I thought we were abject tonight. A cold, wet night in South Wales and no one looked up for the match. Except Swansea who played very well.
Three things things I take away from that match:
1) With the sale of Coutinho and the impending exit of Sturridge, the drop off in quality on our bench is alarming.
2) There is a serious lack of creativity in our midfield.
3) I thought again we lacked leadership.
All of which begs the question: Can we afford not to strengthen this month?
Take the front three of Firmino, Mane and Salah. As good as you'll get in the league. Assuming we sell Sturridge, who comes in to replace them? Ings and Solanke. One who's been injured for two years and was brought in because he was free, the other yet to score a senior goal in the League. That's not the quality we need. Furthermore, as I've pointed out in the past, it's a World Cup Summer which means players are going to be on show. If they have a good tournament, the best case scenario is their value dramatically rises, worst case is their value dramatically rises to a point we're priced out and he goes to one of Europe's elite.
I also think our team selection paid far too much respect to the bottom of the league, four less goals than Salah, team. We didn't need Can and Gini in the side, we needed more creativity, and I stand by my pre-match assertion that Lallana should have started that match. I also profoundly disagree with taking of AOC when we're a goal down and need someone to open up their defence. Unless he was an injury concern, taking off one of our better performers on the night was inexcusable.
I've also got deep concerns over Mane now. It's not just that he's completely out of form, it's his decision making. He keeps making the wrong decisions, and spent most of tonight playing into Swansea's hands. Serious questions need to be asked of him now, but unfortunately going back to what I said before, with the sale of Coutinho and the increasingly likely scenario of no replacement this month for him, and the dramatic drop off in quality available to us on the bench, we can't afford to rotate him out because who comes in? One of two unproven players. Klopp's entire strategy for rotation this season has been being able to pick three of four up front and now that's in tatters because of the sale of Coutinho is likely to disrupt our entire season (although to play devil's advocate against myself, we won't know that for sure until May).
Finally is the Leadership issue. If I didn't know who was the Captain tonight, I wouldn't have guessed. Nonetheless, I couldn't care less who has the arm band, we lack leadership on that pitch. If Gerrard is there, if anyone of our former great Captains is there, those players don't get away with that tonight. No one lead by example, no one tried to raise the bar. No bollockings were handed out for doing exactly what Swansea wanted us to do, just meek acceptance that tonight was not our night. The biggest thing I take away from tonight? This side is great on its day but still needs quality incomings before it's a serious contender. Not good enough by any stretch of the imagination.
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