Liverpool once again stuttered into action last night, and could only come away from Anfield with a 2-2 draw against Wolves.
Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez scored the goals that earned Jurgen Klopp’s side a replay.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, Tony Cascarino was analysing what has been going wrong for Liverpool.
The Reds have looked a shadow of the side that has consistently challenged for the titles over the past few years.
Halfway through the season, Liverpool’s biggest concern will be making sure they quality for next year’s Champions League.
Right now, that looks like a tall task unless their form turns around quickly.
Cascarino has now said that Klopp has to drop Thiago Alcantara if he insists on sticking with his current system.
The TalkSPORT pundit is a massive fan of the Spanish midfielder, but doesn’t think he suits Liverpool’s style.
Klopp has to drop Thiago – Cascarino
Speaking on TalkSPORT this morning, Cascarino said: “My biggest problem with Liverpool, I think, is Klopp’s idea is flawed around Thiago.
“He’s a fabulous, talented, footballer, but all the time he’s in that midfield, the ball keeps going into him.
“And yes, he’s really comfortable on it, and he can make things happen. He’s technically gifted, he’s up there with the best I’ve ever seen.
“But I just think it affects Liverpool’s style completely, because they lose possession and teams keep coming at them.
“They go through Liverpool like a knife through butter.
“Liverpool are playing a style that I believe is flawed with Thiago playing in there.
“I think he changes the whole way Liverpool manage their midfield.”
Thiago’s defensive stats are underrated, but his tackling can be improved
Solving Liverpool’s midfield conundrum has been an issue Klopp has been dealing with all season.
Players have been missing through injury, but generally the balance in the middle of the park has looked wrong.
Thiago is fantastic in possession, but has drawn criticism in the past for his work off-the-ball.
His performance against Arsenal earlier in the season in particular was scrutinised.
The Spaniard does put in plenty of tackles and wins back the ball via interceptions very frequently.
However, these efforts can be heavy-handed at times. Of the 42 players who tried to dribble past him last season, he successfully tackled just 10 of them.
Cascarino now believes Klopp has to drop Thiago to try and fix Liverpool’s midfield, but it’s hard to see who his replacement might be.
No one in Liverpool’s ranks has his range of passing, except for Trent Alexander-Arnold, and the Reds would be sacrificing creativity if he wasn’t in the side.
source: https://tbrfootball.com/
