Thin Reds line is sub standard

ANYONE looking for a clue as to why Liverpool’s Champions League fate is now out of their hands needed only to glance at their bench for Sunday’s defeat by Crystal Palace. It consisted of Ben Woodburn (top), Rhian Brewster, Trent Alexander-arnold (middle), Joe Gomez (bottom), Marko Grujic, Alberto Moreno and Loris Karius. The average age was 19 and, when you exclude Moreno, the other six had started 17 times for Liverpool between them. Jurgen Klopp may have had six senior players ruled out through injury (Danny Ings, Ragnar Klavan, Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana), but Manchester United had five equally pivotal men ruled out for their trip to Burnley on the same day (Juan Mata, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo). Yet Jose Mourinho could still send on Michael Carrick, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford from the bench and keep £30million Luke Shaw sitting there. There is no excuse for a club which expects to be challenging for the top four to have a squad that thin at a crucial time in the season. Liverpool need major reinvestment this summer, a task made harder if they don’t land that Champions League place due to the points their weak squad is now squandering. That bench against Palace should have offered a sobering reality check to their Moneyball enthusiast owners Fenway Sports Group. Proof that trying to be successful on the cheap at the highest level rarely works.