Liverpool FC finished eighth in the Premier League table last season, and now that the summer transfer window is done and dusted, how much better are they? Three clubs: Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United look a tier above everyone else right now. You could argue that Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are all above Liverpool FC right now too.
So is seventh place the best case scenario for Liverpool?
We all believe in the long term master plan of boss Jurgen Klopp, but how exactly did they get much better this summer?
At least Klopp didn’t make the same mistake as his predecessor Brendan Rodgers, so let’s credit him for that. Rodgers lost his job for many reasons, the biggest being that he badly squandered two massive financial windfalls on very disappointing players; twice!
Rodgers missed opportunities to reshape and upgrade the club with the money gained from the Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling sales. He hitched his wagon to Christian Benteke, who obviously flopped, and found himself out the Anfield door. We bring Benteke up first because he’s a prime example of what Klopp really got right this window- cutting the deadwood.
At LFC, it was addition by subtraction mostly, with the Benteke, and of course the polarizing Mario Balotelli jettisoned.
Also, the Sadio Mane addition was stellar. He probably accounts for half the rating points we gave Liverpool here.
The Reds really needed to improve their defense; especially the left back position. They didn’t really even come close to doing that. Hence we gave them a 5/10, C-. Liverpool could have used two new marquee defenders and they couldn’t even bring in one.
Beyond that, it’s amazing how much this side has already changed from the exciting, fun to watch league runner-up side of 2013-14.
“Way back then” the three Ss in attack, Sterling, Suarez and Daniel Sturridge thrilled fans and conveyed a real team identity. Today, two of the three are gone, with Sturridge presently in a strange limbo/hard to define role. Those teams had a weak defense as well, but they could win shoot-outs, while this side doesn’t have the goal-scoring capabilities to over-compensate for a subpar back line.
Jurgen Klopp has some nice pieces, and he added a couple nice pieces this summer, but he failed to really get the keystone individuals to make it all work as a strong, cohesive unit.
Klopp knows what he’s doing, so give him some more time, but his roster is still quite lacking now that deadline day has come and passed.
Liverpool FC are like a person wearing a really nice shirt or pants, but can’t seem to locate the right accessories to “pull the whole outfit together.” They have some parts, but not the whole Gestalt to make the team more than the sum of its parts.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.