Have we made the same mistake again?
The transfer window has slammed shut then and for some, their worst fears realised. Only one shiny new signing and not one that’s going to have an immediate impact on the team. Others are happy with our squad, don’t feel any further additions are needed and all is rosy. My own view is somewhere in the middle.
Watching Bobby go off injured towards the end of the first half on Saturday, I couldn’t help but think back to last year at this time. Like most, I was happy with the squad, delighted with the signings of Thiago and Jota and just waiting for that fourth CB to be announced and we were good to go. As it became apparent we weren’t going to sign a fourth CB I began to worry. What happens if Virgil gets injured? Fear not, many said. Virgil never gets injured, we can rotate the other two and we’ve got Fabinho if we’re stuck. We all know what happened next…
I can’t help but have similar feelings about our situation at the other end of the pitch going into this season. Much like we did with Lovren, we’ve allowed Shaqiri to leave, who was a useful squad player and comfortably the ‘best of the rest’ after our more established front four. We’re going to lose Mane and Salah to AFCON, Bobby is injured already, albeit it doesn’t sound serious but what if Bobby or Jota pick up injuries around the time of AFCON? Imagine they both did!! Does anyone fancy a front three of Minamino, Origi and Elliot? No, I didn’t think so.
I was never of the opinion that we needed a CM this season, I always felt Thiago was Gini’s replacement signed a year in advance and the emergence of Curtis and now Elliot, we’re fine in that department. I do feel however, that we should have brought in another attacker this window. Or much like Lovren last season, if we weren’t going to sign a replacement, we shouldn’t have allowed Shaqiri to leave.
If just one of Salah, Mane, Jota or Firmino is injured for any length of time, we’re back to Rafa’s days, where our first 11 is great but then the drop off in quality from first team to bench is absolutely enormous. Salah – Origi = Torres – N’Gog? Shudder.
My fear is that we finally got back to the top of the mountain but haven’t been decisive enough in trying to stay there. We took a risk going into last season short in defence and we’re doing the same going into this season light in attack in my opinion.
I’m not in the FSG out brigade by any means and for the most part agree with how they run the club but I’m not talking about spending crazy money here. Could we not have arranged a season long loan for Kabak last season? Considering we managed to get a deal done for a 6 month loan in about 24 hours in January, could we not have managed that for the start of the season? Or more simply, sorry Dejan you’ll need to wait until next season when we’re signing your replacement.
We’ve seen players like Daka and Ings move for not massive amounts of money but then again, if the club don’t fancy a punt on them, it’s simple. Sorry Xherdan, you can leave next season. It’s not like we made game changing amounts of money from the sales of Lovren and Shaqiri, it’s a piss in the ocean in the grand scheme of things. I just pray we don’t see history repeat itself by knowingly going into a season a little light on quality backups.
Anyway, that’s bound to have ruffled a few feathers. Enjoy! 😉
Walk on!!
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