Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest: Match Review
Liverpool are 12th in the Premier League after suffering six defeat in their past seven matches.
Martin Keown has claimed that Liverpool need leaders who will take them ‘back to the top of the mountain’ to emerge.
Captain Virgil van Dijk admitted that the Reds are ‘in a mess’ as they sit 12th in the table and, as things stand, face a battle to finish in the top four. Players such as Ibrahima Konate, out of contract at the end of the season, Alexis Mac Allister and Mo Salah have struggled along with summer signings such as Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Keown insists that Liverpool’s problems can be remedied and reckons that the midfield need to start offering more protection for the defence. And the ex-Arsenal defender feels there needs to be players who emerge and stand up to be counted.
What’s been said
Keown said: “I've said it can be fixed and without doubt it can be, but only with calm heads. You fix it by protecting the centre-halves a lot more [with] the midfield players and be hard to beat. That's where confidence is gone. The real belief from the fans has disappeared and you can get it back.
“There will be honest talks. They are not winning a tackle at the moment, never mind a game. I’m pretty certain that he would have spent the weekend looking for the answers and if he doesn’t, his job is not going to be there.
“All the signs are there that they have lost their way. It's about belief and this is what the manager is going to have to do. He is going to try to wrestle back that belief. Konate seemed to be nowhere near fit enough at the start of the season. I know he is a big man and I heard last year that they changed all of his training patterns and he was given extra time off and was injured most of the time under Klopp, he is a big man.
“But he hasn't really turned up. I do feel that they can get better protection. You need that barricade. I would use midfield players to screen off to stop the ball coming into feet and I do think it is fixable.
“Everyone will be blamed. It's about how you get out of that. Who want to be the leaders who just want to take the club forward and take the club back to the top of the mountain?Because that's what they are going to have to do. There is still so much left of the season but right now, they are looking unrecognisable.”
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