“He’s one of the most non-creative players I’ve ever seen playing in midfield.”
John Giles has given his take on Liverpool’s troubles, and delivered a withering assessment of the team’s midfield duo.
Liverpool have struggled for form and results since the turn of the year, with their only win in 2017, in any competition, coming in an FA Cup replay against Plymouth Argyle last month.
They haven’t won a league game since beating Manchester City 1-0 on December 31.
They look to have slipped out of the title race and face a fight to finish in the top four.
Former Leeds United and Republic of Ireland midfielder Giles claims Liverpool’s big problem is their defence and that Jurgen Klopp is a “one-trick pony.”
“He’s a one trick pony with a great trick and that’s to go, go, go,” Giles said on told Newstalk.
“They don’t defend well and you have to defend sometimes.
“The biggest problem is that when they do lose it, they can’t defend.”
Giles cited Liverpool’s recent loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup as an example of their poor defence, and Klopp’s tactics not working.
“If you look at the Wolves match for example, they were on the edge of the Wolves box when Wolves won the ball and two passes later the ball in the back of the net.
“I think Klopp believes ‘we’ll throw everything at them’.”
The former RTE pundit also claimed that, other than Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana, Liverpool lack creative players.
“When they’re attacking, their two full-backs are at the edge of the box,” Giles said.
“Now I always believed if you are attacking one side, the other full-back has to cover. Coutinho can do a bit on his own, I don’t think Lallana beats players and none of the others do.
“When you have that, you’ve no creative force in the middle of the field and dodgy at the back, you will have inconsistency.
“There is no emphasis on defence.”
This brought Giles to Liverpool’s central midfield pairing – Jordan Henderson and Emre Can. The former Ireland manager isn’t a fan of either, particularly Henderson.
“Henderson is not going to create anything, he’s one of the most non-creative players I’ve ever seen playing in midfield,” Giles said.
“And they have Can who doesn’t have a creative bone in his body either.
“He’s a good athlete but I don’t think Henderson is a player at all, every ball he gets is back and sideways.
“If the opposition have the ball, Can can win it, Henderson can win it sometimes and pass to other people, but once the opposition give them the ball and say ‘break us down’, I don’t think they have the ability to do it.”
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