Poetry in Motion: Cutting Liverpool's front three some slack - and the surprising change in Jurgen Klopp's tactics

Neil Fitzmaurice is back with his Poetry in Motion podcast and, for this episode, he is joined by Kristian Walsh and Paul Wheelock, who are asked, just what went wrong in Naples last night? Kristian wonders whether we witnessed something Jurgen Klopp rarely does while Paul questions whether the Liverpool players had more than half an eye on Manchester City. Mohamed Salah’s struggles continued in the defeat to Napoli but the lads think the striker should be cut some slack – particularly when his loss in form could be a physical issue as much as anything else. With the front three truly yet to click, Kristian argues the spotlight should be focused further back the field – and he has an interesting statistic to back that up. Fitzy then asks whether Naby Keita has found his best position yet, and whether Trent Alexander-Arnold needs a break, before talk turns to the visit of City to Anfield on Sunday. Paul reckons it could be the first time in the Premier League this season that the Reds unleash the brand of Blitzkreig football that Klopp has made his hallmark. The fact that Liverpool have played with the handbrake on at times could be tactical ploy, argues Kristian, who also shares another thought-provoking stat (the Reds have allowed their opponents to complete more than 80% of their passes seven times last season; this season they’ve allowed that in five out of seven games), which underlines that belief. The trio also talk Chelsea and why, with Eden Hazard intent on ‘doing a Luis Suarez’, they must be considered the third team in the title race. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices