Liverpool have a lot to do this summer.
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk penning new deals with the Premier League champions elect has made things a little easier for Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s sporting director, but he’s still going to be busy in the transfer window.
A right-back is surely required to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, even if Conor Bradley has impressed recently.
David Orstein recently said that the position was not a priority for the Reds. The transfer guru also claimed midfield reinforcements aren’t a priority for the league leaders, despite manager Arne Slot seemingly only trusting four players in the middle third.
The most obvious upgrade for this attack is at centre-forward.
A striker is desperately needed at Anfield - even though the Reds are the top scorers in the Premier League and have the best underlying numbers.
The attack has been a problem position for Slot. The many, many injuries appear to have finally caught up with Diogo Jota while Darwin Nunez is a complete non-entity right now.
The former Benfica man has made three starts for Liverpool across all competitions since coming off the bench to score twice against Brentford in mid-January.
These have arrived against Lille in the Champions League, Spurs in the Carabao Cup and Southampton in the Premier League. He was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the win over West Ham on Sunday due to illness.
Though he looked fine sat next to Alexander-Arnold in the stands.
So, a centre-forward is needed if Liverpool aren’t going to solely rely on Salah having an all-timer of a season again.
There have been a lot of links too. Alexander Isak is, or at least was, top of the list. Hugo Ekitike is well-liked, as is Julian Alvarez while reports recently distanced the Reds with a move for Liam Delap.
While this position will no doubt be addressed this summer, the priority for Liverpool should be left-back.
On the surface, that role might not seem like a match-winner or a game-breaker and you could probably get away with using a failed winger there a lot of the time.
And if you look at the numbers, Liverpool have one of the best defensive units in the Premier League this season. Only Arsenal (27.3) have a lower expected goals against (xGA) total than Liverpool (28.3).
It is worth noting here that the Reds have hardly had a settled defence this term either, so that needs to be taken into account. Alexander-Arnold has spent time on the sidelines. Ibrahima Konate missed some games. Joe Gomez has been out. Bradley has missed matches, as has the best goalkeeper in the world, Alisson Becker.
Such upheaval could’ve had an impact on the defence as a whole. It hasn’t, thankfully for the Reds.
But with a more reliable left-back, Liverpool have the best numbers in the league.
It is quite clear that Arne Slot doesn’t rate Kostas Tsimikas. It was evident at the start of the season against Ipswich when he opted to use a half-fit Andrew Robertson in his starting XI over the Greek full-back, despite him having a decent pre-season.
And Slot has persisted with Robertson this term, even when he’s looked off the pace and partly at fault for a number of chances Liverpool have conceded.
He’s been responsible for a number of moments they will want to forget about as a team. The 31-year-old isn’t solely to blame but you can’t overlook some of these incidents.
The Scotland international is usually at fault if the offside trap fails. The fact Tsimikas played one-time Liverpool transfer target Mohammed Kudus offside yesterday was something that shouldn’t have even registered with fans, and yet it did.
And then Robertson replaced the No21 and immediately played West Ham onside during an attacking phase by being deeper than the defensive line.
His inability to hold the line is a problem.
But he’s also been fairly reckless this term. He’s given away penalties against Southampton and Real Madrid. He was sent off against Fulham at Anfield and had a mare against Marco Silva’s side at Craven Cottage last week, gifting them a goal.
He also scored an own goal against West Ham, though that was only partly his fault after a mix-up with Van Dijk.
An overlooked issue with Robertson this season has been his end product. Or lack of it.
This term, he’s failed to register an assist for the Reds in the Premier League. Unless he has a Salah-Esque end to the season, this will be the third campaign on the bounce in which he’s failed to hit double figures for assists.
At one stage of his Liverpool career, he had 10 or more in three of four seasons and a combined 40 assists across four seasons.
He’s no longer that creative menace. He’s still a creator. His xA/90 of 0.17 points to that. But his expected assists (xA) average has almost halved from last season (0.29) and is the lowest of his Liverpool career.
He’s unfortunate not to have at least one assist to his name this term. But some of his decision making has been absolutely wild, to put it lightly.
One example can be seen below.
The Robertson of yesteryear would’ve gotten the ball out from under his feet and fired in a ball across the face of goal for Darwin, Salah and Curtis Jones to attack.
It is the sort of cross that defenders hate dealing with because they’re facing their own goal while running. A rogue bounce or a sliced clearance can end up in the back of the net.
Instead of playing that ball, with Liverpool in a good position to take advantage of the situation, Robertson takes a number of touches.
He eventually looks up and puts the ball into the danger zone but only after Fulham have gotten themselves into a favourable position. There’s no space for Liverpool players to attack really.
The hosts are set defensively, for the most part, and it would take a precise pass for this to turn into a good chance.
This eventually falls to Harvey Elliott (off screen) who curls an effort against the crossbar. It would’ve taken a wonderful effort to turn this situation into a goal.
Had Robertson been a bit more aggressive and confident initially, Liverpool had multiple options in the penalty area to transform it into a good chance.
The former Hull man is impacting Liverpool at both ends of the pitch.
Unlike previous campaigns, it's not in a positive way and this is the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed this summer.
It must be a priority for the Premier League leaders.
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