In his weekly column in The Times, Graeme Souness, has unflinchingly claimed that Tottenham Hotspur maestro Christian Eriksen would walk into our starting eleven.
“In Christian Eriksen, Liverpool come up against a player today who would be perfect for them and improve any team anywhere at the moment,” the former Red argues.
My definition of greatness is when a player could go anywhere and get in the team and it applies to Eriksen. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus – anybody at this moment in time – would welcome him.
He’s just an all-round top player. There’s no weakness in his game. You might like a touch more aggression, but with the qualities he has you would overlook that.
It’s a bold statement from the Scot, who is essentially suggesting that the Danish playmaker would improve any team in world football. We do need a new creative midfielder but is Eriksen that man?
Souness has been somewhat critical of our “workaholic midfield” in the past, but also has a lot of time for the invaluable industry of the likes of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Yes, there’s only seven league goals between them so far, but Jürgen Klopp has prioritised a shoring up of the middle of the park in favour of the attacking width provided by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson (who have a combined total of 14 league assists this season).
Eriksen is definitely one to watch out for this afternoon, but we fancy our midfield three and a team-based press to keep him quiet.
Spurs definitely have a threat in midfield with Dele Alli also back in the team, but they’re missing Eric Dier and Harry Winks. We’re still unbeaten at Anfield and we’ll be looking to keep it that way.