn’t go well for them either, to the point where the question must be asked: are they past their best? And if so, should they be sold? As it is with most teams, the evolution of a club from one era to the next will involve some deals that will break your heart, and selling both Mane and Firmino certainly would do that for me. But, with neither of them being starters if another attacker is brought in, does it make sense to extend their contract and pay them big money for being essentially bench players as they age? While it would be nice to say our depth is so strong we have those two on the bench, neither of them have performed up to expectations and would be expensive. The money that might go towards extending their contracts could be used for either new arrivals or, more importantly, an extension for Salah. Salah, who’s constantly improved into becoming the world’s best player as his two counterparts have declined in that same time frame. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. And now might be the time where the more painful parts of the rebuild will take place as we look to improve and be the best team in England and the world for now and for the future.
Well, that’s a lot of the things that I’ve seen so far this season. As always, there can be improvements and while not much of it is required, the future of players who might already be past their best should be taken into account as improvements are considered. I don’t envy the job Klopp or Julian Ward have, as they have to make a great team even better to keep pace with City while also considering selling some of the players that got us to this point of having such a great team. We know that Liverpool, as a club, typically make really good choices. Now they have to make really tough choices. Get those choices right, and perhaps we overtake City again. Get those choices wrong, and perhaps we fall further behind.
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