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Paul Merson has claimed that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has perhaps missed a trick by not switching his formation at Anfield amid his injury crisis.

With so many injuries at centre-back this season, it’s had a ripple effect on the entire team with midfielders dropping into the defence and the world-class levels disappearing across the pitch.

The Merseyside giants were the runaway Premier League champions last year, but currently find themselves eighth in the table.

They have the distraction of a Champions League knockout tie on Wednesday night, but that shouldn’t hide the fact that their domestic form has been abysmal in 2021.

Sky Sports pundit Merson feels that Klopp may have been sensible changing to a three at the back formation, something that has worked hugely well at Chelsea since Thomas Tuchel took charge at Stamford Bridge.

Tuchel’s Chelsea are up to fourth in the league table due to their unbeaten run under a new manager, who has found great success using a 3-4-3 system.

“If there was one team in the country that could play with a back three, I thought it was Chelsea,” Merson told Sky Sports.

“They have actually got wing-backs rather than just full-backs, if I’m being honest, and the switch has worked a treat.

“If you look at Liverpool at the moment, it’s probably the way they should have gone. When you look back at it now, Jurgen Klopp should have been a bit more flexible and thought we don’t really have good defenders without Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. Maybe he should have been flexible and switched to a back three to give the players a bit more protection and also, they have wing-backs too in Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who like to go forward more than they do defending as well.

“Tuchel has come in and spotted that at Chelsea, and Klopp could have learnt a bit of a lesson from that.”

TBR’s View:

Liverpool have always operated with a back four in the past couple of years, so it would be strange watching them with three centre-backs.

It’s an interesting suggestion for the Reds to switch formation, but who they’d play at the back would still be a headache for Klopp.

For instance, a combination of Ozan Kabak, Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips looks extremely weak and vulnerable on paper.