Liverpool’s weaknesses this season have been Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ray Houghton has said. Ray recently revealed that both full-backs have not been at their best this season, and the needed creativity from the midfield has been non-existent.
According to him, playing both Fabinho and Henderson in defence automatically weakens the midfield, and Liverpool cannot thrive with that
He added that the recent injury crises will surely test the current Liverpool team and he looks forward to seeing how they’ll react to the situation.
His words, “If you lose [Virgil] van Dijk and you lose [Joel] Matip and [Joe] Gomez, which is the heartbeat of the central defence, what you do then is you bring back Fabinho from central midfield to centre-back and likewise with Jordan Henderson and that might weaken the midfield slightly.”
“And one of the areas where Liverpool aren’t quite doing as well is that they aren’t breaking from midfield into advanced positions. That’s something they were doing with the three forwards coming a little bit deeper, leaving the gaps to move into._
“Two of the full-backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, were two of the best going forward and producing opportunities. But their final ball isn’t of the best quality at the moment, hence the reason they aren’t getting those clear-cut opportunities inside the 18-yard box.”
“Based on what happened when I was at Liverpool, I remember going through seasons where in the first half you weren’t quite at it as much as you should have been and then you galvanise and you come together.”
“I’ve heard James Milner and one or two of the other Liverpool players saying it’s time the players stood up, we’ve got to put it right on the pitch, and he’s absolutely right.
“This will test the Liverpool players because the last two-and-a-half seasons they’ve been fantastic, winning the Champions League, winning the league.”
