Former Liverpool midfielder Nigel Spackman has admitted that the Reds need to come up with a more dynamic midfielder to cope with a situation when Roberto Firmino is not at his influential best.
Jurgen Klopp opted to field a midfield triumvirate of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum during the crucial Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
However, the move did not work out as the Ligue 1 champions made the best use of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to run rings around the visitors’ hapless midfielders at the Parc des Princes, on the way to a 2-1 win.
Liverpool suffered massively due to a poor display from Firmino as well as the Brazilian struggled to pull the strings that would help the Reds function at their optimum level.
Ex-Liverpool midfielder Spackman feels that when Firmino is off colour, the Reds badly need a midfielder who is capable of running beyond him.
Spackman, who spent two years at Anfield, thinks that Liverpool need to come up with a better option in midfield than the trio of Milner, Henderson and Wijnaldum to tackle such a situation.
The former Reds midfielder also added that summer-recruit Naby Keita is the most obvious choice, but stressed he will take some time to do it.
“When Firmino comes up short we've got to get one of the midfield players at times beyond him”, Spackman said on LFC TV.
“I don't think in the three that we play in there at the moment we really have that.
“Keita will become capable of doing that.
“Wijnaldum does that occasionally but James Milner, who has been outstanding doesn't really do that, Hendo doesn't do that.
“Sometimes you need to change things a little bit and when you are playing three up front, maybe put [Sadio] Mane in the middle with his pace to trouble defenders.”
The defeat to PSG means that Liverpool have now lost three straight games on the road in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
