Jamie Carragher is intrigued by the effect Darwin Nunez and Erling Haaland will have on Liverpool and Manchester City as the new Premier League season is fast approaching. The two new strikers may face off in the Community Shield today and give fans a glimpse of what they have to offer.
Much of the Premier League may expect last seasons top two to further improve on their 93 and 92 points after the two signings, former Liverpool defender Carragher is unsure this will be case with both sides having to make tactical tweaks to accommodate to their new players.
Carragher has touched on how adding a prolific out-and-out number nine to an already free flowing attack doesn't allows work out. Liverpool's success under Jurgen Klopp has come without the use of a striker as Roberto Firmino perfected his false nine role.
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Carragher said in his Telegraph column that he still expects one of Liverpool or City to win the league and add to their recent dominance of English football: "It’s not that I believe any side other than City or Liverpool will be champions at the end of the season. But there is cause to expect the gap to the chasing-pack to close because of the improvements made by Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United and the inevitable need for the top two to tweak tactics and style following their high-profile purchases.
"There is an assumption City and Liverpool will be stronger because they have signed two of the most sought after strikers in the world. Personnel-wise, that is a valid conclusion.
"What intrigues me ahead of their first meeting of the season in Saturday’s Community Shield is the impact Haaland and Nunez will have on the dynamic of the rest of their team. This will be the major focus of tactical analysis in the opening weeks of the season."
The Sky Sports pundit has touched on how history hasn't always been kind to a team that adds a goalscoring striker to their side: "Darwin Nunez represents a slightly different approach to attacking from Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. The easy analysis is adding a finisher to already fully-functioning teams will inevitably make them better.
"History informs us that it is a dangerous presumption. Three of England's greatest goalscorers were Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer. At the peak of their powers they joined teams which had either just won the title or, in the case of Shearer, gone close and were in need of that final push to get to the top.
"Greaves signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1961, six months after they won the league and FA Cup Double. For all his success at White Hart Lane, he never won an English league title. Lineker joined Everton in the summer of 1985, just after Howard Kendall’s side won the championship. He scored 40 goals but Liverpool won the Double in 1986 before the England striker moved to Barcelona. Everton regained the title a year later without him."
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