Stan Collymore has suggested that the early signs from Liverpool’s forward line are positive in comparison to that of some of their league rivals.
The 50-year-old pointed out that Manchester City appeared to be struggling to match the Reds’ form in front of goal with regard to their “mainline strikers”.
“10 goals so far in the league, that’s all of Liverpool’s mainline strikers that have scored; Manchester United, four from strikers, three of them from a rookie, Mason Greenwood, the other one from Cristiano Ronaldo; Manchester City, two goals from strikers, Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres,” the former Red told Empire of the Kop.
“Five or six games in, Pep Guardiola [is] desperate to get Harry Kane in at £140m, £130m, £120m (whatever figures you want to believe), and you can see why.
“You can see why Romelu Lukaku was worth £97m to Chelsea. Chelsea have four goals from strikers – Kai Havertz, Romelu Lukaku and Christian Pulisic has scored for Chelsea.
“But Liverpool, six games in, have scored five times as many goals as Manchester City from strikers – that’s telling.
“If that carries on: Liverpool walk the league.”
The former Liverpool striker posed a question as to whether fans would prefer to have a midfield stacked with the talent at Pep Guardiola’s disposal or the clinical forward line available to Jurgen Klopp.
“The question I’m going to ask Liverpool fans and football fans generally is: do you want somebody who’s going to pop up in the 90th minute having done nothing and is an intuitive striker – Salah, Mane, Jota, less so Bobby Firmino, Mason Greenwood, Romelu Lukaku?” Collymore added.
“Or do you want eight attacking midfielders that do great little twists and turns and pirouettes but might not weigh in with your 15 or 20 goals this season?”
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It all depends on who you classify as a “mainline striker”, but City’s front-three stars have managed six league goals between them, which is still a considerable four-goal deficit to our 10.
There’s no questioning the fact that our forward line is in scintillating form this term, due in no small part to the efforts of Mo Salah.
It’s an interesting point from Collymore given that our midfield has previously earned critique for its limited contributions to the scoresheet in prior seasons, raising the question as to the importance of such efforts when the forward men are regularly supplying the goals.
You can catch our interview with Stan below:
🗣️"Liverpool, six games in, have scored five times as many goals as Manchester City from strikers – that's telling. If that carries on: Liverpool win the league."@StanCollymore dissects the stats on #LFC's attacking prowess compared to their rivals📈 pic.twitter.com/LsZ9b7JgFe
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) September 18, 2021
It doesn’t matter who scores them.
Man City are putting as many balls in as Liverpool.
Man City should still be favourites at this stage. They have such a strong xI and an exceptional squad and the premier league is a squad game.