Sorry Blues, but Lukaku is my answer to Kop striker problems

they interchange with skill and vision, it can be too much for even the best teams. But, in so many other games, they have struggled to find a way through when opponents have parked the bus. Crystal Palace last week was a perfect example – lines sitting deep, no space for the full-backs to get wide or the front three to drift into. When that happens, the Liverpool forwards come deeper and deeper looking for the ball. At times in that game, I thought Philippe Coutinho had lost a fiver on the halfway line because he was forced so deep. I accept I’m a striker who always thinks a focal point is better for a team. Manchester United and City, Chelsea and Spurs have that central striker who can ask different questions of the smaller clubs. Chelsea have been magnificent at it and Diego Costa has played a massive role. They know that around two-thirds of the Premier League games will be against sides with a negative mindset and formation. With Costa, with Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, even Zlatan Ibrahimovic, you can be patient and ask the central striker to keep pushing up against the defensive back line, to get off the shoulder in just a yard of space.

How many goals have Costa and Kane scored like that to win matches? How many times have Liverpool done the same?

I based my career on the fact that defenders hate to see a striker drift into that space behind them.

They love it when the forward drops to the halfway line.

Lukaku doesn’t have quite the attributes to play the pressing game demanded by Klopp, but he does stay up there and asks constant questions of the teams who defend deep.

I’ve watched WATFORD LIVERPOOL