Liverpool have had the same gala line-up for almost two years. Those eleven players, twelve if we take into account the variables in the center of the field, have been able to win the Champions League and Premier League between 2019 and 2020, but it was when they missed the league title train in 2021 that criticism has flocked to Jürgen Klopp's door. The recent defeat against Manchester City (1-4) cast doubt on the project, at least in the English press, after three losses in a row at Anfield.
The focus of criticism is on the signings. Since the achievement of the Champions League in Madrid, Liverpool has made nine hires and practically none of them start week after week in the first team. Of the nine, two of them were explicitly for the subsidiary team, that is, future signings, such as Seep van den berg (on loan at the Preston) and Harvey Elliot, which is leaving in his loan at Blackburn with only 17 years. He already has four goals and eight assists in the second division, after having played some games with Liverpool last year. Besides them, Adrian San MigueHe came to be the replacement for Alisson (a position he has lost even now, because the young Kelleher plays before), while the last two transfers of the winter market (Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies) were booked from express way, almost to everyone's surprise, forced by the injury situation in the 'net' squad.
The four most notorious signings in all this time have been Thiago Alcántara, Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas and Takumi Minamino. The latter has gone on loan to Southampton, after a year without making an impression at Anfield, while Tsimikas arrived to rest Robertson and he has been injured for a long time. In case of Thiago and Jota are similar. Two injuries have separated them both for several weeks, but Jota was decisive -5 goals- when he had the opportunity to play … although he has Salah, Firmino and Mané.
However, the English media are looking for culprits. “The owners have disappointed Jürgen Klopp,” wrote Henry Winter in The Times, while the Mirror notes that “all nine signings point to a worrying transfer policy.” By last, Carragher has recognized that it takes three starting signings to boost the team.