Liverpool FC – Gameweek 27 in Review

Losing to those at the bottom, maybe means more than beating those at the top. Perhaps a lesson for Mr. Klopp. But in order to catch the rest, it’s welcome news the club plans to invest. The good, the bad and the ugly, at our favourite club Liverpool FC. 

The Good

Many would put the win against Arsenal here. I’m not that easily pleased. The only glimmer of hope has been Jürgen Klopp’s claim that Liverpool will spend to bring in top talent this coming summer. Hallelujah! And about time too.

Let’s see what happens. I’ve heard too often from the club that they “cannot compete” with the Chelseas, the Manchesters and Arsenal. This is of course, is total bullsh&t. I don’t doubt for one minute the club can compete. The issue in the FSG era has been two things. 

Firstly running the club for gain. This is clear. Everybody knows that if the right offer comes along, John W. Henry will sell. There is a reason why there was a net gain on the transfer dealings last summer. It’s good business of course, but since when has football been about business? Yes there is money to be made but Liverpool have long missed the boat.

FSG need to spend BIG if they want to “compete”, and this doesn’t make economic sense. Simply because it’s too much of a gamble and I don’t believe Henry and company have the stomach for it. Not when they have a 300% gain to protect.

The second reason is that too much money has been wasted in the past. Players have been sold for good prices and it’s largely been pissed away on players like Lazar Markovic, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno or Christian Benteke. Every season there’s big talk and nothing to back it up.

The Bad

Losing to Leicester City and then beating Arsenal yesterday. I’d have rather beat Swansea, Hull and Leicester and then lost to Arsenal. At least the team would be nine points better off!

“It was one of the best games we have played so far because of the strength of our opponent…” said Klopp after yesterday’s game. Am I missing something here? So we play our best only for strong opponents and boll%cks to the rest? Was Leicester not a strong opponent? Clearly strong enough to win on Monday.

The honeymoon period is over for Klopp in my opinion. He hasn’t become a bad manager overnight this is for sure. However, you only see someone’s worth when the bad times come. Liverpool aren’t exactly in dire straits, but over the last six games, they rank 14th in the form league.

All this talk of Liverpool being in “third” and back in the race is frankly fool’s gold. They’ve already slipped one place courtesy of the Manchester City result today. Should Arsenal and Manyoo win their games in hand, then fifth or even sixth place awaits them.

The Ugly

In view of the abysmal form of late, a fourth place finish is a must for Liverpool and Klopp. Failure to do so will mean yet another close season of chasing targets unwilling to come to the club due to a lack of prospects i.e. a lack of Champions League football.  This inevitably puts the team in a no win situation.

Should they secure a fourth place finish, then there will be a never-ending stream of speculation as every newspaper in the land will be linking the team with every superstar and chancer alike. Same goes for every agent, as the name Liverpool will become a leverage for contract talks and as a means to secure bigger wages for moves elsewhere.

The question inevitably comes down to availability. Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk has been strongly linked. However, is he – like Lovren before him – simply a big fish in a little pond, soon to be found out? This remains to be seen. Whoever Liverpool go for, two solid central defenders are absolutely vital. I frankly believe the way Klopp has handled the Mamadou Sakho situation has been laughable. An undoubted contributor to the current setbacks.

It’s one thing to banish the Frenchman from the first team for this supposed “lack of respect”, but the least he could have done was to seek a suitable replacement. Klavan had already been brought to the club (for some reason) so he was clearly not going to be a viable replacement. Lucas Leiva has provided emergency cover but to be in this situation is frankly ridiculous. Pushing for the title or fourth spot with only two (credible) central defenders is the stuff of comedy.

We are where we are. Currently that’s fourth place. With games coming up against Burnley, Man Citeh, Everton and Bournemouth, Liverpool would do well to get six points of the 12 on offer. The whole 12 would see the team deservedly being lauded again. If I’m honest, I can’t see it.

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