Klopp needs to act now to prevent of repeat of fatal Liverpool mistake
Sam McGuire
- 25 Oct 2023 12:18 BST
- 4 min read
Liverpool focused solely on their midfield during the summer transfer window. They did a pretty good job overhauling their middle third options, losing five and bringing in four to complete the rebuild.
This summer, all eyes will be on the defence.
Joel Matip is out of contract, Ibrahima Konate is fairly injury-prone and Joe Gomez is yet to really get minutes at centre-back having filled in at full-back this season. Jarell Quansah is a highly-rated talent but Liverpool need to reinforce this particular area of the team sooner rather than later.
While improving the centre-back options is a priority, the Reds also need to address the left-back situation.
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Why Liverpool need a left-back
On paper, it is a position of strength. Scotland captain Andrew Robertson is the regular starter and his backup is Greece international Kostas Tsmikas. As far as depth goes, this is one of the strongest parts of the team for the Reds.
However, when you delve a little deeper, things don’t look quite as positive. For example, Robertson is 30 in March and he’s played a lot of football since joining the Merseyside club in 2017. At some point, it is going to catch up to him and there is going to be a dramatic decline. Just look at what happened to the mainstays of Klopp’s all-conquering Liverpool team a few years back.
Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and even Sadio Mane all suffered abrupt declines. It felt as though it happened overnight. The same sort of fate could soon be on the cards for the Liverpool No.26. In his six full seasons at Anfield, he’s played over 3,000 Premier League minutes on three occasions. In fact, the only time he’s not managed a minimum of 2,500 minutes in the English top-flight was during his debut season, when he didn’t break into the starting XI for a period of time following his move from Hull.
Robertson is averaging 2,800 Premier League minutes per season across his campaigns with the club. When you factor in his involvement in European competition, he’s eclipsing 3,000 minutes every term. That is the equivalent of 33 full 90-minute matches - and that doesn’t factor in international football either.
There’s a lot of running in those legs. Eventually, he will pay a price. It just has to.
He has a deal with the club until 2026. At the end of this season, a decision is going to have to be made whether to extend his stint at Anfield, sell him next summer or let him run down his deal and leave on a free in two years.
Regardless of the decision, an adequate backup is going to have to be targeted. Tsimikas only recently penned a contract extension but that was likely more to protect his value rather than a clear sign he’s viewed as a viable successor to Robertson.
Though he does well on occasion, he's somewhat limited and this is becoming more and more noticeable. He filled in for the injured Scotsman in the Merseyside derby and struggled against a lacklustre Everton team.
He was substituted after 62 minutes, likely because he's the only senior left-back on the books at the minute so Klopp wanted to manage his game time but also because he was underperforming on the day. The German tactician opted to use Luis Diaz as a wingback in place of Tsimikas.
It was a change that needed to be made. The Greek left-footer completed 81% of his passes, won zero tackles, failed to complete the single dribble he attempted, lost all four ground duels and committed three fouls.
There was a brief break in the first half and the camera focused on Klopp having a word with his No.21. After that, Liverpool players were noticeably trying to boost his confidence.
This spell in the starting XI filling in for the injured Robertson will shape the rest of his career at Anfield. If he doesn't show he can be a viable replacement then he could well be sacrificed in the summer for someone who is. And that further complicates Liverpool's summer plans.
