By Adam Bryant
Liverpool are arguably going through their worst spell under Jurgen Klopp. For the first time doubts are being shared about some of his tactics as the German tries to cope with the strains of a hectic fixture schedule at a time when he has players absent, either through injury or international duty.
During the pre-season tour of USA the manager famously fell out with Mamadou Sakho. At a time when it appeared we had a strong squad defensively, opting to punish the French international by refusing to play him wasn’t necessarily a bad decision by Klopp. But five months on and with Joel Matip apparently unavailable because of lack of preparation following the recent FIFA fiasco and Ragnar Klavan looking shaky at times, we could have really done with being able to call upon Sakho and his no nonsense defending.
Thankfully Simon Mignolet has responded well to being dropped in favour of Loris Karius and has bounced back more confident, sharper and determined to hold the number one spot. However, there are one or two other players which could do with similar treatment, but Klopp seems keen to persist with them, such as Emre Can. The German midfielder has put in some lacklustre performances of late but remains a regular starter. He plays best in fast-paced, tough tackling scraps like the match against Manchester United, but when we are wanting to control a game and push for goals his lack of creativity on the ball lets him down. We have much better players in the squad that can do that job.
Finally, there is the matter of the transfer window. None of us know how much the owners are prepared to spend on reinforcements in January, but the impression you get is that Klopp is determined to stick with the squad he has and press on until the end of the season and the hope of Champions League qualification. His gegenpressing philosophy may well be the way to go, but in order to maintain that level at a time when games are coming every three of four days then you need depth to your squad. Liverpool simply don’t have that and refusing to admit you need to bring in one or two players to bolster the squad for the remaining four months may prove to be the biggest mistake Klopp makes all season.
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