2 hours ago
21
John Barnes has insisted he has no concerns about this current Liverpool squad and believes that with the quality currently at Arne Slot’s disposal, the team’s fortunes will soon improve.
The Reds have endured a difficult start to the season and went into the November international break on the back of a run of seven defeats in 10 matches. Liverpool has already lost more Premier League matches this season than it did in the whole of last term.
Performances have been disjointed, and that hasn’t been helped by the arrival of eight summer signings. Early wins papered over the cracks, and Liverpool’s fragilities have been highlighted during the recent run of results.
But Barnes, the one-time Liverpool hero who played over 400 times for the club, remains unconcerned. He believes that the squad’s talent will eventually shine through.
“Last year we didn't spend any money and we won the league comfortably,” Barnes told Liverpool.com at a Haier x Liverpool FC pop-up event at Liverpool ONE on Sunday.
“This year, we've signed a lot of good young players. They're good players, but you've got to give them time to gel. While we started well, we were having a lot of last-minute winners, but we weren't playing as well as last year.
“I have no fear that this team will not do well because they have good players and good characters,” the ex-winger added.
“They're young and inexperienced, and it's a new team. We may be a bit down now, but if you could look at the quality that they have, once we get the balance right and they get used to playing with each other, we'll be fine.”
A common talking point in recent weeks has been whether Liverpool made too many changes to a title-winning team last summer. So, were Slot, Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards too eager to evolve from the squad Jurgen Klopp assembled?
“It would be very easy to stick with the team and maybe it would have worked, maybe it wouldn't, but you have to move on,” said Barnes.
“Players get old, players move on, and when you get an opportunity to sign quality players as we've done, you do that. And the key now is to try and integrate them into a system and a style that's going to suit the team.”
Despite Liverpool being eight points off the league summit, Barnes does not necessarily feel reclaiming the Premier League title is unachievable; nor does he agree that the Reds are going through a “transitional season”.
“When we say this season is a transitional season… it could all of a sudden come right next month or January,” said the 62-year-old.
“So when you say transitional season, it's transitional season in us trying to bed down a way of playing that suits the players, which could mean we could still win the league, finish second, finish third.
“I have no worries about that because not in terms of winning the league or finishing second or third, but us now being competitive and playing in a cohesive manner moving forward from now. So I don't really know what transitional means, but in terms of us trying to move on from the way of playing that Jurgen had for years and years, this could be the season for that, yeah.”
Barnes is clad in an iconic Liverpool jersey as he chats. The Candy sponsorship adorning the shirt will resonate with fans of a certain vintage, and today it still retains a link to a bygone era.
Candy is the sister company of tech giant Haier, which recently announced a new partnership with the club and organized the city-center pop-up event in order for supporters to experience the synergy between soccer and smart home technology, all under the LFC brand.
“From a retro perspective, I've signed more Candy shirts than any others,” reflected Barnes, who recalls he was particularly excited when that sponsorship was confirmed nearly 37 years ago.
“Whenever a sponsor came on board, everyone got excited because you knew what you could get. When Candy came, I remember going to the Candy warehouse over on The Wirral.
“This is like 1988, and Jan Molby drove. We all got a big van and got lots of dishwashers and washing machines and stuff like that. That was as modern as it got then.”
English (US) ·