Endo seems like he’ll be easy to root for. Wear-his-heart on the sleeve type of player, and Klopp clearly loves those types. Now it’s totally possible to root for such a player, and also despair at our transfer strategy. Those two aren’t mutually incompatible at all.
I will take great pleasure in watching an underdog on the pitch and proving his doubters wrong, but let’s be clear, our recruitment strategy is an absolute mess:
- The very rationale of selling Fabinho and Henderson was that they were ageing players in terminal decline, and that we’d never see such money for them ever game. That entire rationale (and a good chunk of the money gained from selling them) has now gone towards a player who’s older than Fabinho, who will inevitably decline and leave on a free.
- The idea that a 30-year old player who’s never played at the highest level, will suddenly come to one of the toughest leagues in the world, and play like a top-end DM is fanciful. There’s not even a handful of players who’ve come to the PL aged 30 and done anything great here. And those include some absolutely world class players like Shevchenko, Thiago etc.
- Endo has never played at a high-level. His 6 years in Europe have been for not even mid-table teams. Stuttgart were a division 2 team when he joined, and they’ve basically battled relegation in all the seasons he was there bar one. Sint-Truden are a mid-table team in Belgium. He’s never once played in a European competition.
- The idea that he is some hidden gem is delusional. If he were truly a top end talent, it is inconceivable that not a single bigger team in Germany or a Europa league team across Europe didn’t think of buying him.
- It may well be true that he’s an underrated and solid footballer. We’ve seen loads of those across the years in England, and it’s possible he’s pretty decent. The idea however that he can be someone playing 3000+ minutes for a team with top 4 or title aspirations in the most difficult league in the world is laughable.
- At the very best, he’ll be good enough to be a 1200-1800 minute contributor on a good team, and will be a highly committed and capable professional. Nothing wrong with that, but we desperately need more than that.
There’s a genuine concern that we’re unrecognisable as a Klopp team anymore. 2018-2022, we were one of the most physical and athletic teams in Europe with top-end athletes across the pitch. At the back, we had VVD – the best 1v1 CB on the planet, two pacy young full-backs with relentless running power. Protected by a midfield who had an absolute duel king in Fabinho at no. 6 (easily a top 5 player in his position in Europe), flanked by two defensive-minded running monsters in Hendo and Gini. Gini in particular had top-tier upper body strength, and was virtually impossible to dispossess. Up front, we had two of the paciest and most physical 1v1 wide forwards, and in the middle we had the absolute gold standard for forward pressing in Bobby. What could you do against this team physically? We’d win most of our games before we stepped on the pitch, because everyone knew they didn’t have a hope in hell to outrun, outpace or outfight us. Even the brilliant teams like City or Bayern were scared of us.
Where are we today from a physical standpoint? Declined at every single area on the pitch. van Dijk is a shadow of himself, and Robertson is clearly declining as an athlete. Matip and Gomez have declined so much that they are borderline liabilities. Konate is the only standout athlete, but the jury is very much out on his ability to stay fit. Trent is still in his athletic prime, but has lost all interest in defending.
The midfield? Fabinho, Hendo and Gini have all left. Macallister and Szoboszlai have pretty strong profiles as runners and pressers, but they are more offensive minded, and don’t have the ability at duels than Hendo and Gini had. At DM, we now have an 18 year old who’s too raw to frankly offer anything more than 1200 minutes, and a 30 year old who’s never played at the top level. He has no business playing more than 1500 minutes for a top team either. Who will take be the 3000+ minute player at DM then?
In attack also, we’ve declined physically. Salah is still quick, but obviously not as quick or strong at 1v1s as he was 4 years ago. Diaz is rapid, but nowhere as strong or physical as Mane. Gakpo is pretty skilled and a better finisher than Bobby, but isn’t even in the same stratosphere as a presser. Darwin is a top-class athlete, but the jury is fully out on his footballing IQ.
Where does that leave us then? At a technical level, there’s an argument to be made that the present team is better than the 2018-2022 team. We do have some excellent players on the ball now with Salah, Macallister, Szoboszali, Diaz, Gakpo and even Elliott and Jones. But they are nowhere as physical or athletic.
In defence and midfield, we are just significantly worse in almost every respect. We had a desperate need to add TWO top-tier athletes at LCB and DM, and we haven’t done that yet.
My prediction is that we will play quite well against the lower teams by virtue of our sheer technical superiority and will score a ton of goals in these games. I can see us doing pretty well in the Europa League as well for that reason. I think we’ll struggle however against the top 6 sides, or any well-coached team with a good press and physical players. We just don’t have the ability to consistently win 1v1 battles or pressing battles anymore. That’s my biggest concern because that was practically the identity of a Klopp team.
