Steve Nicol has admitted he is 'worried' about Liverpool's Premier League title chances after drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace at Anfield on Monday night. The Reds drew their opening game of the season at Fulham and have just two points on the board.
The Liverpool legend was speaking to football pundit Don Hutchison about Liverpool's title credentials after the draw with Palace and Hutchison wasn't willing to back down on his prediction of a 20th league title for the Reds.
Jurgen Klopp 's midfield has come in for plenty of criticism in the opening couple of weeks of the new season with many fans crying out for a new midfielder to be signed and Nicol backs these calls.
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Nicol responded to Hutchison on ESPN FC saying Liverpool can still win the league with the former Liverpool player not feeling as confident as his fellow pundit: " It’s just when you said Liverpool are going to win the title, I can’t honestly, my brain didn’t go yes, I’m a little worried already."
Hutchison touched on last season when Liverpool pulled back a 15 point gap between themselves and Manchester City to finish just a single point behind Pep Guardiola's side.
" How can I back out of it? I mean 108 points to play for, we’re two games in," said Hutchinson. "What were City ahead last year? Fifteen points and they got it all the way back to one. I’m not giving up just yet."
Nicol believes the Liverpool midfield is 'blank' and in need of an injection of 'personality'. Harvey Elliott was the shining light in the middle as the youngster started alongside veteran James Milner and the out-of-form Fabinho.
" It’s very difficult to complain about what Liverpool do, the fact is that recently it hasn’t been working to the level of what it was," added Nicol. "In order to get back to that, I think not only do you need new faces but you 100 per cent need a little injection of personality. If you look at Liverpool’s midfield, it’s blank, it’s blank. It’s just a bunch of guys running around, I don’t see any real diversity in it, it’s just a bunch of guys that chase and try to give it to the front three.
"When he’s (Thiago Alcantara) is playing, Thiago… has he played two games in a row since he came? I tell you what, I’ll give him a maximum of three games (in a row) after that we’re looking at chasers who win the ball. Eventually, you just don’t get away with that. Particularly when your front three are struggling to score goals, you need somebody to chip in whether it’s your backline but it’s not in the middle of the park.
"That’s why Keita was bought, 100 per cent, that’s why Naby Keita was bought by Jurgen Klopp, not just to get around the field and get the ball back but get the ball and score some goals. He hasn’t delivered. As Klopp said it’s hard to find those guys."
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