Well, we they should have backed him in the summer. Sickening to think we'll have regrets under Jurgen, him not being backed properly by the owners is certainly one. We are asking him to try and win trophies with one arm tied behind his back and looks like we will pay a heavy price for that this season.
It's for this reason alone that I strongly believe Klopp is safe as houses when it comes to the security of his position, regardless of anything said in the worst areas of the media or online. Yeah, the pandemic has fucked the finances in the game, but for almost his entire tenure he's balanced the books while winning the biggest trophies in the game. I'm not a fan of the chequebook managers (cough... Pep.... cough...) but there comes the time when the owners need to invest
without selling, and while Edwards has been something of a genius I also believe he could do even more if given a bit more capital to work with. Our fully fit first team is frankly astonishing, and would have wiped the floor with that shower tonight: Ali-TAA-Gomez-VVD-Robbo-Thiago-Henderson-Fabinho-Mane-Salah-Firmino. Put them on a pitch and watch the opponents - any opponents - shit themselves.
But it's outside of that core that we're simply not strong enough. Jota, yes, he's been the best buy since VVD. Jones is a reminder of the 90's when we had Macca, Fowler, Gerrard, Owen coming through. Shaq is interesting in that we all thought he would barely feature, but he's proved useful and does at least put a shift in and raise energy levels. Our other squad players however are either being asked to perform way above their expected level (Williams, Phillips, Kelleher), being overused (Milner), being underused (Tsimikas, still can't explain that one), are massively inconsistent with injuries (Keita, Ox, Matip), or have a foot out of the door already (Origi, Wijnaldum). So it's hardly surprising that we're having the continuing breakdowns with the players Klopp clearly trusts;
they're all fucking knackered. Losing Fabinho and Henderson, both out of position and weakening our midfield options, is just the cherry on the shit pie of this season. The bad luck is one thing, but the squad not being strong enough is entirely another in my opinion. A rebuild of the rest of the squad is due.
I can only hope that this season will be yet another evolutionary lesson for the ownership of FSG and the need to not only get to the top but to stay there. But given the last minute dash to the depths of the Bundesliga and the Championship for defensive cover, I'll retain a degree of skepticism as to how we'll fund it. The rumours of something interesting happening in the summer may raise a little bit of excitement, but will it be at a cost elsewhere on the pitch? Only time will tell, but for now the focus must be on supporting. The lack of the twelfth man in the ground is probably the biggest issue of all, and our lads need it more than ever now.