OPINION
Ray Houghton appeared to believe that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had made a mistake by not signing a few more players this summer and implied that the Reds may have a difficult job competing with Manchester City for the Premier League title as a result.
The Reds legend, he appeared over 150 times for the club, was asked by Tony Cascarino whether the Reds were wrong not to have spent big on transfers this summer.
“Yeah I think so, I don’t know the reasons behind it but I will say the manager has been brilliant in recent seasons as he has got them in really early,” said Houghton on talkSPORT (9:35am, Sunday, August 4th).
“When Mane first came in from Southampton and I did one of the pre-season matches and the manager was constantly getting him back in position, saying this is where I want you to have the ball, I don’t mind what you do on the ball but I want you back here, getting into shape, when we don’t.
“He did it two seasons with Salah, Salah didn’t know what was going on, after coming from Roma and Chelsea where he was given more a license to express himself, at Liverpool, Klopp was constantly on him when we lose the ball.
“And the same with Fabinho last season and Alisson.
“He’s always gone out there and brought in the right player at the right time, just this time around, I’m slightly surprised Liverpool haven’t brought in one or two additions to improve the squad.
“Because don’t forget a few have left, Moreno is gone, Sturridge is gone amongst others so they have depleted the squad and I know they’ve added some youngsters to the squad, they might get an opportunity further on.
“If you’re going to be competing to win the league again this season, you’ve got to show consistency, just look at Man City and look at their squad, they’ve brought in one or two this season and there’s even talk of them getting one or two in before the window closes.”
Houghton implies that Klopp has made an unexpected mistake at Liverpool by not adding to his squad, as he is surprised Liverpool haven’t signed more players given the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno having left, and his remarks also imply Klopp won’t fix his error before the window shuts.
The former Reds midfielder points out Klopp is normally someone who likes to get his transfer business done early as he likes to get his new recruits on board with how he would like them to play.
So far this season, the Reds have only signed youngsters Harvey Elliott and Sepp Van den Berg and it’s unclear whether either will prove to be instant improvements on the club’s current first-team options.
Given that the Reds finished a point behind Man City last season in the race for the Premier League title, and Pep Guardiola’s side having already spent over 70million, as per Sky Sports, then not signing notable improvements for their team may haunt the Reds.
As you will think that Man City will be able to do even better than they did last season, given they’ve potentially improved their team.
So with that in mind, only time will tell if Houghton is right to believe Klopp has made a mistake this summer as if they finished notably behind Man City then the proof will be in the pudding.
