Fowler: Bellingham alone would not have solved midfield issues

[TLW]

Robbie Fowler said that Jude Bellingham would not have been the transformative figure that many Liverpool fans had wished for saying the midfield woes run a lot deeper than the addition of one individual.

 

After a year of much speculation, the news came through last week that Liverpool had pulled out of any bidding war for the Borussia Dortmund star in the summer and looking at alternatives.

 

In a season of abject performances on the pitch , this news was a true hammer blow and now many are thinking what direction the club is indeed heading.

 

Jurgen Klopp continues to paint a picture of positivity about the season ahead  recently saying:

 

“We will bring in the right players, who want to fight for the badge, who want to fight with us, want to develop with us, then everything is fine. Fresh legs, fresh minds, we will be ready to fight again.”

 

In Fowler’s opinion, this summer is pivotal for that to happen and the right players have to be signed and be able to hit the ground running as he wrote in the Mirror

 

“The fact is, they have a glaring weakness in their team, and that can’t be fixed by signing Jude Bellingham on his own.

 

“ I have a question for you. What is Liverpool’s first choice midfield? Even after a shocking season, it’s probably Henderson-Thiago-Fabinho. Second question: how many goals have they scored between them? The answer is a big fat zero. Yep, you read that right. No goals from a midfield trio that so very nearly wrote history. In any competition. So far, they have made a combined 99 appearances so far, and not a single goal.

 

“It gets worse. In all those appearances, they have three assists between them, two for Henderson and one from Thiago. And that is where the disaster of this season stems from.

 

 

“You look at the Premier League table, and for all the criticism of Liverpool’s defence, they still have the fifth best record, better than Manchester United and Tottenham, and not much different to City and Arsenal.

 

“Yet goals are a massive problem - despite Mo Salah having another inconsistent season. Nunez has done okayish, they’ve been without Diaz and Jota for long periods, and Gakpo, well, not great but he’s new.

 

 

“So there’s no way Bellingham alone will transform that. I think they need five or six new signings, but that’s not going to happen…so Klopp will have to settle for three or four. And three of those need to be established, ready to go, top class midfielders”.

 

Fowler also said the talk about FSG splashing the cash on one player was extremely fanciful when you look at their prior history.

 

“Remember Liverpool under FSG have never spent more than £150m in a single summer over more than a decade - on one player? Not a chance.

 

“Even if they spend more than ever before this summer, if they signed Bellingham it would leave them with about £30m to buy three more players. You aint doing that in the Premier League and getting away with it.

 

“So spread it around. I’m not being disrespectful when I say Mason Mount isn’t worth more than £20-30m. Not because he’s a poor player, but because he only has a year left on his contract. No way should any club pay more than that.”

 

The club legend also said the onus is on the manager to change it up tactically believing that there should be more playmakers in the squad in setting up goalscoring opportunities than the incredibly successful duo of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

 

“I think Klopp needs to evolve his team a bit now. When we’re talking of assists, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson have 13 between them in all competitions all season, when usually it’s more than three times that.

 

 

“So have sides worked them out? If so, then they need to work a way around that, and the answer is to provide far more creativity from midfield as City do - goals and assists.

 

“Mount will provide that, (Alexis) Mac Allister too. Spend the money on those two, and you still have change to buy a holding midfielder. It’s just financial reality, and I think maybe Liverpool have finally got real.”

 

 

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[an tha]

He is partly right, he has missed though the shit cover they provide for the defence and the lack of legs/physicality and mobility to help win 2nd balls/stuff from broken play and the way they get run past and through with embarrassing ease and shocking regularity.

[gkmacca]

"Look...If I'm being honest...Look..." Good old Robbie, wise words as usual.

[Section_31]

I don't think most people thought he could change things on his own, we learned that by pinning our hopes on players like Owen and Gerrard down the years, and indeed Fowler. Nobody is good enough to carry a side all season if you expect to win anything.

 

I wouldn't have been arsed if you'd told me we needed the money for other targets, that's not really the point, the point is that the whispers around Bellingham have - IMO - been deliberately encouraged to excuse having a succession of shit transfer windows. The idea that we were keeping our powder dry to pull off some kind of coup, which is now shown to be bollocks.  

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

6 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

I don't think most people thought he could change things on his own, we learned that by pinning our hopes on players like Owen and Gerrard down the years, and indeed Fowler. Nobody is good enough to carry a side all season if you expect to win anything.

 

I wouldn't have been arsed if you'd told me we needed the money for other targets, that's not really the point, the point is that the whispers around Bellingham have - IMO - been deliberately encouraged to excuse having a succession of shit transfer windows. The idea that we were keeping our powder dry to pull off some kind of coup, which is now shown to be bollocks.  

This is the way.

[Kevin D]

“ I am not being disrespectful, but fucking have you seen this team? Aye I could bang 30 goals in, but it would just be covering up the mistakes. There really is only so much Ali can do.”

[CrownPaints]

Love Robbie but this will be the first of many "Jude wouldn't solve our problems" stories that will be out there.

 

Neither will Chelsea cast-offs.

[sir roger]

Its becoming an accepted reality that the midfield woes have only suddenly become obvious, but the majority of Liverpool fans have been pointing out the upcoming issues even while we were still grinding out wins last season.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

2 hours ago, CrownPaints said:

Love Robbie but this will be the first of many "Jude wouldn't solve our problems" stories that will be out there.

