Journalist: One thing Slot did against Barnsley ‘spoke volumes’ about potential Liverpool crisis
With the midway point of the January transfer window approaching, Liverpool have yet to enter the market during their one mid-season opportunity to enhance Arne Slot’s squad.
Despite Conor Bradley suffering a serious knee injury last week which’ll rule him out until the summer, David Ornstein reported on Tuesday that the Reds are unlikely to sign a replacement for the remainder of this campaign.
That’ll duly increase the reliance on Jeremie Frimpong to stay fit, and while the explosive Dutchman scored a tremendous goal in the 4-1 win over Barnsley on Monday night, his debut season at Anfield has been interrupted by injuries of his own.
Ian Doyle raises concern over right-back depth at Liverpool
As he reflected on that FA Cup third-round victory, Liverpool Echo journalist Ian Doyle raised concerns about a potential dearth of right-back options if the Merseyside club don’t recruit in that position this month.
He wrote: ‘Frimpong will be first choice and continued his decisive recent form with a blistering solo effort for Liverpool’s second goal.
‘His minutes, though, will need to be managed, and the Dutchman was substituted on the hour along with the other main option, Joe Gomez, who had a difficult time at centre-back on his first start in a month.
‘That Dominik Szoboszlai ended the game at right-back spoke volumes. Unless Liverpool opt to dip into the transfer market this month, it’s unlikely to be the last time the versatile Hungarian reprises the role.’
Do Liverpool have sufficient cover at right-back?
It seemed telling that, even in an FA Cup third-round clash where the Reds were generally in control if not necessarily comfortable until late on, Slot opted not to bring on a natural right-back in Calvin Ramsay, who’s been handed just one first-team appearance all season.
Szoboszlai has deputised in that role on a few occasions in recent months, but his best work is carried out in his customary attacking midfield berth, and deploying him out of position surely wasn’t in the club’s masterplan at the outset of the campaign.
Liverpool have options to fill in at right-back if needed, but their defensive resources are already stretched thin even without any further injury setbacks for Frimpong.
FSG may argue (with some justification) that it’d be short-sighted to spend big on a right-sided defender this month and risk that player being surplus to requirements once Bradley returns to full fitness later in the year.
However, the flip side is that Slot could again find himself having to crowbar square pegs into round holes if he’s left with no natural senior right-backs, should anything happen to Frimpong and Ramsay over the next few weeks and months.
It’s a most delicate balance for the Anfield hierarchy to tread, and the consequences of misjudging it could be huge.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Barnsley press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
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