3 Mar 2017

Klopp blasts: £100m Liverpool duo were 'bad' at Leicester and must 'improve' vs. Arsenal

Liverpool face Arsenal at Anfield on Saturday, and ahead of the game, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has directly warned his players to get with the program.

During his pre-match press conference today, Klopp slammed his players for the horror show against Leicester City, and namechecked two of club's stars who need to ramp it up against Arsenal:

"There were a lot of bad individual performances at Leicester. Phil [Coutinho], Roberto [Firmino], and other players have to improve a lot from this game".

No sh^t. No one came out of the Leicester debacle with any credit (including Klopp), and with the club's top four hopes hanging in the balance, Liverpool need a strong reaction at Anfield tomorrow.

Coutinho, Firmino, and especially Lallana (i.e. Liverpool's senior attackers) all need to step and start influencing game as their output over the last 12 games is woeful:

* Coutino: 1 goals/1 assist (One every 367 mins)

* Firmino: 2 goals/0 assists (One every 489 mins)

* Lallana: 1 Goals/1 assist (One every 491 mins)

With stats like these, no wonder Liverpool's season is in danger of disintegrating. Additionally, it's now 19 games without an assist for Firmino, which is verging on dereliction of duty.

When the going gets tough, Lallana, Coutinho, and Firmino disappear (as usual); even Wijnaldum's figures are better over the last 12 games (G/A every 250 mins), and he plays a deeper role.

Of course, the problem is that Coutinho, Firmino, and Lallana have no real competition for their places, and they know that irrespective of underperformance, they'll stay in the team. It's not a healthy situation, and it needs to be rectified this summer.

* Firmino/Coutinho: £100m combined value (CIES Football Observatory)



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