Liverpool need to replace ‘nowhere near good enough’ Divock Origi – Carragher

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Jamie Carragher believes former club Liverpool are currently lacking a centre-forward who can ease the goalscoring burden on Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

At the moment, Roberto Firmino is the first choice striker and although he contributes to the team in other ways, he has never been prolific in front of goal, with his team-mates usually hoovering up the chances inside the box.

Diogo Jota was signed in the summer from Wolves, but has been injured for the majority of the campaign and is seen more as a wide forward than a striker.

The only other recognised ‘number nine’ at the club is Divock Origi, and Carragher believes Jurgen Klopp needs to address this issue in the summer as the Belgian simply doesn’t have the quality to play for Liverpool.

“Liverpool definitely need to bring a goalscorer in,” the former Reds star told Sky Sports.

“I don’t know exactly what position for, whether that’s a centre-forward or a midfielder.

“At the moment they are massively reliant on Salah and Mane, nobody else looks like they’re going to score.

“Jota has been a miss, but whether Jota would ever be first choice in a Liverpool team – I’m not sure yet. He made a great start when he came in.

“I think they need to add goals to the team, whether that’s a midfield player who can score goals because it looks like Wijnaldum is going to move on or it’s a case of doing something different through the middle.

“You look at Bobby Firmino and Liverpool’s attacking players, they don’t actually have a striker. Jota is not a striker, same with Mane, same with Salah.

“They have Divock Origi but he’s nowhere near good enough. And he a lot of the time plays out wide, because he can’t play as a centre-forward.

“So Firmino plays that role but we always talk about him being a ‘false nine’, he’s not actually an out-and-out striker.

“I think Liverpool could do with bringing a striker in, just to shake things up and primarily someone who gets goals. I think there’s too much pressure on those two players at the top of the pitch to score goals.

“If they don’t score, Liverpool don’t look like scoring.”

Salah is the top goalscorer in the Premier League this season with 17 goals in 21 starts, while Mane and Firmino have only scored 13 in the league between them.

No midfielder has scored more than two goals, while Origi is yet to score at all in the league.

Liverpool have struggled in the defence of their Premier League title in 2020/21, and currently sit sixth in the table, 16 points adrift of Man City in first and two points adrift of the Champions League qualification spots.