No doubt that defence overall will have to be helped further off the pitch with some signings, let alone signing a single CB. We’ll have some inevitable questions at full back going into next summer also.
Defending overall though will have to be improved also by more training and games. What do all 11 players do off the ball, from up the pitch all the way back through different phases. Improve that and then defending in defence is helped on the pitch.
We’ll see if it’s January when we add a defender, as things stand I think we’ll risk it with 3 + someone out of position in order to get Guehi done (could be a Matip type of early agreement, but maybe Marc might also want to wait and see his options).
Unpopular for sure, but as things stand that’s what I think we’ll do. Though there’s still a lot of football to be played until January and the end of January.
I thought we made a big mistake in the summer of 2020 by going into next season with 3 main CB’s, after we sold Lovren (right isolated decision). That was also different to now, but just to give an example.
And as for other positions, even if they’re less critical, we’re naturally always open for opportunities, like a number of quality deals and players we signed in January transfer windows over the years.
I don’t subscribe to the idea though that signing someone like Semenyo, who is apparently a good presser and because he’s physical, will be the main aspect of us recovering our press. It doesn’t work like that. The current players will have to do it and as soon as possible, only partly potentially helped by further signings.
There’s still the majority of the season to be played, things to win, compete and potential damage to be made (hopefully as least as possible if it simply ends up being a bad season).
Yeah. Especially given our issues at RB, that given the type of injuries we’re dealing with are likely to be ongoing, not being able to play Gomez there because we’re too light at CB to risk losing him…you have to bring in a CB, and not a Kabak style body but someone who will fire a rocket under Ibou’s arse
Fine and all but defending from the back won’t work if we start having to play Graverberch there like Hendo and Fabinho.
We need a CB pure and simple. We need four and even if you say we’ll Leoni is our fourth we have a 35 year old, a bloke who keeps talking about decisions he will make at the season end and a player who he won’t play because he might get injured (and to be honest that’s not unlikely).
Sometimes we can’t control the sequence of signings but at least a couple of needs are apparent. Centre back for me is chief among them. We know that Guehi fell though at the last minute. We also know that Leoni is out for the season, unlucky for that lad. So we are two central defenders down, right there.
Now factor in Konate’s iffy form, and Gomez not being trusted to play by Slot (I’m sure due to his body not his quality) and the position looks vulnerable.
I think we need two central defenders, and one of them should be coming in as soon as possible at the start of January.
But I’m not sure whether we’ll go and buy one, be it paying for Guehi (I highly doubt it) or someone else. If we get one more injury, then that surely affects things.
I also think we cannot compare 20/21 too much when we first thought the best idea was to play Hendo and Fabinho at CB, before saving the season with Phillips and Willliams (he’s still here by the way!).
Overall, I’ve been saying for a long time now that we are dangerously ignoring certain situations in defence.
And I agree, I feel sorry for Virgil when I see what’s around him. Konate who doesn’t know who’s carrying his head since the start of the season and Kerkez who looks out of his depth, whether he’s more tucked in or wider.
We have a Japanese kicker who carries a gumshield while trying to do so by the way, but not that it’s the answer to our problems. Have to get to duels first.
Should have bought Ben White in that 2020-2021 winter instead of Kabak. That could have cut our losses significantly. After that, we could have still bought Konate in the following summer like we did IRL. A CB list including VVD, Matip, Konate and White would have been a very strong and deep one.
Another mistake is chasing after Bellingham and failing instead of snatching Declan Rice from Arsenal. Should have bought him in 2022 following the near-quadruple 2021-2022 season.
We ignored some situations in defence for a while now. I can’t necessarily say it should’ve been player A in that window or player B in another. Transfers can depend on a few things.
We often risked too close to the limit at CB and then what we have now, a backup in Joe Gomez who we don’t even trust (and it’s not without reasons). Or crying that an 18-year old who played an hour against a Championship side isn’t fit and available.
We don’t need 5-6 CB’s or 10 defenders overall, but the situation we have now at CB just isn’t the right healthy balance. A bit of bad luck over the Guehi deal added to it.
We chased Bellingham the most ahead of the summer of 2023.
As for Rice, in retrospective, I think if we had known that we would get very good Saudi money to sell Fabinho and Hendo, we might have got involved for him. He has since evolved more into an all action #8 type of midfielder rather than a specialist #6.
It’s easy now to pinpoint some things and some other things who weren’t that clear at the time. Did we know right after Paris what would happen to our midfield? What did the stats say? We obviously had other ideas, going big for Nunez, which didn’t work out.
The stats did reveal that our midfield consists of players reaching or already in their 30s (Thiago, Hendo, Milner), youngsters (Jones, Elliott) and perennially injured ones (Ox, Keita, and Thiago as well). Someone like Rice was absolutely needed.
Basically a perfect Hendo replacement. Rice can play #8 and at the same time can still play #6 when needed.
I agree that Rice would’ve been a quality addition. Even if at the time, there would be slight stylistical questions, as we really needed a #6 and we played in a single pivot structure.
I’d just be careful with the word ‘should’. It’s not the same for example if most of us agree we should’ve kept Anelka in 2002 and then we should have signed Ben White of all people in 2021. There are many players out there.
It’s up for debate what we targeted in 2022 and the timing/money aspect in 2023, because I feel we couldn’t really count on Saudi offering such very good deals to take Fabinho and Hendo. Once it arrived, I feel we said among ourselves, f*ck it, accept and let’s go for more changes than planned. Because I’m pretty sure Klopp actually planned or was open to keep some of them (maybe one of two).
Right after Paris, I cannot really fault us for thinking we need a bit of new quality in the striker department (though I was skeptical about Nunez). That team came a few goals short of a quadruple and ended the season with Mane up top. It’s true about the age factor in midfield though.
And I cannot say I’m unhappy with the majority of midfielders we bought (and how they evolved since) in 2023, almost getting Caicedo also (that’s likely connected to the timing factor I mentioned, otherwise we could’ve got involved sooner).
But the defence and especially the CB area, that’s one area where I’ve been saying for a good few years now that we’re ignoring it and it could bite us again.
