{"id":1557,"date":"2019-07-04T18:52:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T18:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1557"},"modified":"2019-07-04T18:52:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T18:52:53","slug":"looking-at-liverpools-squad-the-final-third","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/looking-at-liverpools-squad-the-final-third\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking At Liverpool\u2019s Squad: The Final Third"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Evidently I must be a glutton for punishment, given that I\u2019ve decided to finish my look at Liverpool\u2019s squad as it currently is despite having endured a degree of abuse over the past week for daring to have an opinion other than how amazing everything is. To clarify, just in case someone\u2019s missed the point if this, my opinion is not based on the performance of the team last season. Clearly, notching up 97 points in the Premier League and winning the Champions League means that we\u2019re a very, very good team. Yet we\u2019re not perfect. We suffered during January because of a lack of depth in the squad and J\u00fcrgen Klopp basically threw both the FA Cup and League Cup because he knew that there was no real chance that we\u2019d be able to play in four competitions this season unless his squad began to resemble extras from The Walking Dead. We got lucky with injuries to our most important players last term, which isn\u2019t the same as saying that we didn\u2019t suffer any injuries, but if we get as fortunate this time around I\u2019ll be amazed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Those out there being so upset on Klopp &amp; Co not making any signings, just keep calm. It\u2019s true that we need to improve our squad depth but more than anything else, we should trust Klopp. He definitely has things planned out. I trust my manager, do you? &#x1f914; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Liverpool Edge (@LiverpoolEdge) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LiverpoolEdge\/status\/1146802477322293249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I think the current vogue of just replying \u2018trust the manager, trust Michael Edwards\u2019 to even the smallest critique of the club is an odd position to take. Obviously I trust Klopp. It takes just the slightest look back over my articles to realise I\u2019m a huge advocate of the German and I readily admit that he know more about football than I\u2019ll ever know. It\u2019s not as if he\u2019s never made a mistake, however. Last season alone he settled for a point at both Old Trafford and Goodison Park, despite Manchester United being injury ravaged and all over the place and Everton forever being Everton. It\u2019s ok to ask questions and still be completely supportive of the project and the people responsible for bringing it to fruition. As <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/buysheep\/status\/1145254423502950400\">@buysheep said to me<\/a>, it is possible to simultaneously have faith in the manager <strong>and<\/strong> want the club to strengthen. It doesn\u2019t mean that you think the club\u2019s a disgrace just because you think bringing a backup left-back in might be a good idea. Anywhere, here\u2019s my look at the attack.<\/p>\n<h2>The Front 3 Are Amazing<\/h2>\n<p>In my previous pieces on both the defensive third and the midfield I\u2019ve ranked them out of 10. I gave the defence a 7 and the midfield a 6.5, with my reasoning being about how we need to improve moving forward. In terms of the current front three, there\u2019s no question that they\u2019re a 10. You could maybe label them as a 9.5 if you wanted more goals from Roberto Firmino, but the job that he does in knitting together attack and defence is invaluable. When he plays well, the team as a whole plays well and it\u2019s only when teams have nullified his abilities that they\u2019ve looked like getting something out of us. They are glorious to watch play when they\u2019re in full flow, offering numerous different manners of attack that defences struggle to cope with.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Mane should be the face of Liverpool&#8217;s attack<br \/>\nAbsolute beast!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Cactus&#x1f335; (@Olaveez) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Olaveez\/status\/1134937567525314566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the scariest thing about them is that they\u2019re likely to improve. Mo Salah performed like a \u2018normal\u2019 striker compared to the 2017-2018 season, so if he\u2019s able to find the same kind of form he had the season before he\u2019ll be electric. Sadio Man\u00e9 seems to be growing in stature with every passing campaign, too. The interesting thing about the Egyptian is that he seems to get caught up in the narrative for a time. Think of how he went on a barren spell when he was aiming to hit his 50th Premier League goal for us. If he gets over that kind of mental block then he\u2019ll become virtually unstoppable. Hopefully his Champions League final penalty gives him the confidence he needs to do it in all of the big games.<\/p>\n<h2>The Drop Off Is Massive<\/h2>\n<p>All three of our first-choice strikers have been involved in either the Africa Cup of Nations or the Copa America this summer. The likelihood is that they won\u2019t be around for the first few games of the season, so we\u2019ll have to turn to the likes of Divock Origi and Rhian Brewster to supply us with the goals. I haven\u2019t known a reputation to precede a player as it has for Brewster since Raheem Sterling began making his way through the Academy. I very much hope that he\u2019s every inch the player he\u2019s being spoken of as, but the reality is that he has yet to play a senior game. He could be absolutely sensational, but he could also be like a deer in the headlights until he gains some experience. As for Origi, he scored some massive goals last season and is a cult hero, but if we\u2019re all honest he didn\u2019t actually play that well very often. Even in the European Cup final he stank the place out until he put the ball into the back of the net.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If Liverpool wanna win the league Klopp has to be ruthless and unsettle his starting 11 imo. Always room for improvement. Can only see them signing squad players tbh<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u2321. &#x1f54a; (@iamJermaineP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iamJermaineP\/status\/1146015228532051968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Goals matter, of course they do. The big ones the Belgian scored will go down in Liverpool folklore. But all round play matters, too. On that front, Origi is lacking and we\u2019re nowhere near as strong a team overall when he comes in to replace one of the front three. Look on the club website and there are six forwards listed, with the ones mentioned thus far joined by Taiwo Awoniyi. No, I don\u2019t know who he is either. I readily accept that it\u2019s difficult to buy an attacker for this Liverpool team, but it\u2019s not my job to know the players available that fit the brief. The only thing I do know is that the drop off is currently too great, so Edwards and his team should be thinking long and hard about who can come in and make a difference. Origi\u2019s become a cult hero and Brewster promises to be something special, but we\u2019re currently heading into the next season hoping they perform if one of the front three gets injured. That\u2019s got me worried.<\/p>\n<h2>Overall Score<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s be generous and give the current front three 10 out of 10. The backups are either unproven or just ok, even if Origi does have the ability to score some big goals. I think they\u2019re probably a 4 <strong>as things currently are<\/strong>, which gives the attack a 7 overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evidently I must be a glutton for punishment, given that I\u2019ve decided to finish my look at Liverpool\u2019s squad as it currently is despite having endured a degree of abuse over the past week for daring to have an opinion other than how amazing everything is. To clarify, just in case someone\u2019s missed the point if this, my opinion is not based on the performance of the team last season. Clearly, notching up 97 points in the Premier League and winning the Champions League means that we\u2019re a very, very good team. Yet we\u2019re not perfect. We suffered during January [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1558,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions\/1558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}