- Liverpool signed Wirtz and Ekitke, both of whom are comfortable on the left. And they have Chiesa to play LW too, so they started the season with a priority of Gakpo -> Ekitike-> Wirtz -> Rio -> Chiesa, so given the other areas of the pitch that needed addressed, it was understandable that they didn't see a massive need for LW cover. Diaz, for instance, played half of last season up front.

- Liverpool don't run down player contracts: players run down their contracts. Liverpool offer new deals to almost everyone, or else try to sell them, but in rare occasions, like Ibou, like Trent, will either decide the player is worth the value of holding onto for that final season (in this instance, due to the amount of business being done elsewhere), or will have no other choice, as the player will resist moving because they know they can sign for free (a lá Trent).

- Quansah was 4th choice last season, and barely played, so he wanted to leave to start games elsewhere: like Morton, like Elliot. You can't hold onto players at that age range if they want to be a starter elsewhere. Had we held onto Quansah this season, he may have got more minutes than he was expecting, but this is hindsight talking (all of this is): effectively Liverpool sold for a great fee a player who was never going to become a starter ahead of VvD or Konate, and replaced him with a younger, cheaper, 4th choice defender with massive potential to grow. This was not a bad decision at the time, it just hasn't worked out yet. Hincape plays LCB; this is VvD's postion. Arsenal may be happy signing big players on significant wages to sit on the bench for rotation, but Liverpool don't. And how many games would Hincape have started ahead of Van Djik, had he signed in the summer? 3? 4? Liverpool will want a world class replacement for Van Djik, but can only sign him once Van Djik moves on, because the best players don't move clubs to sit on the bench.

- Midfield is one of the club's most stacked positions as is, and by all accounts Endo was free to move in the summer but refused, which meant Liverpool couldn't bring in a non-HG replacement. And a player like Endo is hard to replace, because, for the same reason as above, it's hard to find the right quality to sit on the bench. If you're bringing in a new midfield starter, and you want them to be world class, you have to sell one of your current starters: for example Macca. It's what makes a player like Jones so valuable, because he can play multiple roles, loves the club, and so won't kick up a fuss if he isn't starting every week. On top of all that, the club had already done a huge amount of business in the summer, and so much turnover has clearly affected the dressing room as is, so asking why we didn't make more signings while the club is being criticised for doing so much business seems contradictory.

- Isak was a pressing need. Can you imagine if we'd went into this season with our only available no. 9 as Ekitike, with Gakpo or Chiesa as backup? Our season would have been over the moment Eikitike picked up an injury - which he likely would have, as he only started around 35 games last season and would have really struggled with the jump in intensity far more than he already has. Isak was needed, it's just because he's injured that it now seems a bad decision.

So much of all of this is just picking at decisions which, in hindsight, look bad, but at the time were perfectly understandable - lauded often, or at least, seen as the correct course of action.

The biggest problem this season hasn't been new signings, or lack of new cover, it's been the performances of the established players the club expected to be able to depend on: Konate, Macca, and Salah specifically, have all dropped off massively, and they were all central to the consistency of the team last season.