Troy Deeney says Manchester City have two players in their squad that are completely beyond anyone at Liverpool.
After looking likely to be in another title race, the Merseyside club have fallen behind City and Arsenal in recent weeks after dropping points against the likes of Crystal Palace, Everton and West Ham United.
With only a few games left of the campaign, one pundit and former top-flight player has highlighted one area of the pitch he thinks Liverpool have problems in, naming two City players he reckons are the type of figures the Reds need in their squad.
Deeney says Man City duo are above anyone at Liverpool
Speaking in a recent episode of Three Up Front, Deeney had this to say on the matter
He said: “My only concern with [Darwin] Nunez, just observation, I don’t know him.
“He looks like a great trainer and a great guy, all of that stuff. I don’t think he scores a lot in training when I watch him because he always looks surprised going through. He doesn’t put himself in those situations.
“He may do, but just observing, I’m going, do you score a lot in training? Are people hammering him if he misses in small-sided games in the shooting drills?
“It looks like he misses and then goes alright the next one.
“It’s a great trait to have but at the level Liverpool are competing at, even Arsenal who are ahead of Liverpool are going that we need that striker, we need someone who will score.
“City have that with [Erling] Haaland and probably [Julian] Alvarez as well. Liverpool are missing that one.”
Darwin Nunez vs Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez
In terms of Premier League goals scored this season, Liverpool have found the back of the net 77 times in 35 games, with Nunez scoring 11 in 33.
On the flip side, City have scored 82 goals in 34 games, with Haaland scoring 21 in 27 and Alvarez racking up nine in 33.
Interestingly, the Reds attacker has racked up the same number of shots on target (44) as City’s Norwegian striker, although Haaland’s rate of goals per shot (0.17 vs 0.11) and goals per shot on target (0.39 vs 0.25) eclipses Nunez’s.
With that taken into account, it’s easy to see why Deeney thinks Liverpool would benefit more from having players like Haaland and Alvarez in their squad over Nunez, who cost the Reds more than what City paid for their two attacking stars.