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Liverpool remains well-placed in the Premier League. Whatever happens in the North London derby, Arsenal can only, at worst, be four points behind the Reds having played a game more — a position anyone on Arne Slot’s roster would have taken at this stage.
With draws against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest separated only by a defeat to Spurs and a win over fourth-tier Accrington Stanley, this is perhaps a blip for Liverpool. And it hasn’t taken long for the shouts for signings to arrive.
Jamie Carragher urged Liverpool to sign a defender in the January window in the immediate aftermath of the Nottingham Forest game and no one would argue against another body coming in. But it is trickier than that in reality.
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The position that the Reds are most in need of an upgrade is probably left-back but without one of Andy Robertson or Kostas Tsimikas leaving, there isn’t really space. Signing a third player who can only play in that role seems unlikely in the extreme.
Instead, Slot has made changes with what he has to work with. Ibrahima Konate is still working his way back to full fitness and therefore couldn’t play the full 90 minutes, so an extra attacker was called upon at City Ground with Liverpool chasing a goal, and Ryan Gravenberch moved back to a hybrid center-back and midfielder role.
Wataru Endo has done something similar for Liverpool lately and in certain circumstances, it is an option. In a game where Liverpool is in need of a goal, it certainly makes sense. If the Reds are well in control it could work too. While it asks a lot of Virgil van Dijk, he is more than capable.
And realistically, Konate should be back up to full speed sooner rather than later, and Jarell Quansah is a strong option, albeit he hasn’t looked the most confident lately. Liverpool does have players to pick from even while Joe Gomez is missing.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot looks on during his side’s 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest -Credit:Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
“I think you saw today again that I can still strengthen the team or impact the game with the substitutes I have on the bench,” Slot said when he was asked about transfers during his post-match press conference.
“Not for the first time this season, these players have helped us, that I could bring in. If you look at today, like I said, I couldn’t have asked for more. I said to them at half-time don’t get frustrated, you will not get many chances.
“Probably the game is going to be slow, but just keep focusing on what you have to do. Hopefully you will get two or three chances, and let’s try to score from that. I was completely wrong because they created chance after chance after chance.”
As long as Liverpool keeps its nerve, it should be able to win the title without signing a defender, even if having the safety net of another player somewhere in the backline would be ideal. In Gravenberch (and Endo), it has already shown it has a break-glass fix.