Liverpool never make it easy for themselves, do they? What seemed like a good season a few weeks ago – yes, before Coutinho’s departure — could now become a one where the manager will have to use every ounce of resource to ensure the club meets its targets, which is a top-four finish at bare minimum and a run into the last eight of the Champions League.
While the league form will fluctuate and infuriate the fans in the coming months, many presume the Reds will beat Porto in the Champions League before their incredibly porous defence gives way and the side are knocked out by the modern-day Champions League heavyweights.
When your club manages to make about 142 million pounds from the sale of one player, you’d expect the backroom to be busy looking for a replacement. That hasn’t happened. They might be looking for one to sign in the summer, but because how chaotic the press is these days, it’s hard to believe who the club is actually after.
While the fans are losing their mind, Klopp remained calm as ever and said, “Philippe Coutinho is not going to be replaced in this transfer window. It’s about using our own tools, players and tactics.
“We could have won these games (against Swansea and West Brom). It was not about creating chances, it was about different stuff.”
So, what are Liverpool’s ‘players and tactics’?
Let’s look at the players and tactics then. Klopp’s setup is predictable; barring the changes he’s made at times this season to add more defensive solidity — the 4-4-2 – the primary model is still winning the ball high up the pitch. The weaknesses? Teams playing a deep backline, like Swansea and West Brom, and hitting the Reds on the break. The ‘tools’ to stop that? None.
While Henderson and Can can win the ball back at times, they aren’t consistent enough. That, coupled with the duo’s inability to win second balls when teams do pump the ball forward has hurt Liverpool quite a few times this season.
Barring the obvious geggenpress model, Klopp doesn’t really have a plan B, does he? We saw the likes of Alexander-Arnold and Moreno whip in umpteen crosses against West Brom and Salah barely managed to score a consolation. When the team is clueless, they need someone like Coutinho who isn’t just going to put in a blind cross, hoping someone can get at the end of it.
When the team were struggling to breach the defence of Swansea and West Brom, Coutinho or someone like him could have made a difference. Now that the Brazilian isn’t part of the club, a certain solution of getting past a low-block has disappeared, not just realistically, but also in Klopp’s mind, which is absolutely baffling. Wasn’t he supposed to be a manager who could change things instead of sitting behind the charm that has bailed him out so far?