 

Neither will Chelsea cast-offs.

Look no further than to De Bruyne and Salah to prove that point.

[Carvalho Diablo]

99 appearances and not a goal in 1

[Barrington Womble]

On 17/04/2023 at 18:58, CrownPaints said:

Love Robbie but this will be the first of many "Jude wouldn't solve our problems" stories that will be out there.

 

Neither will Chelsea cast-offs.

 

it seems to me though the only people who were thinking bellingham would solve all our problems were in Boston. Nobody here has thought that. There's been plenty of discussion on here this season that if the budget is just bellingham, we're in trouble. There's no doubt we need 3 players in there. The only reason bellingham won't be one of them is because FSG don't want him to be. If they put the money there, which they should, Klopp doesn't have to make a choice of trying to make Gravenberch into bellingham and adding some other players. He can just get the player he's clearly wanted for about 2 years. 

[King Kenny 86]

Simple

Fckin wait. See where we are in the league IF in CL then all out on him as we would have pretty much won our last 8 games or so to achieve it.

Break full pre season add JB and one other I am happy.

We are happy to punt cash on Darwin and Gakpo who is a raw talent, 120m for Bellingham is a bargain as could be one of the worlds best and get that back when we sell him 10 years later.

See what he posted on Instagram after LFC pulled out.

 

 

[VladimirIlyich]

21 hours ago, Paul Wright said:

Simple

Fckin wait. See where we are in the league IF in CL then all out on him as we would have pretty much won our last 8 games or so to achieve it.

Break full pre season add JB and one other I am happy.

We are happy to punt cash on Darwin and Gakpo who is a raw talent, 120m for Bellingham is a bargain as could be one of the worlds best and get that back when we sell him 10 years later.

See what he posted on Instagram after LFC pulled out.

 

 

If you think 120 million is a bargain I can only assume you shop at Harrods. Three or four signings in the 20-30 million bracket would transform this team more than one inflated fee.

[sh#t waffle]

27 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

If you think 120 million is a bargain I can only assume you shop at Harrods. Three or four signings in the 20-30 million bracket would transform this team more than one inflated fee.

I don't see how you can say that with such certainty. Would you rather we'd bought 6 x £25m players instead of Virgil and Ali? Whether we agree or not, it's fairly clear that Klopp puts Bellingham in the same bracket.

However, as I've said elsewhere, I feel like we're being gaslit as a fanbase - why shouldn't there be, as a one off, enough for Bellingham plus 2-3 'bargains'? 

[Moo]

40 minutes ago, sh#t waffle said:

... why shouldn't there be, as a one off, enough for Bellingham plus 2-3 'bargains'? 

 

Are you familiar with our owners? Cheap bastards who, when it comes to LFC, know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[sh#t waffle]

42 minutes ago, Moo said:

 

Are you familiar with our owners? Cheap bastards who, when it comes to LFC, know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Yes I realise that, hence why I said I feel supporters are being gaslit.

[Moo]

55 minutes ago, sh#t waffle said:

Yes I realise that, hence why I said I feel supporters are being gaslit.

 

Yeah I know I was just using sarcasm to emphasise my point.  Could have said the same thing without quoting you of course.

[VladimirIlyich]

11 hours ago, sh#t waffle said:

I don't see how you can say that with such certainty. Would you rather we'd bought 6 x £25m players instead of Virgil and Ali? Whether we agree or not, it's fairly clear that Klopp puts Bellingham in the same bracket.

However, as I've said elsewhere, I feel like we're being gaslit as a fanbase - why shouldn't there be, as a one off, enough for Bellingham plus 2-3 'bargains'? 

We didnt buy VVD or Alisson in isolation,they were bought as experienced performers to enhance a team. Bellingham is still a novice in comparison.

[sh#t waffle]

11 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

We didnt buy VVD or Alisson in isolation,they were bought as experienced performers to enhance a team. Bellingham is still a novice in comparison.

I don't think his age matters. He's been playing at the top level for three years, and for a far better side than Virgil had played for. Virgil and Ali were seen as transformative signings and whether you agree or not, Klopp thinks (or thought) the same about Bellingham. 

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, sh#t waffle said:

I don't think his age matters. He's been playing at the top level for three years, and for a far better side than Virgil had played for. Virgil and Ali were seen as transformative signings and whether you agree or not, Klopp thinks (or thought) the same about Bellingham. 

Has he said that though? The club may have been 'making noises' around Bellingham but I haven't heard Klopp spelling this out anywhere. I dare say he'd have signed many others in his time here without financial restriction but he knows how his job works.

[Barrington Womble]

14 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

We didnt buy VVD or Alisson in isolation,they were bought as experienced performers to enhance a team. Bellingham is still a novice in comparison.

Ali wasn't an experienced performer though, or certainly no more than bellingham. He'd played about 120 matches both at Roma and home, played about half the number of champions league games as Bellingham has now and similar international appearances. Bellingham is just massively younger. 

[sh#t waffle]

53 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Has he said that though? The club may have been 'making noises' around Bellingham but I haven't heard Klopp spelling this out anywhere. I dare say he'd have signed many others in his time here without financial restriction but he knows how his job works.

Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool target and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham: "I don't like to talk about money when you talk about a player like him. Everyone can see he is just exceptional... I really think if we all want to do him a favour then we do not talk too much about money."