The one thing that looked better for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur was that the front three was more balanced.
Darwin Nunez is trying to get used to that left-hand side, and because we’ve got three centre forwards he’s got to mix and match his positions. Diogo Jota is out and then there’s Luis Diaz out as well.
So he is trying to learn the Sadio Mane role, and he did it well against Tottenham. He’s not Mane by any means, but he can score as many goals if not more.
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Against Tottenham, his role was good. I thought it was more balanced in what he did in getting to know that left-hand side, which then released Roberto Firmino or Jota when he’s fit to go through the middle and give Jurgen Klopp more options.
He could have scored himself, he got an assist, and for me that was the most pleasing thing.
Ibrahima Konate at the back was absolutely tremendous against Tottenham. He’s good in the air and he’s massive for Liverpool going forward.
He’s the type of player you have to keep because he’s only going to get better and better. Hopefully he stays away from some of the injuries that he’s had recently, because he’s a man mountain.
Midfield concerns for Klopp
I think Liverpool have got three players in midfield who are at the most experienced level with Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
Then there’s Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho who are inexperienced. It feels like we’ve got nothing in between.
That’s a little bit of an imbalance in Klopp’s squad. The young players are going to learn and get better, though.
We do look, at times, not to have the legs to outrun other teams in midfield this season. I don’t know what that’s down to.
Against Leeds United, they ran 11km more than us. I’d like to know what the figures were against Tottenham.
You’ve got to match the opposition in midfield and grab the game by the throat in those areas. And against Tottenham we lost that in the second half.
Fabinho did well against Tottenham, it was much better from him. He needs to get his form back because Liverpool need him in that area to patrol that area in midfield and protect the back four.
He did that better against Tottenham, but he can still be better on all fronts.
Trent has things to work on but he's still brilliant
Everyone seems to be picking the bones out of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performances recently. I thought he was brilliant going forward against Tottenham on Sunday.
But all I can say is that teams are pin-pointing him all of the time. Against Tottenham, all of their movement was going down the left side with Ivan Perisic to catch Trent out while he’s going forward.
That’s what teams are doing and it’s difficult for him at times because people try to prey on him. They say he’s inconsistent defensively, but he does some great things.
Because he’s had so many people pointing fingers at him, he overthinks things sometimes and he panics a little bit. That’s because of the criticism that comes from other people.
He’s young and he’ll learn from this experience, and he will get better. I’m sure he works hard on the defensive side of his game, because to become the complete full-back you have to do every single job and that’s what everyone wants him to be.
Of course he’s got to work on the defensive side of his game, he doesn’t have to work on the attacking part because it comes so naturally. He puts in better crosses than David Beckham.
Real Madrid won't want to face Liverpool
Ideally I was hoping that Liverpool would be getting another trip to Portugal with either Benfica or Porto in the Champions League draw, but it wasn’t to be.
But we’ve Real Madrid again for the umpteenth time, and I say that because they’ve won the tournament 14 times and Liverpool have six times. They are two massive clubs because of the pedigree in this competition.
So I’m not surprised to see Liverpool get Madrid in the last-16 stage. It’s not ideal, but it’s not for them either.
There were a lot easier draws for Madrid, and they won’t be happy with it, let’s put it that way. We’ve just got to get on with it.
You can’t use the last two finals as ‘we owe them this and that’, it doesn’t work that way. They beat us the last two times in the final and they knocked us out in the quarter-final, and the law of averages we may be due one.
Over two legs, it may be difficult. The second leg will be at their place at the Santiago Bernabeu, but by next February we will hopefully have all of our players available and not injured, and hopefully have had some recruitment as well in January.
We’ve just beaten Napoli, one of the strongest sides in Europe at the moment, and beat them well at home. It’s going to be interesting against Madrid, but it’s more than three months away so let’s see where the squad lies.
Strongest team needed against Derby
Klopp will mix and match with his team selection against Derby County in the Carabao Cup, but we can’t afford to slip up.
We enjoyed the ride last year in getting to the final and winning it, as well as the FA Cup. We’re not going to win the league, so we’ve got to stay in the cups and keep the interest for the rest of the season.
If everyone is available, then Klopp should use them. Liverpool have only got two games and then the break, they should play their strongest team against Derby and maybe give a couple of young lads the benefit of a game.
Klopp should put out a team that’s worthy of winning the game. It’s great to see Derby back at Anfield, I scored a hat-trick against them in the old Division One and they were a big club, and they are a big club. So it’s great that they're back.
Nunez needs games and goals, so play him. Midfield you’ve got Carvalho, Jones and Elliott, but you need experience in there to balance it out and get the job done.
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