A Striking Concern for Liverpool

In what promises to be an extremely close title race, the finest margins could make the biggest of differences. Whilst Liverpool have strengthened in some areas of the park, they still lack a top-class striker. Jurgen Klopp may fancy his chances of tactically navigating that issue and still producing effective results but there is no doubt that the signing of a top centre-forward would increase fans’ optimism for the season.

Of course, there is no disputing that Liverpool have a surfeit of attacking talent. Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah would grace any side in the league, and arguably any side in Europe. Yet without a talisman who can be depended on for goals, there is pressure on creators to become finishers as well.

In terms of the odds, Liverpool can be backed at a price of 12/1 in the Premier League betting to take the title. This price slots them alongside Arsenal in contention to be champions, and behind the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Tottenham. Liverpool fans will consider them unfortunate to be considered a longer shot than a Spurs side that has failed to improve their squad, and an Arsenal side that finished outside of the Champions League places last year.

Yet perhaps the reason for an increase in favouring Arsenal is the addition of Alexandre Lacazette to the squad. Lacazette is a marked improvement on the striking options available to Wenger previously; despite contentions that Giroud is superior because he is a starter for France over Lacazette, the national team’s play is devised to maximise Antoine Griezmann through the ideal target man foil of Giroud. Lacazette is clinical and has a proven goalscoring record.

All of the other contenders have similarly prestigious strikers to call upon. Manchester City have the deadly Sergio Aguero as well as the vast potential of Gabriel Jesus. In Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku, Spurs and Manchester United have a centre-forward who is proven in the Premier League across a number of seasons. Chelsea have added Alvaro Morata, essentially as a replacement for Diego Costa, and the former Real Madrid player will relish being the main man. Therefore, Liverpool are at a clear disadvantage compared to their rivals in a striking position. Klopp found a way to operate successfully last season without an out-and-out striker for much of the time so his tactical nous could prevail. Also, Roberto Firmino is now considered a striker and not a midfielder on the official Fantasy Premier League game, which is usually a fair barometer of what a player’s role will be.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 15th, 2017 at 4:41 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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