Fowler joins Carragher in questioning Liverpools summer recruitment | OneFootball

Fowler points to Liverpool’s transfer mistake after City defeat

Fowler questions Liverpool’s recruitment

It was not simply another defeat, nor merely a poor day at the office. Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Sunday exposed a team still searching for rhythm, coherence and belief. For club legend Robbie Fowler, the problems run deeper than tactics or fatigue. He believes Liverpool’s mistakes began long before a ball was kicked this season.

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Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football alongside Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, Fowler offered a blunt assessment of his former club’s recent decline. “I got asked before the game, ‘Are Liverpool out of a little bit of a rut?’, and I thought don’t be getting carried away,” he said. “Okay, they beat Aston Villa but for 45 minutes Liverpool weren’t great and then they beat (Real) Madrid. So it’s only 45 minutes in a league game where they’ve played relatively okay. I think they’re out of the title (race).”

That verdict might sound premature, but for Fowler, the warning signs were there in the summer. Liverpool’s lavish £446 million spending spree, featuring the headline arrivals of Florian Wirtz for £116 million and Alexander Isak for £125 million, was supposed to signal ambition. Instead, it may have sown confusion.

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Transfers that unsettled the balance

Fowler’s concern is not the outlay, but the logic behind it. Liverpool, he argues, recruited players without a clear identity or fit for Arne Slot’s system. “It was a poor game wasn’t it, from a Liverpool point of view,” he continued. “(Jeremie) Frimpong is the biggest example, he was brought in as a Trent (Alexander-Arnold) replacement but he’s a wing-back.

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And (Milos) Kerkez, he was everyone’s favourite left back last year. When you’re playing for Liverpool or Man United, it’s different playing for Bournemouth or Brentford, because there’s more pressure.”

Photo: IMAGO

Frimpong and Kerkez, who cost a combined £69.5 million, were expected to inject pace and creativity into the full-back positions. Yet both have struggled to adapt to the demands of Liverpool’s possession-based structure. Fowler’s point cuts to the heart of modern football’s contradiction: spending big does not always guarantee improvement.

Slot’s tactical dilemma

Arne Slot, now under pressure, faces the challenge of integrating an expensively assembled group that feels more like a collection of individuals than a cohesive unit. Hugo Ekitike’s £85 million arrival added further depth up front, while teenage defender Giovanni Leoni joined for £30 million. But with six defeats in their last seven league games, Liverpool’s cohesion appears fractured.

Eighth in the table, eight points behind Arsenal and four behind Manchester City, the narrative has turned quickly. For all the investment, Liverpool look like a side wrestling with its own identity.

Fowler’s brutal honesty

Fowler’s candour reflects a deep understanding of Anfield’s expectations. He has lived the highs, endured the lows and recognises the subtle difference between confidence and complacency. His comments serve as both critique and caution: Liverpool’s mistake was not only financial but philosophical, an error of vision as much as execution.

In modern football, recruitment defines success. For Liverpool, that process has rarely looked as uncertain as it does now.