Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Liverpool Echo

Sport

John Aldridge

I have concerns about Darwin Nunez and Jurgen Klopp has to address overlooked Liverpool problem

Jurgen Klopp Darwin Nunez Liverpool Roberto Firmino Salah Echo Southampton Luis Diaz Mane

The season we’ve had this year is a freak season. You can’t go from where we were this time last year, on the verge of winning four trophies to finishing fifth.

And that’s with these poor spells where we’ve been letting in lots of goals, and our away form has been horrific.

Maybe last season impacted them mentally. The injuries certainly didn’t help to our forward-line, when we had Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota out. That hampered us big time, and we had Roberto Firmino out for a lot of the season as well.

Then the defence, it’s capitulated. The midfield wasn’t the same. You just have to hope that Jurgen can get us back to where we were. It’s going to take some doing but it’s not impossible.

I watched the Southampton game and I wasn’t really impressed to be honest. Some players had an opportunity to show that they are ready if they are called upon and they didn’t really take it in my opinion.

Defensively, we looked like the team that we had when we were struggling in January and February, losing to Wolves and Brighton, and whoever else it was. It was back to the bad old days.

It’s just as well that going forward, we created a lot of chances and we took four of them, even if we should have had more. You can’t complain with getting four goals away from home, it’s more than enough to win you games.

But when you only draw, it’s not right, is it? It isn’t right. It will give the manager some food for thought, if nothing else. To see where we are. But certainly defensively, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing to be quite honest.

There was some good stuff going forward, obviously. But you can’t score four goals away from home and not win a game.

Bye Bobby

Bobby’s been great and got his two goals since he came back. You almost don’t want him to leave but I think it’s all been done. You move on.

He's leaving on a free transfer. Good luck to him wherever he goes, be it Real Madrid or someone else. He’s been a great servant. He’s extremely well-liked by the fans, that’s what you go off.

Firmino, Mane, and Salah will go down with the likes of Hunt, St. John, Toshack, Keegan, Rush, Dalglish, myself, Beardsley, and Barnes. They are in that category, Liverpool striking legends, but it can’t happen forever.

You just need to see where the manager goes with it next year. From my point of view, I think he needs to look at the balance up top.

We only really have one player in Salah who plays right-wing. We have three centre-forwards who can all play left-wing, all of them, and then we have Diaz.

That balance has to be looked at. It's maybe been overlooked as the midfield is the big, big area. The defence is also an issue, but Jurgen has to get the balance back right in the attack.

Nunez concerns

I have my concerns about Darwin Nunez. It’s the injuries more than anything, though the early sending off didn’t help him. The forwards before him didn't have the injuries.

He’s shown what he’s about at times though, and he’s a crowd-favourite. He’s got a little bit of Luis Suarez in him, but probably without the finishing touch.

But I think he’ll get better. You’re looking at a centre-forward who’s been playing on the left-wing. And Cody Gakpo’s a left-winger who is playing as centre-forward. That doesn’t happen overnight.

They’ve shown desire and eagerness in certain games, and he’s scored goals. That’s why the manager needs to have a look at the balance of the front three.

We’ve been lucky to have them three players for years, Firmino, Mane, and Salah, and they weren’t getting injured. Now Jurgen Klopp’s got to get the right blend going forward and get the right back-ups as well.

READ NEXT