Graeme Souness shared that he personally thought that Liverpool could do with making some more signings before the transfer window slams shut.
The former Reds midfielder revealed that he thought Jurgen Klopp’s side looked a little short up top after Daniel Sturridge left the club and added that he personally thought they could do with adding some more creativity to their midfield, after being asked if the club should be doing more business.
However, Souness quickly stated that it was for Klopp to decide what Liverpool needed and claimed the Premier League title race would be between the Reds, Manchester City and potentially Tottenham in the upcoming season.
“Well Sturridge is gone, we’re a little light up there if anything happens to the magical three they have got up there,” said Souness on Sky Sports News (11:04am, Saturday, August 3rd,).
“Erm personally I think they need a bit more creativity in midfield, their first-choice midfielders are all workaholics, great lads, erm steamroll teams and bully teams but when games are tight, I just think about a slightly different approach.
“But that’s for Jurgen to decide for not me, I think Liverpool and City will be challenging again this year, nearest rivals arguably Tottenham, I think United will undoubtedly be stronger if they end up with Harry Maguire as it’s not just what he brings to the team, but his confidence and calmness will spread to those around him.
“You just have to look at the impact Van Dijk had on his team, so that’ll be a great signing for United, but even with him signing I can’t see them challenging so I think it’s between the big two who challenged last year and Tottenham, United fourth and both Arsenal and Chelsea will have difficult seasons, well not difficult seasons but not challenging.”
OPINION
Souness may have a point regarding Liverpool’s creativity in midfield as they lacked in that department last season, but the returns of Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from injury should help the Reds have a creative spark in the middle. The midfield duo both spent a lot of their 2018/19 campaign battling injuries problems. Oxlade-Chamberlain managed to play only 19 minutes of the Reds’ Premier League campaign last season, as per the Transfermarkt, but before getting injured he looked like being a creative force for the Reds in midfield. The 25-year-old scored three goals, while assisting seven, in his 35 league outings in his 2017/18 campaign and created five big chances (Source: Premier League). If he could produce similar numbers in the upcoming season and stay fit, then Souness will discover he no longer thinks the Reds need to sign a creative midfielder. As for Lallana, he could also boost the Reds’ attack as long as he stays fit. After all the 31-year-old has been involved in 56 goals across the 181 Premier League appearances he has made during his career, the only worry about him is his injury record (Source: Premier League). Lallana has such bad luck with injuries that his profile page on Transfermarkt is a frustrating read as you can just see hamstring issues and knee problems constantly coming back to haunt him.
