What did Klopp say?
During the pre-match press conference, [coach 455353] was asked about his plans for a Wijnaldum replacement. The reds boss replied, “You tell me, if you would sign a midfielder, tell me a name? We can count our midfielders and you tell me we need to replace Gini.
“Hendo ( [player 323] ) and [player 31857] haven’t been involved in pre-season apart from a week, we played quite a few games with ( [player 197] ) Milner, Naby Keita and Harvey (Elliott), we have another midfielder that played that was ( [player 850] ) Oxlade-Chamberlain, [player 96099], Curtis Jones. [player 4545513] is another player who can and will make the next step and is an exceptional talent.
“Different profiles, now you tell me which player we need? What should the player have? Should he score more goals than Gini? Should he defend better than Fab? Should he be more creative than [player 32640], Curtis, Ox, [player 23269836]? What do you want?”
He added: “So he should score more goals? Okay. Makes sense. I don’t know which midfielder it is then that scores more goals from that position than the boys we have.
“We’ve never said we don’t have to improve – we have to improve – but to score more goals from midfield positions you have to create the situations for that. You can’t just say we need a midfielder to score more goals, if a midfielder plays for us it’s not that easy they are always in goalscoring situations, they have to do different jobs, we have a specific set-up of our team.
“I really understand it. I’m in my sixth year here, and apart from the year we signed Ali and Virg, it was always the same. It looks always like we don’t sign enough and don’t do enough.
“[But] we work constantly on improving the team and one part of it is signing new players. The most important thing, and I think our fans appreciate it as well, is having a group together who is fun to watch, exciting to watch, is fighting together, who is definitely 100% committed to the club and the values of the club. We have that. Let’s fight with all we have and whatever happens until the end of [the transfer window] we will see.”
Liverpool’s lack of transfer activity
[team 8] had an absolutely terrible campaign last season. Regardless of the reasons behind their collapse, it was an unexpected breakdown. Fans accepted a terrible season but expected a busy summer to freshen up the squad to challenge again.
Till now, the reds have completed one signing. [player 100556] from [team 277], who is an excellent defender, something they massively needed. However, it’s not all they needed because creatively as well, Liverpool were poor last season.
A new winger, a proper replacement for [player 1365] and a new centre half were the expectations of the fans and rightly so. Only one of these wishes is fulfilled, and a lot needs to be done if the board aspires to win the league again.
Chelsea, Man City and Man United’s transfer activity has added fuel to the fire. Liverpool haven’t improved in the window where their main competitors have invested heavily. [team 18] have signed [player 995] for a monumental fee after investing over 200 million pounds last summer. [team 9] have signed [player 1116] and could potentially sign [player 997] as [coach 455361] is adding firepower to an already brilliant team. Liverpool’s archest rivals, [team 14], have also completed two major singings. [player 538034] from [team 68] and [player 95807] from [team 3468].
With the way the transfer has gone so far, it’s hard to see Liverpool competing for the league, let alone win it. A top-four finish is possible with this squad when compared to the squads of their competitors. A [league 2] run could be possible, but a [league 8] title is not looking possible this season.
Author: Devashish Akolekar
