Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz appeared to be in very good spirits as they arrived at Anfield prior to Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Fulham on Sunday.

The Merseyside club’s social media team have posted the latest episode of Inside Anfield with behind-the-scenes clips from the L4 venue, and one piece of footage showed the Reds squad making their way to the home dressing room upon arriving at the stadium.

As the South American duo strolled through the tunnel, they briefly stopped and broke into a humorous dance in unison, tapping their feet rhythmically and duly bursting into laughter before disappearing from view through the dressing room door.

It’s a clip which’ll have Liverpool fans cracking up laughing themselves, and it’s fantastic to see Diaz looking so free-spirited once again following the ordeal of his parents’ kidnapping in Colombia a few weeks ago.

You can view the two Reds dancing below (from 1:22), via Liverpool FC on YouTube:

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Steve Nicol has criticised two Liverpool players who he feels could hold the Reds back in terms of a potential Premier League title challenge.

As of Tuesday morning, the Reds are second in the table and only two points behind Arsenal, although Jurgen Klopp’s side just about preserved their 100% Anfield record this season after a quickfire late comeback to triumph 4-3 over Fulham on Sunday.

Speaking on ESPN FC, the former Reds right-back was asked if he’d go along with Craig Burley’s assessment that LFC’s defence would cost them in trying to compete with the Gunners and Manchester City for the title.

Nicol replied: “I do agree because right now, [Trent] Alexander-Arnold and [Kostas] Tsimikas are not good defenders. If you’ve got half of your back four who are not good defenders, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that you’re giving up chances and goals.”

Admittedly the Fulham match wasn’t the finest hour-and-a-half for Liverpool’s back four, but it’s not as if the Reds are in the midst of a defensive crisis. Prior to Sunday they’d shipped just two goals over their previous five league games, while only Arsenal have conceded fewer in the top flight so far this term.

The £75,000-per-week Tsimikas has set up almost as many Premier League goals (three) as his team have conceded (five) since he came in for the injured Andy Robertson in October, as per Transfermarkt.

Meanwhile, Trent – whose defensive qualities have been subjected to much scrutiny in the past – has more than made up for any such lapses with his huge impact at the other end of the pitch over the last couple of weeks.

Liverpool have conceded 12 goals in as many league games with the £180,000-per-week England international in the team. Kyle Walker – who’s been Man City’s go-to right-back for much of the season so far – has been part of a defence which has shipped 16 goals in 14 top-flight matches (Transfermarkt).

There is scope for the Reds’ full-backs to improve defensively, but it’s harsh from Nicol to declare that the two current starters in those positions are ‘not good defenders’.

You can view Nicol’s comments below (from 1:40), via ESPN FC on YouTube:

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Liverpool, one might imagine, will be quietly pleased that their efforts to land Moises Caicedo this summer were thwarted.

The Reds went on to sign Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo instead, with the recruitment team completing an overhaul of the midfield department.

Ali Barat, the Ecuadorian’s agent, has since freshly reiterated the Merseysiders and Arsenal’s late interest in his client, admitting ‘it was a great experience’ in comments relayed by Fabrizio Romano on X.

Ali Barat after receiving Golden Boy Award as best agent — youngest agent at 43.

“Caicedo deal was exciting and also very tense. Before joining Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool tried to enter the race at the end… it was a great experience”. pic.twitter.com/J61pemA8gQ

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 5, 2023

The 22-year-old has since played 15 games for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, racking up precisely 1,030 minutes of action.

READ MORE: Transfer ‘definitely planned’ for Liverpool-linked target as father & agent breaks silence

READ MORE: January transfer ‘now impossible’ for Liverpool after Achilles tendon injury – report

At least someone enjoyed themselves!

Good for you, Ali! At least some of us weren’t left nervously chewing our fingernails over the remainder of the summer window.

Whilst we certainly have no regrets on our end over how the window panned out, it would be foolish to suggest that Caicedo won’t, at some stage, fulfil his lofty price tag at Stamford Bridge.

The former Brighton star was one of the most influential footballers in the Premier League last term and has far too much talent to simply be another body in English capital.

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Florian Wirtz will remain at Bayer Leverkusen for one more year as things currently stand, according to the player’s father and agent, Hans-Joachim Wirtz.

Beyond that point, an exit away from the Bundesliga outfit is understood to be ‘definitely planned’ for 2025.

Florian Plettenberg relayed the comments in question on X (formerly Twitter), additionally noting that the player would then ‘prefer’ a transfer to admirers Bayern Munich.

