Stan Collymore explains why he doesn’t think Liverpool will win the Premier League this season.
I’m not convinced that Stan Collymore is up to date on the 2016/17 Premier League season. Liverpool is top of the league, have scored 30 goals in 11 games and have options like Daniel Sturridge and Gini Wijnaldum off the bench.
And yet, Stan Collymore doesn’t have confidence in Liverpool as genuine title contenders. The former Liverpool striker has already spoken of his belief that Liverpool doesn’t have enough strength in depth to last the season at the top of the league and now he has backed it up with a few more reasons why the Reds will go yet another year without winning the league.
“Despite two fantastic performances from your side over the weekend, I still think you’ll be battling it out for a Champions League spot come May but not for the Premier League crown,” Collymore wrote in his Mirror column.
“You have to look at the strength of a club’s first XI, squad depth, whether or not they have a 25-goal-season striker and an ability to keep clean sheets.
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“I considered all those factors when I went for City before a ball had been kicked and I’ve seen nothing to change my mind.”
I can see where Collymore is coming from. Liverpool has the second-best goal difference in the league but have conceded more than any team in the top seven. It’s difficult, without digging through archives, to find a team that conceded more than 40 goals and still managed to win the league.
And in spite of that, you cannot discount a team that regularly scores more than four goals a game, even if it means that a goal is conceded each game. Liverpool have only lost one game this season – a freak game against Burnley – so, it’s safe to assume the goals being conceded aren’t doing too much harm.
That being said, Klopp is very keen on eradicating all errors that lead to unnecessary goals being given away like the one that Daryl Janmaat scored on Sunday.
Liverpool are genuine title contenders and while it’s wise to stay sharp and not get too excited, there is no ignoring the fact that Klopp’s team has been the best side in the opening quarter of the season and detractors like Collymore actually assist Klopp by defusing some of the excitement and hype surrounding the club which you could argue fuelled some of the complacency which saw Liverpool choke in the 2013/14 season.
Klopp has several of his players away on international duty but he will be telling those who remain on Merseyside that there are still 27 games to go until the season is over and will be urging his players to take each game as it comes.