Liverpool take on Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in the Premier League next weekend and Reds legend Mark Lawrenson believes the manager should be bold enough to use Ozan Kabak in central defence.
With the likes of Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all out with long-term injuries, Liverpool had to bring in Ozan Kabak during the January transfer window. But all the player has done so far is warm the benches at Liverpool while Fabinho and Henderson keep playing in central defence.
Lawrenson believes it’s time for Klopp to stop thinking about the title and use Kabak in defence so that it frees up midfielders like Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
The former Red said on Off The Ball: “The thing with Liverpool is, and it’s a good thing in many ways as now they can just forget about ambitions of winning the league and start playing again.
“The other day somebody said look that they had to cover for [Virgil] van Dijk and [Joe] Gomez etc, but now the time is basically that he is got to pick his best midfield.
“We know what the front three would generally be and say, that right boys let’s just go out, let’s get back to the good old days of pressing etc and let’s spend most of the match in the opposition’s half and therefore making chances and scoring goals.
“Just give a young kid a run and the new boy they signed from Schalke, [Ozan] Kabak, and what the worst thing that can happen?
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“They are not winning games. I don’t know what the record is in the last ten, but it is really poor.
“Go back to making your strength a strength again, take Fabinho and Henderson out and put them in midfield. And just start winning football matches.”
Like Lawrenson, many pundits have been urging the Liverpool boss to bring Henderson back in central midfield now that the club have brought in a new centre-back. But we doubt if the manager will be willing to take that gamble this weekend vs Leicester.
Klopp and the players still believe they can chase down Man City in the title race which is why the German will want to keep using the experience of Fabinho and Henderson in central defence on Saturday.
