Another embarrassing result at Anfield. All that money spent and still unable to beat a struggling side.
Yep, Chelsea truly are the great under-achievers of this English Premier League (with a dishonourable mention to Tottenham Hotspur).
Just my blinkered opinion, I suppose you think?
Nope. Facts.
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Cold, hard facts.
The team that Chelsea sent out to take Liverpool on Saturday cost more than E600m.
In fact it cost around E250m more than the hosts’ line-up.
The London Blues also have the most expensive squad in world football, costing E1.314billion to assemble.
Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring for Liverpool
Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring for Liverpool(Peter Byrne/PA)
Obviously Liverpool are not paupers.
The Reds squad cost more than E1billion to put together (1.065, to be precise).
When £125m (E145m) striker Alexander Isak came on, replacing teenager Rio Ngumoha, that brought the total of transfer fees paid for the Reds’ team to around half a billion euro.
Had Florian Wirtz (E116m/ £100m) not been ill then the two teams would have been of similar cost.
Even the players Liverpool did have on the pitch should have played much better – but so should Chelsea’s.
It’s come to a pretty pass of so-called punditry when the most expensive squad in the league (and, remember, the world) is earning praise for avoiding a seventh consecutive defeat.
Against a team limping towards the end of its own bad campaign.
No denying whatsoever that Liverpool, for all their riches, have been poor this season.
Yet there are plenty of mitigating circumstances.
Liverpool hit Eintracht Frankfurt for five as they continued their Champions League campaign with a comprehensive away win
Liverpool hit Eintracht Frankfurt for five as they continued their Champions League campaign with a comprehensive away win(DPA via Pa Wire/PA)
Here’s a quiz question for you:
How many times have Wirtz, Isak, and Hugo Ekitike started a league match together?
Answer: Zero.
That’s right. None. Absolutely none.
Indeed that trio has only lined out twice together, both times in the Champions League.
On the first occasion Liverpool won 5-1, away to Eintracht Frankfurt.
That was the Reds’ only win during an awful October when they lost to Chelsea, Manchester United, Brentford, and Crystal Palace (albeit with a second string side in the League Cup).
More recently when that trio started for the second time Livepool lost, 2-0, at home - but at home to the best team in Europe, Paris Saint-Germain. Absolutely no shame in that.
Alexander Isak suffered a fractured leg in December
Alexander Isak suffered a fractured leg in December(Martin Rickett/PA)
In both of those CL games Isak only played the first half, clearly not match-fit on either occasion.
So is it fair to judge a new attack when it hasn’t even played ONE. SINGLE. GAME. Together?
Liverpool manager Arne Slot HAS to be given the opportunity to make his new-look side work next season.
Of course he has to improve the team defensively.
Liverpool have been far too easy to play against, and through.
Eleven league defeats and 48 goals conceded makes that abundantly clear.
Yet almost half the team changed from last year’s title triumph. Clearly that can be unsettling.
Slot didn’t want to lose Trent Alexander-Arnold, the team’s best creative passer, nor Luis Diaz, the pacy goal-scoring threat and occasional ‘false nine’.
But sometimes players want to move on, especially to Spain or other big European clubs.
Darwin Nunez would have been a handy stand-in when Isak was out, or when Ekitike’s season ended early.
The late Diogo Jota was an inspirational presence, on and off the pitch.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot understands the loss of Diogo Jota continues to affect his players deeply
Liverpool manager Arne Slot understands the loss of Diogo Jota continues to affect his players deeply(Peter Byrne/PA)
Mo Salah’s form fell off a cliff after eight exceptional seasons (if that’s not a contradiction in terms).
Much of the discourse about Liverpool, and Slot, is rather like this:
‘Why didn’t you win the race in your big, fancy, expensive car?! Eh? Eh?! You’re a terrible driver?!’
‘Well, the tyres have been flat for most of the season. The pricey new parts I bought – to replace others which were removed – have often been unavailable. Or they broke down.
‘And my mechanics are depressed after their great friend and colleague died in an horrific crash.
‘Apart from all that everything has been perfect. Sorry. My bad.’
Slot hasn’t been helped by injuries to his right-back options, Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong, regularly forcing him to field a midfielder there.
Conor Bradley (left) and Gabriel Martinelli clashed in the closing stages
Conor Bradley (left) and Gabriel Martinelli clashed in the closing stages(John Walton/PA)
At times that has been Dominic Szoboszlai, depriving the Liverpool midfield of the team’s best player this season.
The performances of most of the other players, apart from Ekitike in the first half of the season, have been mediocre at best.
That’s not all the fault of the head coach, clearly.
Wirtz took time to settle, which was understandable; so did new left-back Milos Kerkez, which was surprising as he’d played - and played extremely well - in the Premier League.
Liverpool have had to field their third-choice goalkeeper in some matches recently.
Liverpool lumped large on a first XI this season
A gamble, but for all the talk about squad strength the Reds and Manchester City both had fairly settled sides when they were at their best in recent seasons.
That bet hasn’t paid off – yet.
Arsenal’s superior, more balanced squad looks like taking them to the title.
Yet it must be noted that the Gunners’ squad also cost just over £1billion.
Manchester United’s is slightly more expensive (E1.071bn) than that of Liverpool, Manchester City’s costlier still (E1.128bn).
City (E368.7m) and Arsenal (E365.7m) both had greater net spends in the summer than Liverpool (E244.4m).
The reek of entitlement coming off many so-called Liverpool supporters gets right up my nose.
In two seasons Slot has won a league title (utterly unexpected by all), reached a League Cup Final, topped the 36-team Champions League table, and finished third in this year’s CL group section.
Sure, performances have been plodding and disappointing this term – but if you can’t see that there are legitimate reasons for that, many of them beyond the manager’s control, then you’re a fool.
You’ll Never Walk Alone?
Jog on.
Liverpool head coach Slot (second right) was booed for substituting Ngumoha (centre)
Liverpool head coach Slot (second right) was booed for substituting Ngumoha (centre)(Peter Byrne/PA)
The boos when young Rio was taken off at the weekend, and those at the end of the game, were embarrassing - to those with the herd mentality uttering them.
Anyone with half a brain could have worked out that Slot was protecting the physical development of a 17-year-old, even before the manager calmly explained afterwards that Rio had signalled he was cramping up.
I’d put a fit Liverpool team up against anything else in England next season with great confidence.
Chopping and changing managers isn’t always the answer.
Just ask Chelsea…