Liverpool legend John Aldridge has criticised the club’s senior players for their performances against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday.
The Reds were deservedly beaten 2-1 at Molineux to crash out of the FA Cup, and Aldridge was less than impressed by what he saw from some Liverpool stars.
“Two or three of that line up won’t be at the club come the start of pre-season,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column. “I don’t want to name names but we all know who they are. Monday night underlined that they need to be replaced.
“[Ki-Jana] Hoever and fellow youngsters Curtis Jones and Rafa Camacho needed help but they got very little. You certainly couldn’t attach any blame to the young lads.
“Monday night proved that the squad isn’t as strong as we thought it was. Klopp will know that for us to challenge on all fronts next season he’s going to need more depth. He needs another three or four players.”
OPINION
So there are two main points that Aldridge is making here. Firstly, he is saying that two or three of the players who started against Wolves won’t be at Liverpool for the start of next season. We can reasonably assume that he is referencing Divock Origi, Alberto Moreno and Simon Mignolet – possibly Daniel Sturridge as well. Moreno’s contact is up in the summer and there seems to be no indication that he will either leave this month or sign an extension. He is a decent back up player but certainly no big loss to Jurgen Klopp’s side. Origi and Mignolet are merely squad players who could well leave in the summer to find first team football. Sturridge, like Moreno, is out of contract in the summer and his future is unclear. Then Aldridge is saying that Liverpool need three or four players to compete across multiple fronts. That seems a bit strong, surely one or two quality additions in key areas would do it?
