BT Sport pundit Michael Owen chose to lay the blame on the Liverpool FC midfield department for the Merseysiders’ shock loss to Brighton on Wednesday night at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were largely inactive on the attacking end of the pitch and the very first shot on target of the midweek game fell the visitor’s way through Steven Alzate’s close-range finish which sealed the game in favour of the Seagulls.
A second straight defeat at home territory for the Premier League holders promoted former Red Owen to voice criticism of the Thiago Alcantara-James Milner-Gini Wijnaldum triplet for their performance in the centre of the park as the midfield combine failed to regain the tempo over the course of the 90 minutes on Merseyside, according to the ex-England international.
“I think Liverpool are better when they have width. They get clustering. They have a lot of samey players in midfield in Thiago, Wijnaldum and Milner,” Owen said, as quoted by reports from Metro.
“I would like to seem them stretching play a lot more, upping the tempo, winning the ball high again, committing players forward to win the ball high, they have to do it, they have to stem it themselves because they don’t have the Anfield crowd.”
The arrivals of fresh defensive blood in the form of Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies at Anfield on deadline-day is certain to shift skipper Jordan Henderson back into midfield.
Henderson had been forced to operate as a makeshift option in the heart of the backline for Liverpool FC following long-term injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.
