Graham Potter has highlighted criticism fielded against Liverpool during the summer transfer window.
Questions were raised about the Reds’ recruitment team after only Federico Chiesa joined in the summer window (with Giorgi Mamardashvili spending a year at Valencia).
Arne Slot’s top priority was understood to be the addition of a top holding midfielder who would blend well with his more possession-focused football.
Unfortunately, a move for Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi didn’t pan out as hoped, despite the Spanish international initially giving his word to Richard Hughes.
Graham Potter hits out at Liverpool critics
Given the reasonable fears about Liverpool’s limited involvement in the window, you could forgive fans and pundits for expecting a somewhat less exciting start to the 2024/25 season.
Nonetheless, Graham Potter has lavished the Reds with praise for their decision-making, whilst calling into question the critique they faced prior to the campaign.
“I think you’ve got to give credit to Liverpool as a club,” the former Chelsea boss spoke on BBC 5 Live.
“All the so-called experts were talking about them in the window not signing anyone, losing out on players. It was almost, not a crisis, but they were getting criticism.
“Maybe they just looked at it and thought, ‘Actually our squad is quite good, we’re quite stable, we need a good coach’ – they’ve identified that.”
‘They’ve allowed him to work in stable conditions’
Graham Potter and Nedum Onuoha praise Liverpool’s transition under Arne Slot.
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How did Jamie Carragher react to Liverpool’s summer window?
To be completely fair to Jamie Carragher, it’s all well and good Graham Potter jumping in with the benefit of hindsight.
Few could have predicted that Ryan Gravenberch would be transformed into the player he is today. Beyond that, our ex-centre-half had to make sense of Liverpool’s failure to bring in their top target when there were, at the time, serious concerns over the holding midfield role.
“A lot has been made of Liverpool bringing the old regime back, in terms of getting deals done and transfers done – and it was always made out that we’re the best in the class, we’re the best in the business, and listen they did a great job,” the Sky Sports pundit was quoted as saying back in mid-August by the Mirror.
“But to not get the first deal done for the new manager, the optics are not great, it doesn’t look good at all, and it’s a position Liverpool have been looking for, for probably three seasons. They tried to buy [Aurélien] Tchouaméni who went to Real Madrid, they obviously lost [Moisés] Caicedo, [Roméo] Lavia, and now they’ve lost this player.”
Concerns about what this Liverpool would look like under Arne Slot were more than well-founded given the calibre of manager being replaced in Jurgen Klopp.
That said, both Arne Slot and the hierarchy behind him clearly deserve credit for the direction of travel we’ve witnessed.
We’re top of the league in late October and have a chance to make this a two-horse race before November comes around.
