Emmanuel Petit has questioned the performances of Liverpool’s midfield trio – Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson – and how they used to control games.
The Arsenal legend was also critical of Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah for ‘not being at the right level’ following Liverpool’s worrying start to the season.
Over the weekend, Jurgen Klopp watched his players leak more goals, this time a 3-3 draw at home to Brighton.
Even though Brighton had a new manager in their dugout – Roberto De Zerbi – it was like the Graham Potter days for the Seagulls, who took a 2-0 lead, then fell 3-2 behind, before rescuing a deserved point.
It’s not the way Liverpool would have wanted to start the new season and it all stems from their opening day draw at newly-promoted Fulham – some would even go back to how they ended the previous campaign.
Nonetheless, Petit, who mastered the defensive midfield position during his playing days, shared his thoughts on Liverpool’s issues at the back, as he told Premier League Productions (01/10/22 at 5:10 pm).
“I think there are top players at Liverpool, who aren’t at the right level like they should be,” said Petit. “You mentioned Van Dijk, well, Salah as well. He’s missing the plot for six games now.
“In the midfield as well. The three of them, Henderson, Fabinho and Alcantara. They used to control the game all the time. They used to control the tempo all the time. And we don’t see that (against Brighton).”
LIVERPOOL STILL HAVE TIME
Yes, Manchester City are running away with it, alongside current surprise leaders Arsenal, but Liverpool still have time to turn things around.
They have a team of proven stars capable of going on winning runs not many others in the division, other than Man City, are capable of going down.
But the longer this form continues, the longer they continue to leak goals, and then the more trouble that will come their way.
And then, they will go from possible title contenders to trying to battle for the Champions League places and that’s a jam-packed race they don’t want to enter.
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