Liverpool pre-season lineup highlights urgent need for defensive cover | OneFootball

Liverpool’s Defensive Depth Raises Concerns as Pre-Season Exposes Gaps

Squad Depth Faces Immediate Scrutiny

Liverpool’s pre-season preparations have underlined an uncomfortable truth for Arne Slot’s squad. With Virgil van Dijk sidelined due to illness, Joe Gomez nursing an injury and Jarell Quansah sold, defensive cover is beginning to look dangerously thin.

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Sky Sports‘ Vinny O’Connor, reporting from Anfield, observed: “What both of today’s team sheets tell us, if we didn’t already know, is that centre half is an area where Liverpool are looking a bit thin.”

Makeshift Solutions Highlight the Gap

The manager’s decision to use Andy Robertson as a makeshift centre-back in the opening game, followed by Wataru Endo partnering Ibrahima Konaté in the second, speaks volumes. These are not tactical experiments, but signs of necessity.

O’Connor added: “It looks as though Wataru Endo will play alongside Ibrahima Konate in this second game.”

Contract Status Adds Pressure

Even more pressing is the contract situation surrounding Konaté. “Also worth remembering that Konate is now into the final year of his contract,” O’Connor reminded viewers. This leaves Liverpool vulnerable in the long term too, not just in terms of numbers.

Our View – Anfield Index Analysis

The situation at the heart of defence has gone from concern to urgency. Supporters had been hopeful that the sale of Jarell Quansah might precede the arrival of a younger, first-team-ready defender. Instead, pre-season has laid bare the cost of inaction.

Andy Robertson filling in centrally only works in isolated circumstances. He brings leadership and recovery pace, but lacks the positional instincts of a natural centre-back. Meanwhile, Endo partnering Konaté is hardly a sustainable solution, especially with the latter entering the final year of his contract.

This raises two unavoidable questions: why was Quansah allowed to leave with no immediate replacement, and is the club genuinely prepared to start the season without reinforcing the back line?

Liverpool fans, still processing the summer’s tragic loss of Diogo Jota, are looking for signs of intent and clarity in the club’s vision under Slot. Defensive reinforcements are not a luxury, they are a necessity. If Liverpool want to compete across four competitions, another centre-back must arrive before the window closes.