After the promise of – and necessity for – a great rebuild, Liverpool and their supporters found themselves embarrassed twice over the space of 24 hours earlier in August.

By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com

Set to the backdrop of a 1-1 draw with Chelsea that hammered home the need for both sides to acquire an elite defensive midfielder (or, let’s face it, any defensive midfielder), Liverpool twice outbid their rivals for a target only to see them opt for Stamford Bridge instead.

First came Moises Caicedo, whose pursuit brought a British record £111 million bid from the Reds’ owners, Fenway Sports Group, encouraged by the lack of developments in Chelsea’s own advances.

But as it became clear that Caicedo did, in fact, not wish to join Liverpool, the focus pivoted back to long-term target Romeo Lavia – who, in turn, rejected a potential £60 million move to Anfield in favour of west London.

Twice, if reports are to be believed, Liverpool outbid Chelsea and were the only club to agree a fee with the sellers; twice they were turned down as two of the most talented young defensive midfielders in last season’s Premier League chose to join Mauricio Pochettino’s new side instead.

The situation left supporters to ask all number of questions of the club’s recruitment structure.

It appears as though there was never any real indication that Caicedo would head to Anfield instead of Stamford Bridge, but the temptation of luring him to Merseyside left talks with Southampton over Lavia to stall and the 19-year-old under no illusion he was second choice.

FSG figurehead John W. Henry flew into London to take in the Premier League opener between the Reds and the Blues, but his presence was clearly motivated by more than a marquee fixture.

The hope was that talks then took place between Henry and Jurgen Klopp, as Liverpool’s backroom presides over one of their most uncertain periods – far removed from previous years, when they became the envy of Europe.

With Michael Edwards gone and his replacement, Julian Ward, following 12 months later, the club made the surprise move to appoint a short-term successor as sporting director.

Jorg Schmadtke’s decision to put on hold his retirement to oversee the rebuild at Liverpool was met with derision by some in Germany, such was his reputation after spells with Hannover 96, FC Koln and, most recently, VfL Wolfsburg.

That was only magnified on Merseyside when the deals for Caicedo and Lavia collapsed, with Jamie Carragher among those to criticise.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher described it as a “joke” and an “absolute mess” that Liverpool have gone from Edwards to Ward to Schmadtke who, after his short-term deal is up, will then presumably make way for another permanent sporting director.

“They haven’t got deals done – that is your job, in that role, to get deals over the line,” he said.

“The two players Liverpool bought had buyout clauses. There’s no negotiating, there’s no big deal to go about it: you just meet the buyout clause.

“Liverpool have not got deals over the line and it’s been embarrassing.”

Those deals Carragher referred to were for Alexis Mac Allister – who, incidentally, was lined up by Ward, not Schmadtke – and Dominik Szoboszlai, who arrived earlier in the summer for a combined £95 million.

Since then, Liverpool have seen both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho make surprise moves to Saudi Arabia, which has undoubtedly left Liverpool on the back foot with two unplanned departures for key, senior midfielders.

But the desperate and ultimately failed campaigns for Lavia and Caicedo have made the situation decidedly worse, not only wasting further time to allow new signings to bed in but also showing their hand with a nine-figure bid for the latter.

The challenge now, then, with a fortnight remaining in the summer transfer window, is to fill the void in midfield and answer those questions over a recruitment team left humiliated.

Fortunately for the club, there is still time, and in Japan captain Wataru Endo the first piece of a jumbled jigsaw has been identified.

Few would have expected the 30-year-old from Stuttgart to be a target – and he was unlikely to have been high on Liverpool’s list at the start of the summer – but Endo joins as an experienced and immediate solution in the No. 6 role with a plethora of admirers from his time in the Bundesliga.

However, though he may make a strong impact upon his arrival from Germany, it is hard to escape the feeling that Endo is more stopgap than long-term solution – a reaction to Fabinho’s unexpected £40 million exit, rather than part of Klopp’s vision for “Liverpool reloaded.”

In order for Liverpool to come out of the summer window equipped to challenge on all fronts as they hope, Endo cannot be the end of their business.

Another, younger defensive midfielder would be the next priority, with Crystal Palace’s Cheick Doucoure suggested as the most likely candidate as talks open over a move for the Mali international. Aston Villa’s Boubacar Kamara and Fulham’s Joao Palhinha are touted as other targets, though Liverpool’s trademark signings are more often than not surprise names.

There is also the matter of a left-sided centre-back, with concerns over Andy Robertson’s suitability to the role as Klopp shifts to a back three in his new 3-4-3 setup.

The lack of room for non-homegrown players in both the Premier League and Europa League squad – Endo’s signing leaves just one spot in the league and, if Ben Doak is registered, none for Europe – adds another wrinkle to the story, with players under 21 or products of English or Welsh clubs at a premium.

But to avoid another situation in which Liverpool are left short, hoping to avoid major injuries as in each of the past two seasons, more quality in depth is required in those key positions – ones it remains baffling have been left unfilled for this long.

It could be the difference between being viewed as embarrassments or the envy of Europe again.

