Liverpool fans here in the Transfer Tavern were to be forgiven for losing a little faith in the current team after a miserable start to their Premier League campaign under the guidance of boss Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp had endured a tough ride at the start of this season with his fantastic attack, simply papering over the cracks at the back. Indeed, our regular Liverpudlians were becoming all too familiar with holding their head in their hands and each week it seemed to get worse. Some of our punters believe Klopp had lost his way with the team and putting all his eggs in a ‘you score three we’ll score four’ mentality, much like Anfield great Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle did when he was in charge.

While the Reds went through this phase, our landlord thinks some of the players the German had shown faith in weren’t showing him the same level of commitment back. Klopp has to have a good January window and address the serious defensive issues that have dogged his side all year, or face dropping out of the Top Four completely.

Here are two players that have largely let the German down this year…

Jordan Henderson

Trying to fill Steven Gerrard’s boots a little too much as the new club captain is attempting to do things his way, but as the skipper on the pitch, he should be firing his players up and taking the game by the scruff of the neck as his predecessor did on many occasion.

He may be in a different mould to Gerrard but he should be certainly looking to emulate him during the tough times for the Anfield outfit. Many fans have called for his head and perhaps he’s been played out of position, though the England international needs to up his game defensively.

Simon Mignolet

Klopp has bounced between the two goalkeepers in order to find out the true number one choice in a duel battle type scenario, neither has really stepped up to the plate and in turn resulting in some pretty poor goals being conceded, especially early on in the season.

They don’t have the confidence that they’ll be playing each week and that reverbs into the defence as they have a different number one behind them each week.

The faith that Klopp has shown Mignolet this season really needs to be repaid and a string of outstanding performances will justify Klopp not dipping in his hand in the market come this January.