Liverpool have to take a cautious and measured approach

Liverpool need to be calm and cautious.

Liverpool will most likely wind up playing stingy in this transfer window. In this financial climate and with weekly salaries currently bogging down the books, the Reds will certainly be looking to off load several players. Indeed they could do more business with selling than buying, truth be known.

And this is really reasonable and rational from the club and current squad’s standpoint. When you are top of the heap as Liverpool so obviously now are, they can only look to seek very specific and highly specialized players to better fine tune an already well oiled machine.

Timo Werner was a unnecessary expense and extravagance that Liverpool were fortunate to let go. Werner is full of raw and unrefined talent. He is nowhere near the finished product, which could perhaps justify such a rich fee.

However, the German could be a great pet project for Frank Lampard.

Finding the right players with the right attitude who are committed to playing their guts out for Liverpool (ala James Milner) well, this takes time and cash in a period where readily available funds have been depleted due to lost revenues and the cash outlays to keep employees working and various other operating costs.

This is not the sort of transfer climate one would hope to see, but there you have it.

The fact that Jurgen Klopp and the Reds have no immediate pressing needs in the side means they can be cautious in their player purchases while taking advantage of this market to pare the fat, as it were.

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Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne are players who immediately come to mind, who it would seem, are heading for an exit. Maybe even Xherdan Shaqiri, if the right offer comes along.

So I look for the Reds to exercise their usual caution and prescience of late when it comes to player acquisitions. Which leads us irrevocably to Naby Keita. Keita has until January to prove his worth and make good on Klopp and Liverpool’s faith in his eventual shining presence.

If he continues in his lackluster and injury plagued effort to date, his is a salary that can be better spent elsewhere.

Look for a measured approach from Klopp and his Reds, until the six needed points are bagged. Game management under extremely unusual playing circumstances will dictate how the boss lays out his game plan.

I expect he will have the lads with their intensity levels at fever pitch at Goodison Park come Sunday. I expect he will be planning his subs well in advance (I believe there will be five subs per side) to give as many of the youth waiting in the wings a chance to shine.

Beginning with a convincing 3pt win will go a long way to restore team confidence that has understandably accumulated some dust during a three month hiatus (their last outing a gut wrenching defeat to Atletico Madrid).

Everton, will be a good first test, post COVID, a derby of sorts, without fans and the hoopla and the spectacle, but a derby nonetheless. Look for Everton to take this tie as seriously as any other Merseyside derby.

Klopp and Hendo and the lads have expressed a patient outlook, a game by game approach that saw them dominate the league for 3/4 of the season thus far.

I look for Henderson to step up in these last striding mad dashes to the finish. Solidifying his ascension to player of the year for the EPL. This is truly his shining moment, a career defining window without doubt. As team captain this is surely the time to let those qualities push the lads over the line.

I will be watching to see how Gini Wijnaldum steps up as well. He is deep into contract negotiations and is in the final year of his current contract. Wijnaldum is a hard working blue collar lunch box.

As a gifted box-to-box player he is a valuable asset in the side. A long term deal for Gini is warranted, and a good showing into the fall could earn him a handsome deal from the Reds. He is one of the most consistent players over the past three seasons running. And his stats prove it.

I must confess, I would be top of the world if Liverpool could keep the peddle down and break Man City’s record point total for a season. But the pragmatic side keeps me in check a bit, as records are all well and good. Not however, at the expense of starting the fall and finding themselves tired and unprepared in a dogfight to defend their title.

As it stands the City tie and the fixtures with Chelsea and Arsenal will be the only ties remaining I expect the Reds to have any difficulty with. So sit back fasten those seatbelts and prepare for a wild and woolly ride to the finish.

Red to the bitter end…Up the Reds!!