Our forwards were starved of service against Newcastle. They did themselves no good whatsoever, though. All of them were absolutely awful - and again, I have to say! That’s the fourth game running I think.
First half, we didn’t even get into Newcastle’s 18-yard box. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I thought Federico Chiesa came on and did well, though. The way our centre-forwards are playing at the moment, it might actually be worth playing Chiesa there against Everton.
He took his goal well. Would Darwin Nunez or Diogo Jota get themselves in that situation and then score it? The way they’re playing at the moment, I doubt it. The other forwards just don’t look like they’ve got a goal in them.
READ MORE: 'Do everything possible' - Conor Bradley concerning Liverpool injury update as new talks held
READ MORE: Atletico Madrid response to Julian Alvarez and Liverpool transfer claims
You look at our results, we’re not scoring. Against PSG, we played alright and had four or five really good chances. But one of them was Virgil van Dijk and one was Jarell Quansah.
We had other chances. Mohamed Salah was unlucky with the one off the line. But that’s what clinical forwards do. They get you that goal against PSG and we go through.
We get the first goal, we go through. It’s as easy as that but we didn’t. Against PSG we had chances in the first 10-15 minutes but we didn’t capitalise, didn’t take our chances, and got knocked out.
That’s what top, top strikers do for you. They score early and it’s a different game.
Liverpool need a new striker
It’s come out now that Liverpool are looking for a striker. It’s obvious. But we’re top of the league. Imagine if we have a striker above Mo Salah? He’d be touching the Golden Boot!
I’m a striker. I lived off goals and love seeing teams scoring goals. So it’s really disappointing to me when we don’t.
That’s the difference with Alexander Isak. know he’s been linked with Liverpool but he’s a Newcastle player. He might not even want to move.
Isak is exceptional. He is a really good finisher. I watched him at Real Sociedad so I knew that back then. Obviously I keep an eye on Real Sociedad, my former club, and have been a fan of him since then.
I knew how good he was at that time and thought Liverpool should be interested. I was hoping Liverpool would be in for him but unfortunately we weren’t. We weren’t and we have lost out.
He ended up going to Newcastle and has been exceptional for them. He’s an exceptional finisher. There’s Mo Salah and Erling Haaland and he’s the next one down the list.
Teams will be looking at him in the summer. Liverpool have been linked. If anything will come from that, I don’t know. But you would have to pay premium now.
And Newcastle are owned by the richest people in the world. They’re not going to let him go, they can’t let him go.
Get back on track against Everton
There is no better game than Everton to get back on track after Sunday’s disappointment in the Carabao Cup final. We all remember what happened at Goodison Park in the last minutes. So there is no better game than Everton or maybe Manchester United.
If the midfield needs a bit of dynamism or fight, Wataru Endo is right there. Throw him in. He’s fit and ready to go, he hasn’t let us down this year.
With what Everton are going to throw at us, maybe it’s something to think about. We don’t need to do anything drastically different because we are where we are in the league.
We certainly shouldn’t be scared of Everton, with all due respect. But in midfield, we don’t look tigerish enough. Certainly not in the games we’ve lost.
In the Merseyside derby, we’ll have to match Everton for fight. David Moyes will be rubbing his hands watching these last couple of games where we’ve not really done it, where we’ve been overawed and out-fought.
They’ve got some right lump hammers for corners and throw-ins. They’ve got Branthwaite, Tarkowski and O’Brien. You can’t put Alexis Mac Allister on one of them!
They will pinpoint us on corners. Don’t give them any because Moyes will have his team try to do what Newcastle and PSG did to us. They haven't got as good a team as either of those two, but physicality-wise, they certainly have.
We’ll know if the international break has come at a good time when we play Everton. But I certainly hope it has. We need to be revitalised. I think it probably has come at a good time, to get a break away from everything and then restart for the run-in.
We’ve got more at stake. We want that 20th league title. This is big for the fans. To have bragging rights in England, it’s massive. We’re in touching distance, we’ve just got to get over the line and do it.
Get three points against Everton and you beat Arsenal at home, it’s going to be tough for Arsenal. But you can’t take anything for granted. You’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do.