Hans-Joachim #Wirtz, father and agent of Florian Wirtz excl. at Sky:

„Currently, everything is geared towards Florian continuing to play in Leverkusen next season.“

As reported: Wirtz is likely to stay in Leverkusen next season. A transfer is definitely planned in 2025.

… pic.twitter.com/NxYPRTeIaL

— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) December 4, 2023

Whether the Bavarians can succeed in their ambitions of landing one of the most talented midfielders in Europe remains to be seen amid reported interest from Liverpool [TeamTalk].

READ MORE: January transfer ‘now impossible’ for Liverpool after Achilles tendon injury – report

READ MORE: ‘They look the real deal’: Didi Hamann’s honest verdict on Arsenal v Liverpool in title challenge with Man City

Could/should Liverpool intervene?

With a contract not set to expire until 2025, you can absolutely expect Wirtz’s eventual asking price to be astronomical.

According to our sister site CaughtOffside back in November: “Our sources do not expect Wirtz to leave Bayer Leverkusen until at least next summer. The Germans are also open to a sale and are hopeful a summer bidding war will see their eye-watering £105 million (€120 million) asking price met.”

The fee would appear to be justified to a certain degree, given that the 20-year-old is already on a whopping 16 goal contributions in 19 games.

Statistically, the player stacks up well against the best in Europe’s top five leagues, registering in the 97th percentile, for instance, in shot-creating actions, according to FBref.

If Wirtz can maintain that form going into the rest of the season and, perhaps, the next – he’s going to be unaffordable for a considerable number of potential suitors.

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Harvey Elliott shared an insight into the elite mentality of Mo Salah with a comment he made following Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Fulham on Sunday.

Despite the Reds beating Bernd Leno four times, their top scorer this season wasn’t among the scorers, with Marco Silva’s team just the second opponents in 2023/24 to prevent him from netting at Anfield.

The Egyptian’s younger teammate was subsequently speaking on the Kelly and Wrighty Show, and he shed a light on the mindset of the 31-year-old.

Elliott revealed: “You know Mo always wants to score but he got an assist, and even in games where he doesn’t score he’s popping up with an assist or something.

“He wasn’t the happiest, but as I said before, it can’t just be the forwards who score. We all need to chip in. It may not have been Mo’s day, but the other boys delivered.”

READ MORE: ‘For goodness sake…’ – Jeff Stelling calls for change after weekend news involving Liverpool

READ MORE: ‘Basically…’ – Van Dijk explains how Liverpool will deal with ‘demanding’ December task

Salah would’ve been well aware that a goal against Fulham at the weekend would’ve taken him to 200 for Liverpool and 150 in the Premier League (Transfermarkt), so he’d have been yearning to hit both of those milestones last Sunday.

He’s become so accustomed to scoring, especially at Anfield, that he’ll probably think he fell short of his own enormously high standards and was frustrated as a result; but like Elliott said, the 31-year-old still made a hugely valuable contribution with the assist for Wataru Endo’s late equaliser.

The England under-21 midfielder was also correct to stress the importance of the Japan captain, along with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alexis Mac Allister, stepping up to ensure that the Reds still prevailed even with their most lethal player held scoreless.

Liverpool will soon need to manage without Salah for a few games when he goes to the Africa Cup of Nations, so that’s when Jurgen Klopp will be especially looking towards the rest of the squad to take on the goalscoring responsibilities in the Egyptian’s absence.

In the meantime, our upcoming opponents beware…our number 11 will be gunning for that 200th LFC goal, especially now that he’s been made to wait for it!

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Liverpool may be forced to review their January plans if Cheick Doucoure was in the frame to be targeted in the winter transfer window.

Pete O’Rourke of Football Insider now reports that a deal would be ‘impossible’ after the Malian ruptured his Achilles tendon during a 2-1 defeat to Luton Town.

The 23-year-old had been heavily linked to the Merseysiders in the summer, with the club instead opting to land Stuttgart’s Wataru Endo.

READ MORE: ‘They look the real deal’: Didi Hamann’s honest verdict on Arsenal v Liverpool in title challenge with Man City

READ MORE: Didi Hamann says 24-year-old Liverpool ace still hasn’t got going yet; Reds ‘will be a force’ when he does

Would Liverpool have gone back in for Doucoure?

It seems highly unlikely, with all due respect to Doucoure, that our recruitment team would have pushed to secure his signature in the winter.

