It screwed up everything.
- No matter if you take Grealish as a good player or not, his career at Villa and England all suggest he plays at best with an overlapping left back. Screwed up his confidence.
- Cancelo does not have a back up option. He is overplayed and also taken his spot for granted without a quality left back pushing him.
- When Walker was out of the squad, some center backs had to fill into the fullback spot. It affected the winger ahead's performance and also brought injury risk to the makeshift fullback because their body were not really built for running up and down. No one wanted that before WC.
- Bernado had to run even more and dropped back deeply when Ake filled the left back spot.
- No cross from left touchline to find Halaand. So just defend the cross from KDB at the right hand side.
- Gomez red card at Copenhagen away made the rest of the starting xi tired at Anfield.
And to make it worse, Gomez agent is Pep's brother. The unhappy players affected probably question if nepotism is there. Both Cucurella and Gomez were Barca product. It seems that Pep is determined to get a Barca left back while ignoring all other easy solutions, like Sosa, etc.
I cannot understand why the board does not rent or buy a LB to fill the hole this winter window to get Pep some support. He must have ask for one when signing the contract? If he did not ask, I can understand why the dressing room was not happy.