Liverpool have been prone to being physically outmatched by their opponents at times this season, and additions to address that would be welcomed, Reds transfer expert David Lynch has claimed.
Newcastle United emerged as 2-1 victors against the Merseysiders at Wembley in the EFL Cup final on Sunday, and though Federico Chiesa halved the winners' lead in second-half stoppage time, the Toon held on for a deserved win.
Arne Slot admitted in the aftermath of the match that his side struggled to deal with the Magpies' intense performance, and Lynch echoed the Dutchman's sentiment.
Speaking to Sports Mole, the Reds expert argued that Liverpool have at times been caught out by physically imposing opponents, and the club will almost certainly seek to address those issues, saying: "I think back to the Atalanta game last season where a team going man for man, turning it into physical duels all over the pitch - Liverpool just couldn't cope with that.
"If there is one weakness it is that if teams go man-to-man against them and are a bigger team physically, then Liverpool can struggle to cope from time to time. Not every team can do that which is why Liverpool have picked up so many points. Newcastle are absolutely massive, Atalanta were very similar. PSG had similar success in certain areas, so it's a very specific problem against very specific teams.
"Liverpool will want to solve that, so whoever they sign this summer - it's going to end up having to be quite a bit of business done - [their] physical profile is going to be very high up the list in terms of the qualities that they want from these players to ensure that this doesn't happen again and that one weakness is covered off because it was spelled out quite emphatically at Wembley."
Liverpool have also dropped points in the Premier League to sides such as Arsenal, Everton and Fulham, with all three posing significant challenges without the ball.
How Newcastle got the better of Liverpool
Though Newcastle were willing to defend in a deeper block at times, they were also aggressive whenever Liverpool tried to play the ball to towards Mohamed Salah's side and pressed high to prevent the Reds finding ways of getting the ball to their talisman.
Slot's team often resorted to playing over the Magpies' press to striker Diogo Jota, but he was outmatched by defenders such as Dan Burn.
Lynch believes that the Merseysiders played into Eddie Howe's game plan by failing to control Newcastle's aggression, telling Sports Mole: "Arne Slot said after the game that Newcastle got the game they wanted, and it was played on their terms. That contrasted so much to the game at Anfield recently where that was played on Liverpool's terms.
"What we saw at Wembley was the complete opposite of that. Liverpool had the ball but looked completely toothless with it, Newcastle were looking dangerous every time they went forward and also turned it into a high-energy, intense game where it was all about physical duels all over the pitch. There's one thing you can say about Newcastle, as good as they are anyway, they are absolutely brilliant in physical duels.
"When the game turned into that all over the pitch, Liverpool were second best from minute one to minute 90, and if that's the case, 2-1 makes it sound like it was close, but in terms of performance level it never felt like Liverpool were in it. Newcastle won all those physical battles and dominated the game on that basis and absolutely deserved to win."
Newcastle won 68% of their aerial duels and 54% of their ground duels, while Liverpool only won 46% of their ground duels and 32% of their aerial duels.
Was the midfield at fault?
Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister were both taken off during the game, and though they were not the only ones that encountered difficulty, it was notable that the Reds were routinely outfought in midfield.
In fact, Magpies midfielder Bruno Guimaraes won nine duels against Liverpool, while Mac Allister and Gravenberch won just four combined.
However, Lynch expressed his view that the the entire team can at times lack physicality when he told Sports Mole: "It's a general lack of physicality throughout the whole team, not just the midfield. Obviously Newcastle did very well in there and won a lot of duels. Bruno winning more than Liverpool's entire midfield is not a great look.
"But [if] you look at the body of work this season from the midfield, it's been very good, completely dominant in the Premier League and they are going to go on and win that. I don't think it should be a case of ripping it up and starting again or anything like that, but in all areas of the team if you could add a little extra layer of physicality, it would be helpful.
"You can concede to a side who do not have as much quality as you, so it's going to be something that's looked at this summer and should be looked at, but we shouldn't make it a bigger problem than it is, but it is one small weakness I think we've seen this season."
Liverpool did attempt to bring Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi to the club in the summer transfer window, and it would not be surprising if the Reds brought in another option to rotate with their current group. body check tags ::