(Images from IMAGO)

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Given the way in which they began the summer, Liverpool head into the new season with a surprising level of pessimism rising among supporters.

By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com

After a pre-season that brought trips to Germany, Singapore and Preston, with victories over Karlsruher, Leicester and Darmstadt, a draw with Greuther Fürth and defeat to Bayern Munich, their Premier League campaign gets underway at Chelsea.

It is a marquee fixture for the broadcasters, and undoubtedly a tough one for both sides, as Jürgen Klopp revisits his first-ever meeting as Liverpool manager when he stands opposite Mauricio Pochettino.

The hope was that, by now, things would have been wrapped up and the Reds would have put their woes of 2022/23 behind them. But despite a promising start to preparations for the season upon us, progress has certainly stalled.

That leaves a host of questions still to be answered ahead of Liverpool’s opener at Stamford Bridge.

Which formation will Klopp go for?

While this would have seemed a straightforward question at the end of last season, as Klopp successfully pivoted to a 3-4-3 formation that turned Liverpool’s fortunes around, the trip to Chelsea leaves it uncertain.

“We have to find, in the next five or six days, a formation for the Chelsea game, not for the whole season,” the manager explained after the final friendly of pre-season against Darmstadt.

“And then we go from there.”

The unexpected departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, married to a lack of urgency in the transfer market, may have left Klopp temporarily unable to set up with his preferred box midfield.

Instead, we could expect a return to his tried-and-trusted 4-3-3, at least for the first game of the season.

If not Caicedo, who begins the season as No. 6?

With Fabinho joining Al Ittihad and a host of options out through injury, Klopp trialled a number of players as his deep-lying midfielder through pre-season.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister and youngster James McConnell were all tested as No. 6, to varying degrees of success.

As the bizarre Moises Caicedo saga rages on between Liverpool and Chelsea, there is no set option for that role at present, which makes it a difficult decision for Klopp regardless of his formation.

As both Thiago and Stefan Bajčetić are unlikely to be deemed fit enough to start, the smart money will be on either Jones or Mac Allister to serve as the nominal tempo-setter alongside a drifting Alexander-Arnold.

Will Mac Allister and Szoboszlai stick the landing?

Though their pursuit of other targets has stalled since, Liverpool sanctioned a significant outlay at the start of the summer with £95 million paid to bring in both Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig.

Two young but well-established names, the pair took up the No. 10 and No. 8 shirts respectively and are widely expected to claim key roles as the campaign kicks off.

When it comes to an early impact, it seems likely that Mac Allister – who shone as a link between midfield and attack in pre-season and already has 98 games’ experience in the Premier League – will be more prominent.

But that makes Szoboszlai’s role all the more intriguing.

The Hungarian was decidedly quieter throughout pre-season, but if he can hit the ground running he could give Liverpool a devastating new outlet as an advanced No. 8.

Who starts in Klopp’s first-choice attack?

Liverpool were prolific in their warmup friendlies, with 18 goals scored across five games, and all but three of those came from their five senior forwards.

While Mohamed Salah seems guaranteed a starting berth on the right, there is a case to argue for any of Darwin Núñez, Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz and Cody Gakpo to join him in the first-choice attack.

Núñez and Jota, with four apiece, were the most consistent source of goals in those pre-season games, but Díaz, with three, looks to have a point to prove and Gakpo, who netted twice, has more value as heir to Roberto Firmino.

The most probable duo to starting alongside Salah seems to be Gakpo and Jota, but the variety available will leave Pochettino and managers across the Premier League guessing in the weeks to come.

Will there be any more signings?

With seven senior players – Fabinho, Henderson, Firmino, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Fabio Carvalho – leaving and only two arriving in the form of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, there are legitimate concerns over Liverpool’s transfer business.

The short-term appointment of Jörg Schmadtke as sporting director – based, according to reports, remotely from his house in Ibiza – has not lent any certainty to proceedings, either.

But there are still weeks to go until deadline day and the pursuit is on for at least one more signing, with a British-record deal agreed for Brighton midfielder Caicedo only for the lure of Chelsea to cast doubt over his plans.

Whether any new arrivals land before the curtain raises in the Premier League is doubtful.

Surely – surely – though, Klopp and the club’s hierarchy cannot miss the opportunity to further strengthen the squad between now and 11pm on September 1.

Can Liverpool still depend on the old reliables?

There’s no doubt there is a rebuild going on at Anfield – and not just this summer’s stadium expansion – but despite those changes, the core of Klopp’s squad remains.

A new captain is in place in Virgil van Dijk, while Alexander-Arnold has stepped up as vice-captain, supported by the leadership group of Salah, Andy Robertson and Alisson.

All five can be expected to start the majority of games, but a handful of Klopp’s stalwarts will do so under greater scrutiny.

There are signs of age in Van Dijk and Robertson’s legs, for example, while doubts are mounting over whether Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Thiago can still cut it.

The challenge for Liverpool, therefore, in these early weeks of the season, is not just proving they can evolve, but also for those remaining staples of the club’s success under Klopp to show they’ve still got it.

(Images from IMAGO)

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