Liverpool recently put four past Bournemouth in a 4-0 win on the South Coast – and without top scorer Mohamed Salah in the squad at all.
It put Liverpool at 47 goals after 21 league matches. With 48, only Manchester City have scored more this season in the Premier League. Nevertheless, Paul Ince thinks Liverpool should add to their current firepower by acquiring a striker as a replacement for Salah.
“I know what’s going to happen in the future,” Ince says with a big grin on his face, and fair play to him as he uttered his original statement regarding Salah before the topscorer limped off with an injury while on national duty with Egypt.
“Salah is the main man; he scores the majority of their goals. I love Darwin Nunez. I think he’s a wonderful player, but he gets a lot of chances and doesn’t score as many as he should. Jota’s been out for a while, Gakpo’s not really done it so far. He started off really well when he first joined Liverpool. Since then, he has struggled a bit.
“I think Liverpool are quite reliant on Salah, and if you are losing him for a month, why wouldn’t you try and bring someone in to score the goals already in the January window?” Ince asks rhetorically in conversation with Tribalfootball.com.
With their defence often facing a bit of scrutiny, it is perhaps somewhat surprising that Liverpool have conceded fewer goals than anyone else in the Premier League at this stage of the season and they look “comfortable” at the back, according to the former Liverpool midfielder.
“Defensively, they have got enough there to cover. In midfield, I think that is where Klopp has done very, very well. He recognized he needed to strengthen his midfield and brought in three very good players. I love Mac Allister, I think he is a top, top player.”
Ince is also a big fan of Inter Milan ace Lautaro Martinez. Could the Argentinian World Champion be the right fit for The Reds?
“I think so. He certainly has all the credentials,” says Ince who spent two years with Inter. He moved there following an extremely successful period with Manchester United, who has offloaded Jadon Sancho in this transfer window to Borussia Dortmund. The whole situation around the talented winger something Ince finds saddening.
“I remember watching him the last time he was at Dortmund and scoring goals for fun and enjoying his football. Then he got a big offer, and it’s hard to turn down when a team like Manchester United comes in for you. But a young player at such a big club like Manchester United need time. The pressures of playing for Manchester United can mentally affect you,” says Ince who made his name with West Ham before Sir Alex Ferguson came in for him.
“Had it been Sir Alex Ferguson, it would have been kept in house. No one would have known the situation. It would have been dealt with by the manager and the player. For it all to be aired in public was not the right thing to do.
“I don’t think it was the right for Sancho to put it all out there on his X profile. You need to conduct yourself in a better way. Go see the manager, put it to bed. No one knows and you carry on,” was the way to go for the former England captain, who is critical of the club allowing the whole situation to spiral into Sancho leaving Old Trafford.
“We are talking about a very exciting player here. Potentially one of the best players in the world. To allow him to go to Dortmund when you look at the likes of Anthony and how they are struggling in those positions, doesn’t make sense to me.”
What also doesn’t make sense to Ince is the current crisis at Reading FC, where he had his latest managerial stint.
“It is so sad. Reading is a fantastic football club with fantastic people and fantastic fans. I really feel for them. Even when I was managing the last year, we got deducted six points right at the end of the season and with those six points, we would have stayed in the championship. That changed so many things and to see it’s just carried on and got worse is heartbreaking,” Ince says of the mess The Royals have landed themselves in under their current ownership.
“When things like this happen, I really feel for people at the club who start losing their jobs. They have been there for years and it is their life. For them to lose their jobs because of mismanagement at the very top is so disappointing.
“It is a wonderful club with fantastic facilities. The training ground is Premier League standard and though the stadium could do with a little reboot, it’s a lovely place to be and to live. And the fans idolise their club. The owners say they want to sell, and I would like to say to the people out there interested that it is a fantastic club with fantastic people to buy. Fingers crossed we’ll have some good news from the Madejski soon,” Ince hopes for the Reading faithful.
Paul Ince was talking to Tribalfootball.com on behalf of www.instantcasino.com.
