Pedro Neto exposes Liverpool ‘joke’ transfer call as Joe Gomez role questioned
Liverpool’s decision not to strengthen their defensive options was evident early on against Wolves in the Premier League.
The Reds spent almost £150 million in the summer transfer window, but only on midfielders, a decision which was scrutinized at Molineux, despite a 3-1 win.
With Virgil van Dijk suspended and the oft-injured Ibrahima Konate only available on the bench, 20-year-old academy graduate Jarell Quansah was given his first start in central defense.
The problems were further compounded by the injury of Trent Alexander-Arnold with a hamstring injury, leaving fellow defenders Joel Matip and Joe Gomez all at sea.
Gomez saw Pedro Neto pass him on seven minutes, and Matip was unable to stop the winger from breaking into the box and cutting the ball back for a Hee-chan Hwang opener.
England and Arsenal defensive legend Martin Keown was able to give expert analysis on talkSPORT, saying: “They sat on him (Neto) and gave him way too much space.
“They (Liverpool) look really good in the press but in transition they don’t get back into position quickly enough.
“Gomez has pace but you have to be aggressive, you have to get close to people.
“I know he’s moving from right-back to midfield and on this occasion he was very high up the pitch, but he should do better than that.”
Things then got worse for the England defender, with Neto embarrassingly hitting him on the touchline, before laying the ball on a tackle for Matheus Cunha who missed a header at the far post.
Keown added: “It looks like I’m picking Gomez, but he’s just watching Neto run. They are destroyed on their right side. This is Jurgen Klopp’s close side and he needs to tell Gomez that.
A number of Liverpool fans were keen to highlight the club’s transfer strategy rather than criticize their own.
One Twitter user wrote: “The season is only 4 games in, and we’re playing without Konate and Van Dijk, and we’re wondering why we didn’t go for a CB this summer, when we knew all we needed.”
Another added: “Our whole backline is a complete joke, the fact we didn’t sign a CB this summer is beyond me.
“I said before we were one VVD/Konate injury away from disaster, we needed 5 game weeks for that to happen.”
There was a welcome sight for the fans later, with Konate replacing Quansah with minutes to spare.
Liverpool already had a 2-1 lead at that point through Cody Gakpo and Andy Robertson, before Harvey Elliott finished off the match in stoppage time.
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