Daniel Sturridge thinks Liverpool are missing Bayern Munich winger Luis Diaz after losing 2-1 to Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Reds allowed the Colombia international to join Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window in a deal worth around £65m.
Diaz, who already has five goals and four assists in six Bundesliga matches for the Bavarians this season, was sold to help fund Liverpool‘s huge summer recruitment drive.
After watching Liverpool lose 2-1 to Chelsea, and throw away top spot in the Premier League to Arsenal, Sturridge insists the Reds are really “missing” Diaz this season.
Sturridge told Sky Sports: “Luis Diaz is a massive miss for them. When we look at Liverpool last year and how they used to press, he was arguably the one who set the press in the front three.
“Szoboszlai does that in midfield with the power and dynamism that he has, but Diaz, with how tenacious he was off the ball and tenacious to get the ball back with interceptions as well.
“He brought something to that front line and they are now missing that.”
Sturridge added: “Ekitike and Isak do work off the ball, but what I would say is they are attack-minded players and I think Luis Diaz sacrificed himself a little bit more defensively.
“I think that’s the one thing they need to figure out in the attack is who is going to give themselves up a bit. In a front three, there has to be one person who does that.
“We talk about the midfield and the balance and consistency there but I also think in the front three it’s important to understand which one is going to be our workhorse, which guy are we going to let do what he wants and who’s going to be a hybrid of both.
“I think right now I’m not sure the manager knows what he wants to do.”
Fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp pointed to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure as a big issue too with Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong failing to impress at right-back for Liverpool this season.
Redknapp said: They’ve [Liverpool] also got problems at full-back. It’s apparent that they’re missing Trent [Alexander-Arnold].
“You look at how they’re playing, I think since the Burnley game they’ve not started the same right-back. They’ve gone with [Dominik] Szoboszlai, [Jeremie] Frimpong and Conor Bradley…he obviously had a difficult 45 minutes today and got taken off. It’s a problem area for them.“
“I still don’t think [Szoboszlai at right-back] is the answer. When you lose Trent [Alexander-Arnold], who is irreplaceable, who is out there? There’s not many great right backs to buy.”