Football journalist Eamon Dunphy believes that Liverpool need a new goalkeeper and at least five new defenders if we are to mount a strong challenge for the Premier League title.
Elaborating Liverpool’s defensive woes, Dunphy quotes that we need a leader who can guide the entire defensive setup and further illustrated that Klopp made a mistake in not making a move for Jordan Pickford when he was available in the market.
“There’s something very wrong there. They need a goalkeeper and they need about five defenders,” Dunphy told RTE Sport.
“He recognises that they are no good but he doesn’t know what to do about it. This guy doesn’t seem to be able to do it and I don’t think he should be managing Liverpool if he can’t get the resources from the board to buy good defenders.
“You need to have a leader for your defence, somebody who does the organisation on the pitch, like John Terry.
“The new goalkeeper at Everton, (Jordan) Pickford came from Sunderland for £30m. He’s outstanding and will probably go on and get capped for England. Why didn’t Liverpool buy him?”
Judging by how we have performed so far, Dunphy is quite right to say the least. In 10 Premier league games so far, Liverpool have conceded a whopping 16 goals and a majority of them came due to defensive howlers.
Take the first game against Watford for instance; we were leading until the 93rd minute until a last-minute goal meant we had to come out with just a single point. Then came the 5-0 demolition at hands of Manchester City and then a 4-1 defeat against Tottenham, all of which laid bare our issues at the back.
Liverpool’s defence needs a restructuring and not just Dunphy, but a lot of pundits have advised Klopp about the same. Furthermore, Liverpool have Champions League to play for this season and with no practical depth in the squad, it is hard to see us reaching any heights this season. And Dunphy, on his part, is of the same belief. He said:
“They won’t finish in the top four this year and they’ll get embarrassed somewhere in the Champions League.”
Liverpool have signed 11 players since Klopp took over but hardly anyone, apart from Sadio Mane, has been seen as a flawless signing.
A lot was expected from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ahead of the season, but the Englishman is yet to get into his groove. Speaking of his transfer, Dunphy lashed out by saying that Klopp should have gone for a defender rather than spending heavily on him.
“He just spent £40m on Oxlade Chamberlain, who was a squad player at Arsenal and will be at Liverpool. He’s got no position. Anyone with common sense and a sense of priority would have spent it on a defender.”
We certainly need to dip into the market and sign a couple of good defenders if we are to finish the season brightly. Let’s hope Klopp addresses those issues.
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