During the current January transfer window, Liverpool shored up one leaky area of the squad with Virgil van Dijk's acquisition from Southampton aimed at plugging the glaring gaps in defence.
But key playmaker Philippe Coutinho departed Anfield for Barcelona and while the size of the deal adds plenty of cash to the club's bank balance, it does leave Liverpool much weaker in midfield and that's not even mentioning the lack of a holding midfielder to protect the defence.
That's the view of Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson who joined Nathan before the Reds' Premier League match against Huddersfield.
"My real worry about them is that across the midfield, they've become somewhat poorer, even though they've signed Van Dijk helps a little bit," he said.
Liverpool brought in Virgil van Dijk to shore up a porous back-four. But Mark Lawrenson reckons Liverpool have an issue in midfield without Coutinho and without a shield in front of the defence! #OTB #LFC #HUDLIV pic.twitter.com/d0AiKJi5yj
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) January 30, 2018
"The way West Brom played through them last Saturday night was quite embarrassing and if you're Can, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, you're kind of thinking they're all decent players but they're not outstanding players are they.
"And as much as obviously Jurgen Klopp wants to play this particular way, this pressing way, the inter-changing in terms of how their forwards are - one-touch football if possible - you just think maybe it's time to actually bite the bullet and actually say right, 'You know what, we're not great at the back so I'm going to play somebody in front of the back four, purely and simply as a protection' and if that means Liverpool create fewer chances, well it does. But it might stop them losing to Swansea, it might stop them losing at home against West Brom and the other teams."
Lawrenson also compared Liverpool's inconsistency to Arsenal but feels the Gunners may have made a step ahead of the Reds with their January transfer dealings...
"Arsenal might just have - in the last few days - made themselves as good, if not better than Liverpool for the rest of the season with their acquistions"
Mark Lawrenson expressing his worries about Liverpool ahead of #HUDLIV
Do you see Klopp's side making the Top 4? #OTB pic.twitter.com/uFBaREugtK
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) January 30, 2018
