Danny Murphy has refused to criticise Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, over their backing for Jurgen Klopp over the course of the summer transfer window.
The Merseysiders attracted further concern with a poor outing in Naples ending with a 4-1 defeat to Napoli to kick off their Champions League campaign.
“I don’t agree that FSG have let him down with transfers,” the former midfielder told talkSPORT.
“In the summer I don’t remember any discussion about what they’re lacking in defence and midfield. They brought in Ibrahima Konate for £50million to help with Van Dijk and Joel Matip, they’ve got full-backs to cover, they’ve spent £85m on a striker in Darwin Nunez to fill the void left by Mane’s goal and assists – where haven’t they backed him?
“In the summer I didn’t see many people who weren’t expecting Liverpool to be up there with Man City again. Only three months ago we were talking about Liverpool having, or nearly having, one of the best seasons in history.”
Whilst the midfield (solved, to a certain extent, late in the window with the loan signing of Arthur Melo) remains the most problematic department for the Anfield-based outfit, successful efforts to provide back-up for the right-back spot, replace Sadio Mane and bring in an exciting talent in Fabio Carvalho deserve both attention and praise.
It’s a far cry already from how we tackled the so-called ‘group of death’ last term, though it seems a little harsh from some to load FSG with all the blame for the performances on the pitch.
Evidently, a quality midfielder would have been a superb and welcome addition to the squad and, indeed, efforts were made to bring about such an eventuality via enquiries with Borussia Dortmund and a failed move for Aurelien Tchouameni.
A refusal to compromise on quality has meant that many of the vocal members of the online fanbase have been left disappointed, though it should be remembered that patience in the transfer market has previously rewarded us with stellar additions.
#Ep58 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Rating Liverpool’s UCL group, making a new signing… & more!