The post-mortem of Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Sevilla is still on, with a number of former players and pundits having their say on another disappointing night at Anfield.
We had taken the lead after trailing the Spanish side in the first half but succumbed to poor defending for a second time, as the opposition scored easily from only their second shot on target.
Didi Hamann, who was a part of our Champions League winning squad in 2005, delivered a damning indictment on the performance and targetted our defence.
The German was speaking to RTE and was quoted by The Mirror as saying:
“I don’t know where this team is going to go. He [Klopp] came to the club 18 months ago and it was obvious that the defence needed reinforcement.”
The former Red also added that even under 18 months of Klopp’s reign, we aren’t any better than when we were under Brendan Rodgers.
“This was the part of the team that needed strengthening and developing. Have I seen progress in the last 18 months? No.
“Are they any better than they were 18 months ago? No.”
Hamann did add that our attack was probably only second to Manchester City but stated that he also has never seen such an imbalanced Liverpool side in Premier League history.
“If I look at the squad now – we talked about how good they are – apart from City it’s probably the best strikeforce and players going forward in the league.
“I’ve rarely seen a more imbalanced squad in Liverpool’s history – or in any other Premier League team. It’s top heavy.
“They are prone to the odd mistake and it puts added pressure on the offence. I don’t think this team is going anywhere.”
While the German did make sense about the defence not working well, the former Red’s comments are absolutely spot on. Klopp might be a little upset about the mistakes but we all knew what the issues were ahead of the season and not buying another central defender would be a criminal offence.
We were looking to add Virgil van Dijk to our squad but once that deal fell through we should have had a Plan B. Even holding on to Mamadou Sakho would have been a better option than having no real competition for Dejan Lovren, who was at fault for both the goals.
If we don’t fix our defensive issues quickly, we would have to really go on a scoring spree to win games. It seems like the 4-0 win over Arsenal was just papering the cracks and hopefully Klopp and the rest of the team work hard to ensure we at least remain on course for a top four finish and a decent showing in the Champions League.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddyuxMGgsGk
