Mohamed Salah one of three Liverpool stars blamed for draw in damning criticism

Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has rested the blame for the Reds’ disappointing draw with West Brom on the shoulders of their attacking entrance three.

So typically the lads to drag Liverpool via, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah couldn’t escape criticism following the tie at Anfield, which completed 1-1 after the Baggies grabbed a late equaliser.

West Brom had sat again and put males behind the ball in numbers to stifle Liverpool’s usually exuberant, free-flowing assault, and saved inside touching distance for the entire match.

Other than Sadio Mane’s early opener, the hosts had little to shout about by way of possibilities, earlier than Semi Ajayi’s header levelled the scoring after 82 minutes.

Regardless of efforts to try to restore their lead, Liverpool have been unable to get their noses in entrance once more, and Nicol provided a scathing evaluation of their entrance line trio after the match.

“We have now applauded this entrance, three patted them on the again, mentioned how good they’re, how they’ll produce one thing from nothing,” Nicol informed ESPN. “And you understand what, these are the types of video games the place you must earn that form of reward.

“It’s one factor to go and play in an enormous environment in opposition to the massive groups and also you flip it on and it’s razzle dazzle, however in relation to right down to the nitty gritty, Mane, Firmino and Salah for me are the explanation Liverpool didn’t win the sport.

“Sure Mane scored the aim, however after that, significantly Salah, who dribbled at an opponent about 15 instances, stood on it about 4 or 5 instances and gave it away – wasn’t at it. Bobby Firmino – wasn’t at it.

“So if you wish to take all of the reward, you’ve bought to take the criticism, as a result of with the quantity of the ball the remainder of the staff bought to the three of them, it’s as much as them to supply they usually didn’t produce.”

Liverpool are eager to repeat final season’s success – and you do not need to miss a factor, absolutely?

From all of Liverpool’s updates to the must-read Reds tales, get them straight to your inbox with out fuss by signing up for the unbelievable Mirror Soccer publication!

It has been an especially fascinating begin to the season for Jurgen Klopp’s males.

They bought their title defence off to a shaky begin as they edged out a seven-goal thriller in opposition to Leeds, earlier than happening to conceded seven in a hammering by Aston Villa.

Virgil van Dijk’s season was ended by damage within the 2-2 draw at Everton, leaving the title favourites trying far much less safe on the again – particularly with Alisson’s damage worries too.

However there is no slowing down in what’s going to be a busy marketing campaign – with Klopp making certain his males proceed at full tempo as they bid for extra title glory.

The best method to sustain with all the things happening at Anfield? It is by signing up.

Put your e-mail on the high of this text or observe the directions on this link.

Mane had confirmed an actual striker’s intuition to place Liverpool forward, chesting down Joel Matip’s move earlier than making use of a scientific end previous Baggies’ keeper Sam Johnstone.

Liverpool had loved the lions share of possession within the first half and dominated proceedings, however did not make it depend additional and slacked off after the break.

As the sport wore on, West Brom had a number of glimpses of aim, previous to Ajayi heading in off the submit with little time left on the clock.

Firmino nearly gained it for Liverpool with a header of his personal, however Johnstone bought down beautifully to tip the ball around the submit, and the factors have been shared regardless of the Reds mustering 17 photographs on aim, although solely two have been heading in the right direction.

Talking after the sport, Jurgen Klopp refused to make excuses for the consequence, admitting: “It does really feel like a defeat however we now have a degree greater than earlier than, so it’s fully high quality in that sense.

“The issue we now have is that West Brom deserved their level and that’s our fault.

Who did not ship for Liverpool in opposition to West Brom? Have your say below.

“The primary half was a extremely unusual sport with one thing like 90-100% possession for us and a system I’m not positive I’ve seen fairly often earlier than.

“It’s a large problem to remain on observe and maintain doing it once more however we must always have completed it once more. It is usually a problem for West Brom to defend like they did for 90 minutes.

“That they had extra conditions in the beginning of the second half than in the entire of the primary half.

“We might have sorted that with the proper runs and passes however we didn’t. That’s the reason it’s our fault ultimately and why it’s 1-1 as a substitute of 2-0 or 2-1. We have now to just accept that and we do.”