Steve Nicol has pointed to Liverpool’s front-three as the reason behind the club’s drop in form.
Bar Sadio Mane, the Reds’ forwards have yet to contribute with an assist or goal since the 7-0 rout of Crystal Palace.
“I think it’s pretty clear where the problems are. It’s up front. The front three are not producing, not delivering… they’re not even creating!” the ex-Reds defender told ESPN (via Football365). “Yes, at Newcastle they made opportunities but this Southampton game and the West Brom game, they never created anything. If you aren’t going to create, then you aren’t going to score goals.”
“So it’s not a complete and utter shambles. The fact is Klopp now has to have a quiet word and a clever word with the front three,” Nicol added.
Having amassed a dismal two points from the last three games, there can be no question as to the need for improvement come our next league meeting with Manchester United (not least of all our FA Cup tie with Aston Villa on Friday).
While some have rushed to point fingers at particular players, however, we’d argue that the recent outing at Southampton was more the fault of the entire team than individuals.
Yes, the goals have not been flowing of late, but you’d expect the side to start converting their chances sooner or later given the sheer number we’ve been creating.
Perhaps that’s letting our forward line off too easily, but considering we have the league’s top goalscorer in Mo Salah – with Sadio Mane and Bobby Firmino also coming up with the goods (albeit to a lesser extent) – we can’t say it’s an overwhelmingly concerning issue.
Liverpool will win again and we’ll all be singing our front-three’s praises at home soon enough.