Whilst the former Lens man is admittedly being asked to play a different role to that which he was tasked with in France, Alexis Mac Allister’s superb start to the season leaves us in no doubt over Jurgen Klopp’s feelings on the matter.

The No.10 is very much a trusted quantity in this Liverpool squad – not merely just a placeholder until a pure No.6 comes along.

In that respect, and in a similar manner to how we likely feel about Andre Trindade, it will take a rather special operator in the holding midfield role to push ‘Macca’ out of the way.

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Jeff Stelling has bemoaned the open draw format of the FA Cup which led to Liverpool being handed a trip to Arsenal in the third round of the competition when the fixtures were drawn on Sunday.

One of the Premier League’s current top two will instantly crash out of the tournament next month, although the former Sky Sports presenter’s gripe isn’t with the swift felling of a big name, but rather the missed opportunity for unique pairings to be formed and the lower league teams to get valuable income from TV coverage.

Speaking on talkSPORT (via The Mirror), the 68-year-old said: “I’m not interested in Arsenal against Liverpool in the FA Cup, I see it in the Premier League, not interested at all.

“What worries me is some of the smaller teams who get through to this stage. You look at Eastleigh and Maidstone, they played five games to get to this stage and they are looking for a bumper payday, and what happens? They get a rotten draw [Newport County/Barnet and Stevenage/Port Vale respectively].”

“No chance of TV coverage by the way, no chance of a big payday. What they need to do is seed the third round draw of the FA Cup. For goodness sake, it is not too difficult.”

Stelling then called for the 20 teams who advance from the second round to be kept apart, thus giving them a tie against either Premier League and Championship opposition and vastly increasing their chances of a ‘glamour’ draw.

READ MORE: ‘Basically…’ – Van Dijk explains how Liverpool will deal with ‘demanding’ December task

READ MORE: Two-time EPL winner’s claim suggests injured Liverpool player could be touch-and-go to return v Man Utd

We can certainly see the point that the ex-Soccer Saturday host is making, although his proposal is sure to polarise opinion within English football followers.

While some will welcome his idea, others with a more conservative mindset will probably lament any calls for the long-standing open draw format of the FA Cup to be discontinued, with the competition having already seen traditions such as replays from the fifth round onwards being scrapped.

From a Liverpool perspective, there’d be a welcome novelty to coming up against a team from outside the top two divisions, with some clubs in the third round bound to have been praying either for a trip to Anfield or for the Reds to visit them.

Alas, we instead must face three meetings against Arsenal (potentially four if a replay is needed) inside six weeks, with the clubs’ two Premier League head-to-heads spaced comparatively close to one another this season.

Maybe Stelling’s suggestion of a seeded draw will be adopted in future campaigns, but for now Jurgen Klopp and LFC won’t experience the rarity of a non-league club taking them on in football’s oldest competition.

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Virgil van Dijk has admitted that Liverpool’s hectic December fixture schedule is quite ‘demanding’ but is confident that Jurgen Klopp’s squad can negotiate the workload.

Having played LASK on Thursday and Fulham yesterday, the Reds have swiftly turned their attention towards the away Premier League double header against Sheffield United on Wednesday night and Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime.

A five-day breather then precedes another burst of five matches in 13 days, but luckily the first of those is a Europa League dead rubber against Union Saint-Gilloise, with LFC having already wrapped up top spot in their group.

Speaking straight after the 4-3 win over Fulham on Sunday (via Liverpool Echo), Van Dijk said that the arduous December fixture schedule is ‘something we have all accepted over the last couple of years’.

He added: “You are already looking ahead and making sure you are doing the right things. In my case I will get treatment tonight and I will do all the recovery stuff tonight in order to be much fresher tomorrow morning.

“Then we have another recovery session tomorrow, so it is basically: play, recover, sleep well, eat well and be ready for the next game. It’s a demanding process but we cannot complain, you know.

“I think we always have the team [analysis] meetings the day before the game but like I said the mode is already on recovery from this and tomorrow we will do this already with an eye on Sheffield United and Tuesday we have a big meeting for that. Then we travel on Wednesday to Sheffield and we will be ready for a tough game.”

READ MORE: 2x EPL winner’s claim suggests injured Liverpool player could be touch-and-go to return v Man Utd

READ MORE: (Video) Souness insists ‘predictable’ £300k-p/w Man City player wouldn’t get in Liverpool’s team

For clubs such as Liverpool who compete in Europe annually, managing two or three games in a week isn’t an unfamiliar task, although the current sequence of 10 matches in 33 days is gruelling even by our standards.

