Danny Murphy has named two players Liverpool cannot live without following their shock defeat against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp's side suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Steve Cooper's Nottingham Forest side, with former Red Taiwo Awoniyi scoring the winner. It was a frustrating display from Liverpool as they failed to create enough clear-cut openings to trouble Dean Henderson between the sticks.
At the end of the game, Jurgen Klopp made his discontent evident with the lack of creativity from his side. Liverpool also missed a number of their key players due to injury.
Forwards Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, and Diogo Jota were all unavailable for selection. Meanwhile, midfield maestro Thiago Alcantara was also missing due to an ear infection he picked up just hours before the match.
Trent Alexander Arnold was also on the bench and came on as a substitute, with the right-back still not 100% fit following his recent injury struggles.
Danny Murphy has highlighted the absence of Thiago and Alexander-Arnold as the key reasons behind his former club's inability to create chances.
The former Liverpool midfielder has highlighted that the Reds struggled for creativity against Forest with their two main playmakers missing.
Murphy also insisted that too many forwards being injured has been a major blow for the Merseyside giants. He told Match of the Day, as quoted by Metro:
"Once you take Thiago and Trent out of that XI, you don’t have anyone with that courage to keep looking up and split a packed defence. Trent played midweek so maybe he [Klopp] didn’t want to risk him, but I think there is an argument to suggest strengthening the midfield."
He added:
"Klopp had no choice but to play the kids [Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones], and there was bad luck with the forwards being injured as well."
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will be a worried man right now
After two back-to-back 1-0 wins against Manchester City and West Ham United, it looked like Liverpool's season could finally be coming back on track.
But after their shock loss against Nottingham Forest, the Reds are back to square one again.
It's quite alarming that a team that contested an unprecedented quadruple last season are struggling for any kind of consistency this campaign.
Jurgen Klopp has plenty of reasons to be worried about with the majority of his star players failing to deliver.