Liverpool face a serious battle just to qualify for next season’s Champions League after being ousted from last season’s Premier League champions, but Paul Scholes has pinpointed their problems.
Paul Scholes analyzes Liverpool’s problems this season (Image: YouTube/The Good, the Bad and the Football podcast)
Paul Scholes says Liverpool’s possession-based style of play under Arne Slott this season has made Anfield a more welcoming place for away teams. Liverpool face a serious battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League after drawing 1-1 with crisis-hit Tottenham on Sunday.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick looked to have given the Reds a narrow victory at home, but a sloppy defensive effort saw Richarlison make an easy stop in the 90th minute. Tottenham had lost their last five league games, but managed to create a few good chances and left Anfield with a well-deserved point.
This means Slott’s side have now drawn four at home and lost three in the Premier League this season. Jamie Carragher was co-commentary for Sky Sports during the Spurs match and spoke about the lack of pressing and energy that characterized the team under Jurgen Klopp.
And Scholes pointed to summer signing Florian Wirths for £116m as an example of the change in style under Slott. “Anfield was always the hardest place to go to,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast.
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“Jamie Carragher has said it many times, but you had the fans above you, you had the players above you. They’ve lost the determination to stop the other team. That doesn’t exist anymore. They’ve become almost a possession-based team. Florian Wertz is a fantastic, great footballer, but I think they’ve become more of a possession team because of him.”
“I think under Klopp, and probably under Liverpool’s past managers, they don’t think about playing football at home. They just think about getting the bastards out, steamrolling them and making them stop playing. “Right now, in the last year and a half, it’s probably one of the easiest places to play, but you would never say that about Anfield.
Wirtz arrived at Liverpool alongside Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkes, Hugo Ekitike and Jeremy Frimpong as the club look to evolve their title-winning side. There has been a lack of consistency in performances this season and Scholes believes the problem comes when he is not on the ball.
Florian Wirtz epitomizes Liverpool’s changed style this season (Image: Lewis Storyy, Getty Images)
“They won the league championship, which was great. They won it pretty early last year,” he said. “Obviously they’re going to drop off a little bit, but there were signs from the end of last year that they were losing the determination to stop the opposition. They’re still good and want to be a great football team, but they have to stop the opposition.”
He added: “When you talk about the philosophy of a manager or a football club, how many times do we talk about Ruben Amorim coming to United with his own philosophy and playing the way he wants to play? Manchester United had their own philosophy and I think it’s pretty much the same way for Liverpool.”
“Liverpool are not a possession team, they just aren’t. Like Jurgen Klopp’s team, they’re all over the board. Now he[Slot]is trying to do things a little differently and I don’t think that suits Liverpool.”
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