Van Dijk himself has previously hit out at the excessive workload being heaped upon footballers at the highest level and urged the sport’s main stakeholders to have a ‘conversation’ on the subject (Liverpool Echo).

Tricky trips to Bramall Lane and Selhurst Park represent banana skins at the best of times, so to have both of those in the space of 72 hours will be a massive test of the Reds’ stomach for a Premier League title fight this season.

Cynics will point to the enormous wages that players in the English top flight earn and insist that they get on with it, but Van Dijk’s insight provides a window into just how relentless this week will be for him and his teammates, who know that the margin for error is zero.

Liverpool’s fans and squad will be hugely relieved that, at least by getting their business done in the Europa League early, the trip to Belgium next week offers a chance for first-team regulars to get an additional rest before Manchester United come to town the following Sunday.

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Didi Hamann has backed Liverpool to be a potential title contender this term amid an encouraging campaign.

Asked to choose between his old club and Mikel Arteta’s table-topping Arsenal side, the 50-year-old threw his weight behind the former, arguing that ‘they look the real deal’.

“I think they’ve (Liverpool) got a chance to go all the way this season. I don’t see why not,” the former Red spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. “Obviously City are the ones to beat. If you ask me to pick between Arsenal and Liverpool (to challenge), I’d go for Liverpool. They look the real deal.”

Jurgen Klopp’s men find themselves only two points behind the Gunners in second following their 4-3 win over Fulham.

READ MORE: Didi Hamann says 24-year-old Liverpool ace still hasn’t got going yet; Reds ‘will be a force’ when he does

READ MORE: ‘What worries me’: BBC pundit predicts Liverpool vs Sheffield United result ahead of ‘imminent’ change

Manchester City remain the ones to beat

The Premier League table indicates that a number of pundits may have to revise their earlier predictions made around the start of the campaign.

Admittedly, how many could have truly predicted such an astonishing turnaround after we completely revitalised our midfield in the summer?

Still, with us having already ticked off several challenging fixtures – including trips to the Etihad, Amex, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, St. James’ Park and Stamford Bridge – we’re feeling rather confident about the ties that remain.

It’ll still take a big points haul, of course, to secure the title whilst a Pep Guardiola-managed Manchester City are knocking about around the top of the table!

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Liverpool are already quite the force to be reckoned with as things currently stand, having leapfrogged Manchester City in the league table.

Didi Hamann reckons his old side could go up a gear, however, if Darwin Nunez can manage to further refine his game.

“They’re a well-drilled machine. They have the mentality. They find ways to win games,” the German spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. “And Nunez hasn’t really hit the ground running – when he starts scoring, I think Liverpool will be a force. I can see them going all the way, yes.”

The 24-year-old failed to hit the back of the net in the 4-3 win over Fulham and hasn’t registered a goal or assist in his last three games in all competitions.

READ MORE: ‘What worries me’: BBC pundit predicts Liverpool vs Sheffield United result ahead of ‘imminent’ change

READ MORE: Liverpool fans will now be salivating over PL fixture as Man Utd dressing room details emerge

Should Liverpool be worried about Nunez?

Goodness gracious, no!

Even with a blank in three games, the Uruguayan still finds himself on an appealing 13 goal contributions in 20 games.

As far as contributions per minute are concerned, Nunez is operating at a goal or assist every 83.15 minutes.

Whilst that figure has most certainly seen better days this season alone, there can be no questioning the fact that the former Benfica man continues to offer something of value to this Liverpool side even when he isn’t fulfilling his traditional objective.

There were two pre-assists for our third and final goal against the Cottagers for instance, with the centre-forward knocking down the ball Mo Salah would tee up for Wataru Endo before playing a dangerous ball back into the box ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s winner.

That’s also whilst overlooking how close our No.9 came to hitting the back of the net at Anfield, striking the woodwork in the second-half.

We can point the finger at the big chances missed – and, of course, Nunez still has some growing to do – but there’s still plenty to enjoy.

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A two-time Premier League winner has offered hope that Liverpool will have one currently injured player back for the visit of Manchester United to Anfield later this month.

When the Reds faced the other top-flight club from that city at the Etihad Stadium in late November, Alisson Becker went down with a suspected hamstring problem, which has seen Caoimhin Kelleher start our two subsequent games.

