That’s the view of former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino, who feels the Reds miss Georginio Wijnaldum and the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcantara don’t do the same job as the Dutchman.
Liverpool suffered their first league defeat of the season on Sunday in a 3-2 loss to West Ham that leaves them fourth in the table, four points behind leaders Chelsea.
Jurgen Klopp has had his fair share of injury problems in midfield this term with the likes of Thiago, Fabinho and Harvey Elliot all spending time on the treatment table.
Liverpool have at times lacked intensity in the middle of the park this season after Wijnaldum joined Paris Saint-Germain in the summer and Cascarino says his replacements will struggle against tough opposition.
‘The key reason why they are not as strong as they have been is that the midfield “dogs of war” are more like dogs of straw at the moment,’ Cascarino told The Times.
‘The three playing in there used to be so relentless and aggressive that they made it really hard for opponents to get at Liverpool. Now the centre halves are exposed.
‘The big miss is Gini Wijnaldum, who left a big hole when he went to Paris Saint-Germain.
‘Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcantara do not do the same job, especially against big physical opposition such as Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek in the West Ham midfield.
‘Fabinho can do the job but he didn’t look fit to me.
‘It’s the reason why I think Liverpool will struggle to win the league, although what we’ve seen in the last week — Manchester City losing to Crystal Palace, Burnley holding Chelsea, and now West Ham beating Liverpool — tells me the winning points total will be less than 90 this season, unlike some recent seasons.’
Liverpool will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they host Arsenal on Saturday, November 20.
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