🔴 EOTK INSIDER 🔴: Gerrard's potential mistake, Liverpool's MAJOR transfer concerns... and more! ✍️
What on earth did Liverpool do to deserve their shoddy injury luck over the last two seasons? Worse yet... will they be able to safely navigate the bumps set to come further down the road?
Context is really key when we assess the state of Liverpool’s season so far - particularly if we wish to negate the soul-crushing wave of negativity that’s wreaking havoc across the Twittersphere.
We’re currently sitting fourth in the Premier League - only a point behind Manchester City and four adrift of the league leaders Chelsea.
So… not exactly what one might classify as a disaster, right?
To be completely fair to the doom-mongers, the Reds have incurred a miniature injury crisis in midfield that did appear to bear a startling resemblance to the season destroying cascade of niggles and long-term issues that will forever define our failed title defence.
Indeed, as things stand, our injury list is looking far from pretty.
A moment of silence please for those internally screaming…
We can probably chalk off the skipper’s name from that list following Jurgen Klopp’s pre-Arsenal update, though it seems things will likely go down to the wire depending on availability for training and so on and so forth.
Regardless, SEVEN injured first-team squad stars is hardly encouraging news ahead of a particularly heavy festive run of fixtures - 12, to be precise, from our upcoming meeting with Mikel Arteta’s Gunners outfit to the end of December.
With our midfield doing an accurate (though far from amusing) impression of our defensive crisis last term, Liverpool’s Twitter grinches do have some reason to be grouchy.
We don’t necessarily need to worry about the Champions League at this precise moment in time courtesy of our perfect start in the group stages, which should hand us something of a lifeline when it comes to resting key men.
However, excluding both our remaining European meetings with FC Porto and AC Milan, and our EFL Cup clash with Leicester City (for which a relatively strong team will likely be named), we’re still talking about nine games in 39 days (roughly a game every four days).
Even without a single injury to account for, that will take a lot out of your squad (unless you can swap in a decent second-string in as Manchester City will undoubtedly do).
Given we’re at risk of inviting the rot of cold-blooded negativity into this discussion, however, it’s important that we caveat this analysis with an alternative perspective: this is generally the most difficult part of the season for Klopp.
If the former Borussia Dortmund mastermind can navigate us relatively safely through the next month or so without any more serious casualties, it has to be considered a success. On top of that, from that point on we should see further improvements.
A lot will undoubtedly be made over where Liverpool find themselves sitting in the league table at Christmas as far as our title chances are concerned. That having been said though, as we’ve recently proven, being top whilst Santa’s out and about delivering presents doesn’t necessarily mean an awful lot.
Like last season, we’ll need to figure out how to solve a positional problem that’s leading to further concerns around the pitch. This year, the midfield has taken the spotlight but there’s no reason why Jurgen Klopp and his fellow braniacs can’t solve this particular conundrum.
There’s a sense that we’ll be waiting on one of the likes of James Milner, Curtis Jones or Naby Keita coming back to add some much-needed solidity to the middle of the park.
Fortunately, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing two out of three back in training at the very least before the month is up and Liverpool’s stars are applying their war paint ahead of the brutal number of fixtures to contend with in December.
12 games… 39 days… Oh, and the small matter of Steven Gerrard’s visit to Anfield as Aston Villa boss in mid-December.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for that hug Klopp’s promised his former colleague!
EXCLUSIVE: Scottish journalists explain how Gerrard’s ‘in demand’ assistant is helping balance his weaknesses… plus an Aston Villa prediction!
Does Steven Gerrard owe all his success to this one coach? Would his move to Aston Villa have been a failure before it got started without him? It’s interesting to note how highly regarded our former No.8’s assistant at Villa Park is and how instrumental a role he played in Rangers’ successes in Scotland. Could a managerial role be on the horizon?
Gerrard may have a WWE star angrily knocking on his door… what does Gary Lineker think of his Villa switch? And is he destined for the Liverpool job?
Should Gerrard survive a visit from one of wrestling’s finest, he’ll have a unique challenge to overcome in the West Midlands. The question remains, of course: will the former No.8 be primed for another managerial switch when the Liverpool job becomes available in 2024?
And last but not least…
#Ep22 of The Red Nets Podcast: Are Liverpool doomed to transfer mediocrity after Edwards leaves? Has Gerrard made a mistake leaving Rangers?
We know, we know. This latest newsletter has been rather Gerrard-heavy… so we thought we’d balance things out with some Michael Edwards chat (and just a pinch of Gerrard - sorry!). Our transfer guru supreme dropped something of a bombshell (albeit an expected one) on the Liverpool fanbase with his announcement that he’ll be parting ways with us in the summer… but he’s not left us entirely empty-handed.
This international break has thrown a few curveballs at us but, as Michael Edwards has himself noted, change can be fulfilling. We’ll be hoping to have some more positive news for you all next time around!
Until then, feel free to keep up to date with all the latest news around Liverpool Football Club by hitting that subscribe button! See you soon.