Liverpool’s horrendous 2017 continued as they were humbled by Leicester City 3-1. Even though the Reds had a 14-day break before facing a side struggling to do well, the Foxes looked a much better team on the pitch.
This result meant that the Merseyside club would slide below Manchester United should the Red Devils win their game in hand and also threw a major doubt for their top four credentials. The form has been worrying in the second half of the season and Dean Saunders, a former Liverpool striker, defended Klopp despite the poor showing.
Saunders was quoted by TalkSPORT and highlighted the signings the German has made so far.
“These are the players he’s brought in,” said Saunders, before listing out Klopp’s signings. “Grujic, Red Star Belgrade, £5m. Shamal George, youth system, nothing. Mane £30m, Karius £4.7m, Matip, free, Klavan £4.2m, Wijnaldum £25m.
“I heard someone on the tele say, ‘He’s a bargain that [Manolo] Gabbiadini at £20m’. Southampton spent £20m on Gabbiadini and it’s considered cheap.
“Klopp’s sold a lot of players, he’s got £73m-worth of players he’s sold and he’s spent £69m. That tells me he hasn’t got the money to buy top defenders.”
Still a work in progress
A term that many Liverpool fans have heard over the years is “work in progress” coined as one manager took over from another in the past. Saunders to the same fact and added that Klopp does not have a lot of money to spend, compared to the other teams.
“This is a work in progress for Liverpool, but they’re still in there [challenging for a top four place],” the former Reds striker said.
“I know the run of results have been bad. They played Leicester at the wrong time last night, and admittedly Leicester were a yard quicker all over the pitch.
“But I don’t think Klopp’s got the money of all the teams around him. You look at all those teams around Liverpool – he hasn’t got anywhere near as much money.”
The former striker also took a shot at the lack of firepower on the bench of the Reds.
“Look at the [Liverpool] bench last night, and no disrespect to these young lads, he’s got Stewart and Woodburn on the bench.
“Moreno – who he’s decided is not good enough. Klavan, who he doesn’t think is good enough. Karius, who he doesn’t think is good enough. And Origi, who he doesn’t think is good enough.
“That’s his bench. That tells you everything.
“Have a look at Man City’s bench, have a look at Man United’s bench when they’re bringing players on. He hasn’t got enough players to play the full press for the full season.”
Klopp still seems to be learning on the job and even though things aren’t looking rosy, Saunders did state that the German will learn a lot during this tough period.
“As a manager you are learning as you go along,” explained Saunders. “People will say he’s had three [transfer] windows to learn that we need new defenders.
“You learn by defeats. ‘What’s costing me?’ If you have long enough in the job and you know anything about football, you learn and you end up changing that player, or you you might think ‘We’re too attacking, we might change the style a little bit’.”
Liverpool play Arsenal next and many people expect the Reds to play brilliantly against the Gunners but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they perform limply as well, that is how the season is petering out.
