Liverpool has been looking a bit better lately, playing some improved football and achieving good results, but this improvement doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be able to climb up to a Champions League spot. They are pretty close right now, sitting on 7th place with 38 points, just 4 points less than 4th placed Southampton. However, Liverpool’s office should not have been fooled by this recent streak of good results – the team still has a lot of problems, the main ones being lack of quality and depth, that could have been fixed throughout the January transfer window.
The Reds didn’t sign any new players during the last month and according to the team’s official website, the only new face in the first-team will be the recall from loan of Jordon Ibe. Nevertheless, this inactivity on the transfer market doesn’t automatically say that Liverpool is going to stop playing good – it just means that things could have been so much better.
To start with, Liverpool’s office could have definitely thought of something to fix their problems at goal. Simon Mignolet, has been in abysmal form this season, except his last two-three matches. However, with the injury to Brad Jones, Mignolet is back in the first team and frankly, I don’t know which of the goalkeepers has been playing worse. Nevertheless, it looks like the Reds are stuck with Mignolet until the end of the season and they can just hope that his improved form of late will continue.
At the attacking end, I don’t think you can find anyone in the team that is not happy with the return of Daniel Sturridge. After being out for five months, due to injury, Sturridge came back and instantly provided Liverpool with the scoring touch they so desperately needed. Even though he has played just four times this season in the Premier League, he has scored two goals and he is tied up for the team’s highest-scoring forward in the league with Rickie Lambert – Fabio Borini has one goal, while Mario Balotelli none. But it is really strange that Liverpool didn’t make any effort to signing a forward that can be a reliable backup if Sturridge gets himself injured again. If Sturridge doesn’t miss any time – the Reds will have one of the best strikers playing for them, but if he has to sit on the sidelines, that would spell a lot of trouble for the attack.
It’s really a strange decision that Liverpool didn’t make any moves in January, as everybody who has been following the Barclay’s Premier League knows their depth has been a troubling problem throughout the whole season. If the Reds continue with their current form, they could be sitting on 4th place in no time, but this would mean that no one from the first-team should suffer serious injuries (especially Sturridge) and Simon Mignolet should find a way not to be awful again.
Barclays Premier League: Liverpool stays quiet in the Transfer Window
No comments:
Post a Comment