FSG must shoulder a large portion of the blame for how Liverpool’s title challenge has imploded in the past month.
There has been a catalogue of errors since the summer which led to the devastating defeat to Man City and the end to hopes of regaining the Premier League.
As Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden ran rings around the makeshift centre back pairing of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, the failures of FSG’s over-cautious transfer policy were brutally laid bare.
No wonder Alisson looked confused on Sunday as he’s had 12 (at last count) different centre-back partnerships in front of him already this season.
The club knew not replacing Lovren and entering the season with three centre backs, two of whom in Gomez and Matip have a history of injuries, was a big risk.
A risk which has backfired. No one could have foreseen Van Dijk would have his season cut short after Pickford’s horror tackle in the Merseyside Derby, it was beyond unfortunate.
But the frailties of Matip and to a lesser extent Gomez were clear for everyone to see.
FSG then compounded the Lovren error by not having a new centre back raring to go and support the team on January 2nd.
Although that seems like a different era, Liverpool were still in a glorious position when the transfer window reopened.
Instead FSG dug their heels in, seemingly refused to enter the transfer market because of the massive uncertainties surrounding the pandemic and hoped their hesitancy as it had so far would pay dividends in the long term.
It hasn’t.
Between January 2nd and February 3rd, Liverpool lost to Southampton, Burnley and Brighton and were knocked out of the FA Cup.
Jordan Henderson, the team’s driving force, has been played out of position during that entire time – he last lined up in the middle against Newcastle on December 30th.
By the time FSG did finally act and secure the bargain signings of Kabak and Davies the damage had already been done.
You have to question why, particularly in the case of Kabak who has been repeatedly linked to Liverpool for months and clearly now not without merit, was he not brought in a month earlier?
Fans, pundits such as Jamie Carragher (who might know a thing or two) and eventually Klopp publicly were not demanding Mbappe wrapped up in a bow outside The Shankly Gates – just a decent defender who could do a job for five months and stop us having to play our two best midfielders in the centre of defence.
However focusing solely on the centre back issues, ignores the fact Liverpool have been badly hampered by the rough patch our normally ever-reliant front three of Salah and particularly Firmino and Mane have been going through.
Sporting director Michael Edwards took the plaudits when he sold Rhian Brewster for £23.5 million to Sheffield United as generating such a fee for a largely unproven striker while inserting a buyback clause was dubbed a masterstroke – and more so given Brewster’s subsequent performances for the Blades.
But as the front three have not been their normal match winning selves, which other players have stepped up?
Where else do goals come from besides the currently injured Jota?
Not Origi, not Minamino who has even been loaned out, not Oxlade-Chamberlain, not anyone frankly. Maybe selling such a promising reserve striker with a pedigree for goals at youth and Championship level and not replacing him was not the masterful piece of business we once thought.
Now I’m not advocating joining the delirious Twitter #FSGOut army and to start clogging up John Henry’s feed with angry messages.
The mere suggestion of FSG selling up because of this dip albeit fatal dip in form is absurd, surely most Liverpool fans would agree.
None would rather the previous owners who nearly ran the club into the ground were back in charge.
FSG have presided over an incredibly successful period.
They have delivered the first league title in 30 years and the sixth European Cup.
It has been an incredible time to be a Liverpool fan.
We have been absolutely privileged to watch such a fantastic team over the past few seasons.
In fact probably the biggest stress of being a Liverpool fan in the past three years has been deciding who of the front three you like best.
At some stage, inevitably, this sensational group of players were going to have a barren spell and big drop in performance levels.
It’s unfortunate that it had to happen at such a crucial period of the season and the ramifications are so disappointing.
But above all it’s frustrating that when this fantastic team really needed some support from the owners, in the form of a new defender, they didn’t step up in time.
As the inquest begins into how Liverpool’s bid to regain the Premiership title has fallen apart so suddenly and emphatically, then we should point fingers at FSG and not feel any less of a fan for doing so.