The Brazilian will definitely miss the upcoming trips to Sheffield United and Crystal Palace this week, but David Seaman’s projection would suggest that the 31-year-old might be fit enough to face Erik ten Hag’s side on 17 December.

Speaking on the Seaman Says podcast, the former England goalkeeper – who won the Premier League with Arsenal in 1998 and 2002 – said: “Alisson, that’ll probably be three weeks if it’s just a hamstring, depending on how severe it is.”

READ MORE: (Video) Souness insists ‘predictable’ £300k-p/w Man City player wouldn’t get in Liverpool’s team

READ MORE: ‘I am really excited…’ – Ian Wright says Liverpool have a ‘proper player on their hands’

Alisson’s injury stemmed from the Man City game on 25 November, with a three-week gap between that game and Liverpool v United.

If Seaman’s assessment is accurate – and he’s well-placed to comment as a long-serving goalkeeper at a high level – the Brazilian could be touch-and-go to recover in time for the Red Devils’ visit to Anfield.

The normally reliable Kelleher endured a rare off-day against Fulham on Sunday, conceding two soft first-half goals and beaten three times altogether, so Kopites could be praying to have the first-choice stopper back for Sunday week.

Even right up until the couple of days before the United clash, we could be kept guessing as to whether or not Alisson will be fit enough to play.

While we still have every confidence that his Irish understudy is a fine goalkeeper despite yesterday’s showing, fingers crossed that our regular number one will be in the team when our fiercest historical rivals come to town.

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Paul Heckingbottom’s reportedly impending exit from Sheffield United will have had many a Liverpool fan’s eyes rolling ahead of the two sides’ meeting on Wednesday.

Regardless, BBC columnist Chris Sutton hasn’t any doubt that the Reds will still make short work of the Blades in South Yorkshire.

“Paul Heckingbottom’s departure as Sheffield United manager appears to be imminent, and it will not exactly be surprising to see him go after their past couple of results against Bournemouth and Burnley,” the pundit wrote for BBC Sport.

“A new voice always makes the first game after a change of manager really interesting but, whether or not Chris Wilder gets the job, I don’t see it making much difference for the Blades here, because what worries me is how brittle they are at the back.

“Liverpool did amazingly well to come back to beat Fulham on Sunday and they are right in the thick of the title race now. This should be a much more straightforward victory for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who have got the firepower to win comfortably.”

The Merseysiders find themselves in second-place in the Premier League following a remarkable 4-3 win over Fulham.

READ MORE: Liverpool fans will now be salivating over PL fixture as Man Utd dressing room details emerge

READ MORE: Liverpool poised to bank millions as ‘largest’ ever £6.7bn behind-the-scenes deal agreed

Another must-win for Jurgen Klopp’s men

Though the possibility of a new coach in the opposing technical area always fills fans with a sense of dread over the anticipated ‘new manager bounce’ phenomenon, it’s worth pointing out that we’re still coming up against the worst defence in the league.

Our hosts-to-be have already conceded a whopping 39 goals this term – 19 of which were shipped at Bramall Lane – which is hardly a positive indication of their defensive credentials.

Coming off the back of four goals registered against Marco Silva’s men at Anfield, this is a Liverpool side full of confidence and, evidently, goals.

Though nothing is certain in the Premier League, the signs aren’t exactly comforting for our hosts.

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Liverpool’s players and coaching staff barely had time to digest the 4-3 win over Fulham on Sunday before thoughts turned to their next assignment.

The first midweek round of Premier League fixtures in 2023/24, on which you can place a bet with https://casinosnotongamstop.net, sees the Reds travel to face Sheffield United on Wednesday night, with an even quicker turnaround for the visit to Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime.

The compact scheduling, which’ll see Jurgen Klopp’s side make trips to Yorkshire and south London in the space of 72 hours, will surely see the manager ring the changes to his starting XI from one game to the next in order to utilise the depth of his squad and keep players fresh.

Liverpool starting XI v Fulham

Firstly, a quick reminder of the starting XI that Klopp selected for the 4-3 win over Fulham on Sunday. One man who we definitely know won’t be playing at Bramall Lane or Selhurst Park is Joel Matip, who hobbled out of yesterday’s clash and will be out injured for the foreseeable future.

Liverpool predicted XI v Sheffield United

Injuries to the likes of Andy Robertson, Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota have lessened Klopp’s options when it comes to squad rotation, so there mightn’t be as much of an overhaul for the Wednesday night trip to Sheffield United.

