NO SALAH , NO GOALS, NO THREAT

Klopp will have serious concerns over Liverpool’s lack of strength in depth up front

Without Mo Salah or Roberto Firmino, Liverpool were nowhere near sharp enough in the final third of the pitch.

In fact, they were about as sharp as a Primark suit. It is, though, understandable.

Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke have had hardly any game time this season, and have never really played together, certainly not in a game with this intensity.

It was always going to be a big ask for them to reproduce Liverpool’s first-choice counterattacking verve.

Yet Klopp knows this lack of options is a real worry. All the top teams have strength in depth up front – I sometimes think Jose Mourinho at Manchester United is collecting forwards for his World Cup sticker album!

Liverpool have a front three... and then nothing too obvious beyond that, with both Divock Origi and Daniel Sturridge out on loan.

Obviously, Salah will be the key on Tuesday in the quarter-final second leg.

If he’s fit, then that is a massive weapon. If he’s not, then we saw in the derby how Klopp’s team will struggle to find any pace or penetration on the break.

I’m not getting carried away about the lack of quality in this contest though.

For a start, Everton were given a bit of a humiliating lesson at home last Saturday. The last thing Big Sam could do was risk getting turned over again.

In the first half, they sat deep and seemed content to chase the ball around a bit, making sure they didn’t allow any space for the counter-attack that Klopp’s men produced so effectively against City.

It worked in the sense that at least Allardyce’s team clung on in the game, and actually had the moments at the end to win it.

He was always going to keep it as tight as possible, stay in the game as long as possible, and then try to snatch something in the final few minutes when

JURGEN KLOPP will be seriously concerned by Liverpool’s lack of cuttingedge depth ahead of Tuesday’s season-defining clash with Manchester City.