Simon Jordan believes that Jurgen Klopp must take his share of the responsibility for Liverpool's erratic start to the Premier League season, while Fenway Sports Group have come under fire from some supporters for a perceived lack of investment.
And fellow pundit Graeme Souness claims that the Reds' manager should be using his considerable clout more effectively by putting pressure on the club's owners to back him in the transfer market.
Liverpool are still licking their wounds after suffering a new low this season in their 2-1 home defeat on Saturday at the hands of struggling Leeds United - the Reds' third defeat in five Premier League matches - leaving them ninth in the table. Fans on social media have once again questioned the failure of FSG to spend big in the summer, with Liverpool's midfield in particular looking ragged, but former Crystal Palace owner Jordan is looking at the issue from both sides of the argument.
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Speaking on the talkSPORT breakfast show, he said: " You look at them against Everton, look at them against Brighton, look at them against Fulham. They’re coming up short against sides that you would expect them to do more against. The narrative will be built up that he wasn’t supported in the transfer window, you have to look at the manager and this group of players to say this is about you as much as it’s about what you never got given.
" I always make the case to be balanced and it’s not all just the owners' responsibility, it has to be the manager's, they have to work together."
Despite pointing out Liverpool's shortcomings and disappointing Premier League results, which have seen the Reds win only four of their first 12 matches, Jordan still acknowledged that Klopp's side is regularly outspent by their rivals.
Jordan added: " There’s also an argument to suggest they’re not matching pound for pound the other clubs they’re trying to track down. If you look at Liverpool’s spend over the last three seasons, they don’t spend over £75m. That’s their gross spend, then you take into consideration their sales. They’re spending something like £20m to £25m a season.
"If you’re looking to push the envelope to keep pace with the Man Citys of this world, who will spend more than that, and this season they balanced their books because they sent some players out and got (Erling) Haaland at a market depressed price because of the release clause, but it makes the case that Liverpool aren’t spending enough money to be able to keep pace with those who they’re trying to keep pace with."
Former Liverpool captain Souness broadly agreed with Jordan but feels that German boss Klopp could be doing more to ramp pressure on his paymasters to invest more heavily in the playing squad.
Souness said: "I accept that they’re businessmen, they’re Americans, this is a business for them. When they get the right offer they’ll move on, an enormous profit and move on. What I find hard to understand, when you’ve been as successful as Jurgen Klopp has at Liverpool, he could put them under pressure to spend money.
"He’s got a big say now. He only needs to come out and utter those words, ‘the board are not supporting me in transfers’, it kills the board. I have to come back to it. We’re talking about it 12 games in, at the end of last season you must see it coming. I think they’ve got it wrong, Liverpool, there’s one or two things. They don’t have the money or won’t find the money to spend because it is a business to them first and foremost. But I come to the other side of the argument and Jurgen is that powerful he could push and make demands a lesser manager couldn’t."
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