Liverpool Fear a Collapse After Klopp's Departure
A supporter argues Liverpool's planning has unravelled since Jurgen Klopp left, leaving an expensive, unbalanced squad and a fanbase losing belief in the current direction under Arne Slot.
Forget living through the end of an era, we're living through the end of an empire. We're watching a dynasty collapse in real time, and as the saying goes, it has happened slowly, then all at once.
Recruitment and planning falling behind
First there were summers and winters when Liverpool FC didn't buy anyone, because the nerds decided it was the 'sensible' thing to do. Our squad needs were permanently behind schedule from that point on. Then the nerds lost their bottle, and the war with Jurgen Klopp, leading to the organisational chaos. Much like the transfer bumbling, we got away with this, for a time.
What Klopp left, and what has followed
After that, the great man left, and we all felt confident that what he left behind could survive, yet we couldn't possibly see how brittle it was. Back came the nerds for round 2, and we felt some level of comfort for being in familiar hands, like the good old days, before the chaos. The systems that produced our success would return. However, our confidence was misplaced.
In hindsight, perhaps the Klopp-Edwards partnership was something that only bore fruit for a brief period of time, rather than something that justified handing Edwards the keys to the kingdom.
A squad that feels hard to build around
And how the chickens have come home to roost. After 2 years, everything Klopp built has been torn down, and there are barely any chunks of the crumbling city walls left on which to build. The old guard are one foot out the door, and what has been left behind? Foundations made of sand.
Only Szoboszlai, Ekitike and Kerkez look like players I could count on to turn up for a battle, and one of them has just exploded his Achilles. Who are we building this side around from this point? Who can we hang our hat on? And how do we resolve our two most expensive signings who are neither fit nor physical enough to drag us forward?
The squad is an expensive mess that feels difficult to fix, much more so without Champions League, and even then, who will want to join this calamitous project?
Slot, belief, and the fear of stagnation
Who seriously wants to be managed by Arne Slot, the man who believes the key to footballing success is to be as lazy as possible? The fans and players know that to be ridiculous and nobody believes in the vision anymore, except for the keep-our-powder-dry buffoons who are running our club into the ground, far from the arbiters of rational judgement as we thought they were.
If we change course now, get in Alonso, and rebuild with some physical, battling players with the right mentality, we can still save the club. We can secure another Champions League finish, rebuild the side, challenge in the cups, and go from there. But mark my words, if this stays in the job for the start of next season, everything that Klopp built will be nothing but dust on the ocean floor, dissolved beyond recognition.
The club will be a toxic basket case, another season written off, all belief and optimism obliterated. The greats will have left, replaced by a thin, weak, overpaid squad that will be very difficult to dislodge. Nobody will want to join us, which given the dearth of actual quality players out there, is a serious problem these days.
In that regard, I do wonder if Semenyo and Guehi not joining will be seen as a sliding doors moment in hindsight. We may not even have Champions League football or income. The silver tongued charlatan will be back at it in the summer, overpaying for players that may not actually be any good, while letting others slip through his fingers.
All of the good managers will move this summer, and we'll be left with no options when Slot inevitably ruins the whole season by the end of October. Then Edwards and Hughes will leave swiftly after, their work done, and what will we have left? No good manager, no core group of quality players, no system or structure behind the scenes to keep things in order, no pull for attracting new players, no Champions League, and most importantly, no optimism, momentum or belief. We'll have nothing left.
Call me spoilt, but I echo the sentiments of some others on these pages. If 'The Lazy One' stays in the job, I will not be watching a single game next season until he leaves. I have seen incompetent managers, arrogant managers, deluded managers, but I've never seen a manager who is all of those things and earnestly believes that working significantly less than the opposition is the way to go. I'm not wasting my time watching that, either in the ground or on telly, and I can't watch the destruction of my club in the face of a truth that is so blindingly obvious.
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