On Monday night, Liverpool scraped a 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace, as club-record signing Darwin Nunez saw red for a head-butt on Eagles centre-back Joachim Andersen. The result and dismissal were bad news for Jurgen Klopp’s team, who drew their opening league game of the season 2-2 at top-flight new boys Fulham.
The opening two gameweek results paired with several injuries and suspensions may just lay bare the fact that Liverpool does not have great squad depth.
Has Liverpool brought in enough quality this summer?
Liverpool brought in Nunez, a backup right-back Calvin Ramsey from Aberdeen, and promising young attacker Fabio Carvalho from Fulham. The latter are for the future, but in Nunez, the Reds have one of the most dangerous forwards in the European game.
The men from Merseyside sold one of their main attacking threats in, Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich. The theory was that Nunez’s impact would replace Mane’s influence, even though the pair have very different styles of play. The 30-year-old was a player that the Reds could rely on to come up with big moments when needed.
They also sold the likes of Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino. Both were players who didn’t play regularly. However, the latter was a useful player coming off the bench and scored some vital goals in his Reds career. In fact, last night’s scenario may have been perfect for him to come on and make an impact. However, they no longer have that option.
Injuries and suspensions
Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has stated that his team has injury problems. Currently, the Reds are without Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ibrahima Konate, Calvin Ramsay, Diogo Jota and Caoimhin Kelleher through injury.
Centre-back Joel Matip and forward Roberto Firmino missed the Palace game. However, the pair could be fit enough for the Reds trip to bitter north west rivals Manchester United next Monday. The suspension of Nunez is also causing concern with Firmino and Jota, also currently sidelined.
Liverpool has a decent squad when everybody is fit. However, the current situation means Jurgen Klopp’s options are restricted. It seems unlikely that the club will dip their feet in the transfer market before the transfer window closes too.
Liverpool already playing catch up on City
It sounds strange so early in the Premier League campaign, but Liverpool are already playing catch-up on title rivals and reigning champions Manchester City. In recent seasons, Jurgen Klopp’s team have been the only team to realistically challenge Pep Guardiola’s team for the English top-flight crown.
However, such is the consistency of Manchester City, already being four points behind them at this stage of the season could prove fatal to the Reds title challenge even at this early stage of the season.
They have not started the new campaign that anybody associated with the club would have wanted. No doubt Liverpool will recover from this relatively poor start to the season by their high standards of the campaign. They have quality players in their ranks. Only time will tell whether it will be enough to challenge for the big trophies.
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Is Liverpool’s poor start to the campaign going to derail the rest of their season?