Ibrahima Konate is likely to start at centre-back in place of the stricken Cameroonian, while Wataru Endo could come into the side following his goalscoring heroics on Sunday. Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo are also possible starters, having both begun on the bench against Fulham.

Liverpool predicted XI v Crystal Palace

The rapid turnaround to Palace on Saturday could see a few more changes in personnel, especially for those who start the two preceding games.

We expect to see Joe Gomez come into the side either on the right or in the centre of defence, while Jarell Quansah might also be called upon to start if Klopp is wary of handing Konate two starts in four days.

Alexis Mac Allister should come back in if he’s rested against the Blades, while Harvey Elliott could also be given an overdue start. Dominik Szoboszlai might be held in reserve, with the Hungarian having not scored for Liverpool since the end of September.

One personnel change in attack could see Gakpo moved to the left to accommodate the return of Darwin Nunez, with Luis Diaz given a breather.

Perhaps the most interesting alteration seen above is the possibility of Trent starting in midfield outright, rather than being tasked with the hybrid role that he’s played for much of 2023.

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Things could quickly go from bad to worse for Manchester United ahead of their meeting with Liverpool in the middle of December.

Rob Dawson of ESPN now reports that a ‘group within the first-team squad are becoming disillusioned’ and of concerns around the dressing room mood dipping even further unless results improve.

It’s a reality that’s sure to fill travelling Red Devils fans’ hearts with much in the way of hope for when they pay a visit to Anfield on 17th December.

READ MORE: Liverpool poised to bank millions as ‘largest’ ever £6.7bn behind-the-scenes deal agreed

READ MORE: Liverpool’s 83-touch colossus just posted a 10/10 defensive performance vs LASK

Could Liverpool be set to humble Manchester United again?

Whilst one can never be certain just how United will react to the challenge of facing Jurgen Klopp’s men – and a renewed Liverpool side at that – the odds are certainly stacked against the later visitors as things stand.

Following a couple of heavy defeats at L4, we’re certainly more than hopeful on our end that we can replicate the demolition jobs of March this year and in 2022 to further highlight the growing divide between the red halves of Manchester and Merseyside.

With an opportunity to rest key stars ahead of the 17th, after securing our status as group winners in the Europa League with a game to spare, we’ll have every opportunity to prepare for the meeting as we’d like.

#Ep96 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones

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Graeme Souness named one Manchester City player who he insists wouldn’t get in Liverpool’s strongest XI because he’s too ‘predictable’.

The former Reds captain spoke at length about Jack Grealish on talkSPORT, and the 70-year-old isn’t the ‘biggest fan’ of the £300,000-per-week England international.

The Scot insisted that the 28-year-old takes too many touches when receiving the ball on the flank, in comparison to his more ‘direct’ teammate Jeremy Doku, who’s restricted the ex-Aston Villa man to just one Premier League start since the end of August (WhoScored).

Souness said of Grealish: “I don’t see him going to the byline enough and going past someone. He threatens to go down the line and comes inside. You don’t want to become predictable. Right now he’s predictable. As a striker, as someone who scores goals, you have to be unpredictable. 

“I think he flatters to deceive. You put Jack on the market tomorrow – who’s buying him for how much?”

When talkSPORT presenter Jim White posed the question as to whether the Man City winger would get in Liverpool’s line-up, the former Reds skipper replied: “No. He’s a rascal. He’s a rascal in as much as I bet he’s great to have a night out with.”

If we’re judging Grealish on his form this season, we’d agree with Souness that the 28-year-old wouldn’t go straight into Jurgen Klopp’s strongest XI.

The England winger’s goal against Tottenham on Sunday was his first in 908 minutes of football so far this term. Luis Diaz, who’s Liverpool’s go-to left winger, has five goals in 1,041 minutes (Transfermarkt), so it’s clear to see who’s been the more productive of the two in recent months.

The Man City forward is a terrific player when at his best, but right now we wouldn’t take him ahead of the Colombian.

You can view Souness’ comments on Grealish below, via @talkSPORT on X (formerly Twitter):

“He’s predictable… takes too many touches!”

“I’m not his biggest fan. He flatters to deceive. You put him on the market, who’s buying?”

Graeme Souness argues why he doesn’t think Jack Grealish is as good as people claim. pic.twitter.com/2sSJIxLLgm

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) December 4, 2023

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