Believe it or not, If we have a fully fit squad i'm very positive about us moving forward - that just seems hard to achieve that at the moment
our squad is so paper-thin because of poor investment that as soon as a few players get injured we crumble. Henderson was hugely missed today, and had the likes of Sturridge/Ings/Gomez/Flanagan been available we would have obviously improved further.....
I think that's worth remembering (and what I see Klopp thinking), this window.
The first three in particular would doubtless of played a massive part in things this year had they not been injured. Daniel goes without saying. Ings looks the perfect Klopp player. Fantastic workrate and end product. And Gomez had a whirlwind start to his young top flight career before the season was cruelly taken from him. I expect him to be in the centre back rotation next year, but if not there he'd surely of gotten game time at either FB slot this year where we've basically had to run with 2 guys consistently. Add the developing Can (who still has a LONG way to go for me despite flashing his undoubted potential but that's for another discussion), Ibe, Origi and (hopefully, if he ever fully recovers to play at this level again) Flanagan; along with
maybe the returning Markovic and Wisdom next year and one or two others like Rossiter; and you've got a good young crop he'll doubtless relish trying to develop. And you can throw the new Serb Grujic in that group as he'll be just 20 with a mere one season of Serbian top flight football under his belt when he arrives.
What we
don't want to be doing (and I don't believe we will. Gut feeling), is signing say an experienced guy who's better than what we currently have to see us through this year, but not the ideal first XI player going forward; who will doubtless be on a 2/3 year deal at good money. And as such will be another potential block in the development on one of those youngsters mentioned above from next summer. We definitely need to be balancing up the 'here and now' with the overall bigger picture of the long term build.
As regards January targets, I don't know about specific names, but we most certainly need as a priority for me 'keeper, centre back and a mobile, better quality defensive midfielder who knows the position and is a step up from Lucas. With FB depth next on the agenda. If we had a reliable man between the sticks and a commanding centre back, along with a quality DM in front (Bender from Leverkusen maybe? Lucas I'd keep as a squad player. But he's not someone you want there every game. Not lest at home when we need to come out a lot more. Was this Mascherano still you'd have no fear. But Lucas .....); that would go a LONG way to giving us the stability back there to build on and let the attacking side get back it's confidence and flourish as they've flashed the ability to in spells.
I'm confident we won't be signing players just for the sake of it to fill out the squad though like we boneheadedly have right back to Rafa. They will have to be better than what we have, fit what he wants and requires from them; and not get in the way of long term development if they aren't going to be starters.
Here's a question ..... Benteke. Do we persevere? Or do we start planning for his departure next summer right now and (just throwing out a name for the sake of this) go big for someone of quality you may well get in January with no Europe at a struggling club like Lacazette? With Daniel's health issues, another top bracket striker into the mix along with Ings and Origi might not be a bad move. But is it too soon to write off Benteke? Yes, we overpaid for him. And yes, he's woefully under performed. But he's still our second biggest transfer ever so do we have to try make this one work?
