da realbet： Liverpool appear to have pulled off one of the summer’s smartest signings in Mohamed Salah, but a failure to address age-old weaknesses in defence suggests Liverpool will once again fall slightly short of truly challenging for the Premier League title.
What they did – Sign players that suit Klopp’s philosophy
da poker： After two summer transfer windows and the best part of two full seasons in charge, we’re now looking at Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool rather than a team still in transition from Brendan Rodgers’ tenure. That was very much the theme of the Reds’ summer transfer window, signing the kind of players that perfectly suit the German gaffer’s philosophy of relentless energy and attacking verve.
The most obvious example is of course Mohamed Salah, who already looks like a carbon copy of Sadio Mane on the opposite side. Much like the Senegal star, Salah is a roaming forward who offers defence-splitting pace and likes to drift inside where he can test the space between centre-halves and full-backs. The 4-0 demolition of Liverpool showed how much the Egypt international has added to the Reds already, offering constant threat on the break and the ability to turn defence into attack with one ranging pass out wide from midfield.
But Andrew Robertson, Dominic Solanke and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all suit that mantra as well for varying reasons. Robertson is an attacking full-back who loves to overlap – a key feature of Liverpool’s play last season – Solanke is another versatile forward bursting with energy and Oxlade-Chamberlain, although it remains to be seen quite where he fits in, offers the dynamic physicality Klopp strives towards in central midfield.
There’s also the not-so-small matter of holding off Barcelona in their pursuit of Philippe Coutinho, although it remains to be seen how smart a move that was. On the one hand, turning down a gigantic fee being offered by such a historic club is quite a statement and of course, the Brazilian playmaker will be a fantastic asset to the Reds this season. On the other, we don’t know how motivated to play for Liverpool Coutinho now is and for all the talk of him being a world-class talent, the Reds’ attack has been getting on fine without him.
What they didn’t do – solve age-old defensive problems
For all the Klopp-isation and signings to improve Liverpool going forward, Klopp failed to address his side’s most fundamental weakness, namely the defence. The Reds conceded the most goals of any top four side last season but more than the volume, it was the manner of the goals that was most disturbing, the majority coming either on the counter-attack or at set pieces. That was Liverpool’s undoing against Watford on the opening weekend as well; the Hornets twice capitalising on poor organisation at corners.
Of course, Liverpool hoped to bring in Virgil van Dijk, but were put off by Southampton’s tapping up allegations and never really seemed to make another convincing attempt to whisk the Dutchman away from St. Mary’s. Perhaps they’re waiting until January in the hope of eventually getting their man, who is still yet to feature for the Saints this season, but it’s quite incredible Liverpool have started another season with Dejan Lovren as a first-choice centre-back, not to mention Alberto Moreno surprisingly re-emerging as a regular option at left-back and Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius unconvincingly splitting goalkeeper duties.
It all suggests Liverpool will be undone by the same problems that plagued them last season, most specifically poor results against well-organised, physical teams who have pace on the break and height at set pieces. The Watford game has already given us a hint of that and Liverpool fans will be disappointed the team’s most obvious weakness remains unresolved.