Southampton’s Van Dijk or not, why did Liverpool fail to sign a CB?

Follow us on Google Discover

Losing 5-0 to Manchester City highlights how Liverpool’s failure to sign Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk or another defender was costly.

Gabriel Jesus scores the third goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool.

Liverpool came back down to earth with an almighty bump as Manchester City beat them 5-0 in their first Premier League outing since the international break.

It certainly was a comedown from the 4-0 victory over Arsenal in their previous match to this thrashing at the Etihad Stadium, which admittedly was made harder by Sadio Mane being shown a straight red card in the 37th minute.

Mohamed Salah of Liverpool comforts Sadio Mane after he reacts to being sent off during the Premier League match against Manchester City.

The Reds were only 1-0 down at the time and City certainly made the extra man count, but when up against it rather than showing organisation and resolve, the defence were all over the place. Now where have we heard that before?

Time and again one pass eliminated the visiting back line as the hosts also had two goals (correctly) ruled out for offside to show just how many opportunities they were creating.

Sergio Aguero of Manchester City takes the ball past Ragnar Klavan of Liverpool.

Ragnar Klavan had been brought in to replace Dejan Lovren for the game, but did little to suggest that this season would be any better than his first with the Merseysiders as he was positionally poor and came off second best to Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus time and time again.

The same criticisms have also been aimed at Lovren, though – maybe why he was dropped – and beyond that manager Jurgen Klopp can only turn to youngster Joe Gomez in the position, despite the fact the 20-year-old has primarily played at a right-back under the German.

Yet this was the same story last term as well, so to not have addressed it over the summer is ridiculous in truth. Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk was first choice in a long-running saga that saw Liverpool reported to the Premier League by the Saints for alleged tapping up and ended up with the defender staying at St Mary’s – as outlined by the Express.

With the club having pinned all their hopes on the Van Dijk deal, they failed to identify alternatives and until January at least have to cope with a defence short on form and leadership. It is a familiar problem that could be the difference between success and failure.