Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey has compared his old side’s limited depth up front to that on offer at Manchester City.
With the Reds set to lose Mo Salah, Naby Keita and Sadio Mane to the African Cup of Nations between 9th January and 6th February, Jurgen Klopp’s men look set to field a makeshift frontline for at least a couple of fixtures.
“This is the fascinating thing with Manchester City. When you take players out of Man City, they still play the same way and I think it’s the only team in the league where you see that and they play the same way,” the 43-year-old spoke on the Seaman Says podcast (via the Metro).
“You bring [Riyad] Mahrez out, you can put [Phil] Foden out there. Bring Foden out, you can put Raheem [Sterling] out there. Bring out Raheem and you can put [Gabriel] Jesus out there and they still play exactly the same way. They still make exactly the same runs.
“When you take Salah, Mane and Firmino out of the Liverpool team, it looks different and they have to adapt.”
With a winter break occurring between 23rd January and 7th February, however, it’s worthwhile noting that the Merseysiders will only miss the trio for the fixtures against Brentford and Crystal Palace, as things currently stand.
There are still six points to play for, of course, which will present something of a concern to Klopp given how tight the race for the title appears to be early in the season.
Beyond that, we are to an extent reliant on a relatively injury-free season to prevent a catastrophic loss of quality in the first-XI.
Should we manage to avoid the kind of crisis that was inflicted upon us last term, however, you’d be hard-pressed to not back Liverpool to go the distance.