Carragher knows where Liverpool will strengthen this summer

Nabil Fekir Lyon

Jurgen Klopp will hunt for a creative midfield player and finally try and replace Philippe Coutinho in the summer, according to Jamie Carragher.

Carragher concedes that Klopp’s men have recently come up sort in midfield after taking just 10 points from a possible 18 over the last six games to hand the initiative to defending champions Man City.

Liverpool tried to sign Lyon’s Nabil Fekir last summer, only for the deal to collapse at the last minute and Carragher believes Klopp will and try and sign a ball-playing midfielder this summer as they finally look to replace Coutinho.

Asked if Liverpool have a problem, Carragher told Sky Sports: “Yes, in terms of the make-up of the midfield. But it’s not just a problem now, I think that was even a problem if you go back to the end of last season.

“They lost Coutinho last January and they never replaced him. They tried to replace him with someone from Lyon (Nabil Fekir) in the summer but they couldn’t get him, there wasn’t three or four different options.

“So it’s not just a case of right now, in the summer, even if Liverpool win the league, it is still a position I think they will try and fill because it’s not just a case of one player going in there and being the best player. They don’t even really have that type of player off the bench.

“But when you’re talking about that being a problem, I don’t think there should be massive panic for Liverpool after today or this week’s games because they don’t look like conceding a goal – that’s back. It was there in the first half of the season and that is now five clean sheets on the bounce.

“The thing I go back to – we know about the midfield. I do look at the changes from the bench, I don’t think they were great last week at Old Trafford, the first substitution when Daniel Sturridge came on.”

Carragher was critical of Klopp’s substitutions in yesterday’s 0-0 draw with Everton at Goodison and believes Klopp may have been happy with a point.

Carragher added: “Then today I was looking at the substitutions and thinking ‘bring Roberto Firmino on, try and get someone behind Everton’s midfield’ and he stayed with the three in midfield.

Klopp Henderson TEAMtalk

“If you’re bringing Firmino on, play him as a No 10 and play two central midfield players so instead of having three midfield players that Everton’s midfielders can see in front of them, put one in behind them.

“Even when Adam Lallana came on, he didn’t come on as one of the midfield three, he came on as one of the front three. Now maybe Klopp thinks at that stage that it isn’t a bad point.

“Liverpool have only lost one game this season, I played in a season when we only lost two games and never won the league. It doesn’t matter how many games you lose, it’s points that you drop and these points at the moment are proving vital.

“You just look and think ‘could they have been more proactive in the substitutions that they make?’ We’ll only know that at the end of the season.”

Get the latest personalised Reds products on our new TEAMtalk Liverpool shop!