Michael Owen has dismissed claims that a ‘rebuild’ needs to be completed at Liverpool in the summer and has reminded supporters how close the club went to completing a glorious quadruple last season.
After picking up both domestic cups, finishing a single point behind Manchester City in the Premier League and losing in the final of the Champions League to Real Madrid last season, Jurgen Klopp’s side are experiencing a much different campaign this time around.
Having struggled for consistency and with a number of injuries to key players, the only thing that the Reds are fighting for this season is a top four finish and currently find themselves six points behind fourth placed Spurs with a game in hand.
“When you talk to Liverpool fans, you say is it because [Sadio] Mane left? Is it because all of the injuries?” Owen told BT Sport (as quoted by Football365).
“Then you’ve got confidence. Then people say it’s the owners and no investment, and the midfield’s ageing, and there’s so many different reasons. But this happens in football.
“Last season, only eight months ago, they were two games off being the most decorated team in history. Two games away. Not much has changed since then.
“And all of these people saying: ‘Let’s rip everything up and start again, buy new players’, and whatever. We have seen in patches, Liverpool have been brilliant this season; it’s the consistency.
“Jurgen Klopp, the players, the board, the fans, everything has been successful from years and years and years.
“This group of people are proven that they can win things. So to say, ‘let’s just tear everything up’ is totally wrong.
“He [Klopp] knows they’re going to need to reinvest in the midfield area, he would have done that anyway and that’ll happen in the summer, but I think they deserve a bit of patience after what they’ve done over the last few years.”
We understand that these players have gave so much over the years and the previous campaign was a brilliant one for the club, but the drop off this season is hugely concerning.
Injuries to key players such as Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz certainly haven’t helped but many of our players look seriously fatigued and you can’t help but question how much do they still have left to give?
Jude Bellingham is believed to be the club’s main transfer target and if we can bring in another one or two quality players alongside him then that would mark a decent summer transfer window for the club.
It’s important not to overreact, however, and we’re confident that Klopp and co will soon have us back performing at our best!