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Pundits and ex-Liverpool stars Paul Ince and Jamie Carragher both made similar claims on Monday night after Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat away to Southampton.

The Merseyside giants were narrowly beaten at St Mary’s in the Premier League and they still sit top of the division table, but have won just nine of their 17 games so far this season.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were lacking a cutting edge in the final third during the contest, something that has been rare in the past couple of seasons.

Meanwhile, they were undone by a clever free-kick routine in the opening couple of minutes, as Southampton forward Danny Ings found space in behind a high line and chipped in a great finish over goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

Ings, who Liverpool sold to Southampton for £20million (BBC), has been a phenomenal for them since joining and he showed his class on Monday night.

Ince and Carragher both suggested post-match on Sky Sports’ Main Event channel (4 January) that the 28-year-old is better than anything Liverpool had on their bench.

The Reds turned to Xherdan Shaqiri to try inject some quality in the final third for them in the second-half, but they couldn’t find an equaliser and German boss Klopp will be desperately trying to figure out how to improve his team’s away form.

“Danny Ings is better than what Liverpool had on the bench tonight,” Carragher said.

Ince added: “If Liverpool have Danny on the bench tonight, he comes on and scores.”

TBR’s View:

Injury problems really prevented Ings from making the most of his time at Liverpool, but there has never been much doubt about him as a finisher and his record of 40 goals in 81 appearances for Southampton speaks for itself.

The Reds will surely love to have someone like Ings to call upon as a back-up option at striker, but the English forward wants to be playing regularly and he’s a talisman right now for the Saints.

Liverpool found a great solution in summer signing Diogo Jota, who has provided an extra quality option in attack. But losing him to a recent injury does leave them so reliant on their main trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane for goals.