Waching daily Dec 2 2018

JURGEN KLOPP'S new

Liverpool formation is not getting the best out of Roberto Firmino.

And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's knee injury has had a negative impact on the team's

style.

That is the view of former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock.

Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League after 13 games but have lost three Champions

League matches this season to put them on the brink of crashing out of the tournament.

Manager Jurgen Klopp has attempted to alleviate any fears of a drop in performance from his

players but Firmino has struggled to hit the heights of last season.

The Brazilian has scored five goals this term with just three of them coming in the league.

Klopp has integrated summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri to the attack and it has meant Firmino

playing in a deeper role behind Mohamed Salah.

And Warnock feels the switch hasn't suited Firmino's game and reckons the long-term

absence of Oxlade-Chamberlain and his midfield runs have also hampered the team.

"I like Firmino as the pivotal point [of the attack] where you bounce the ball of him,"

Warnock told Express Sport.

"He has an eye for a run, he's got great vision to execute as well.

"And I prefer Salah wide right.

When you've got Salah through the middle and his back towards the goal I don't think

it suits him.

He's a player that needs to run onto things.

"I'm not one to question Jurgen Klopp and way he does things but last year was so

exciting to watch.

"The way the front three interchanged and bounced off each other was incredible and

they are missing that this season.

"You also have to look at Oxlade-Chamberlain being out.

He ran past the strikers and his driving runs from midfield brings a different dimension.

"And when that's missing you don't realise it for a long period."

Some critics have suggested Firmino could be feeling the effects of playing regularly

without a break.

But Warnock believes the 27-year-old is just struggling for form.

He added: "He ran so many miles last season and didn't have a break in the summer.

"But I think when it is not going your way, sometimes people look for excuses and say

they are tired.

"I just think he is out of form and his touch isn't as sharp as it was last year."

Throughout the season so far, Joe Gomez has emerged as one of Liverpool's best, and

most consistent, performers alongside Virgil van Dijk at centre-back.

On a couple of occasions, however, Jurgen Klopp has deployed him at right-back as he

opts to rotate his squad, where the Englishman looks nowhere near as accomplished.

Whilst there is not too much wrong with the 21-year-old at right-back, he is far better

in the centre of defence, and as this could be a game of very slim margins he must be

played in his best position.

As witnessed in the build-up to Neymar's goal at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday,

PSG's second and ultimately winning goal, the former Charlton man was nowhere to be

seen as Kylian Mbappe rampaged down the left wing.

The opener, scored by Juan Bernat, also came from the left-hand side, an area than was

being patrolled, or was meant to be at least, by Gomez.

Whilst the Toffees' summer signing Bernard is no Neymar or Mbappe, he is a seriously

skilled dribbler, with his 5′ 5″ frame giving him a low centre of gravity to tie

defenders in knots more often than not.

The England international is more comfortable in the centre of defence dealing with attackers

alongside van Dijk.

Out on the right, he does tend to appear lost and isolated, whilst his physique is better

suited to a centre-half rather than a full-back.

As aforementioned, the game at Anfield may be one of fine margins.

It would be foolish of Klopp to disrupt what has been one of the best defensive partnerships

in England this season once again, especially against a frontline consisting of Bernard

and the in-form duo of Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Dejan Lovren is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Premier League

club Liverpool and the Croatia national team.

Lovren began his career at Dinamo Zagreb before moving to Olympique Lyonnais in January 2010.

He spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Ligue 1 team and won the 2012 Coupe de France

before he signed for Southampton in 2013.

After one season with Southampton, he joined Liverpool for £20 million and has since made

over 150 appearances for the club.

For more infomation >> The real reason for Roberto Firmino struggles & Bad news for Dejan Lovren ● Liverpool FC News - Duration: 5:36.

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News - Duration: 3:40.

For more infomation >> News - Duration: 3:40.

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Man Utd news: Jose Mourinho responds to stunning world-record deal rumours - Duration: 2:54.

 Reports in Italy yesterday claimed the Red Devils had tabled a mammoth £91m bid

 Jose Mourinho is desperate to land a new centre-back having been linked with a host of defenders in the summer

 Attempts to sign Milan Skriniar, Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld, Diego Godin and Jerome Boateng all proved fruitless

 Corriere dello Sport reported that Mourinho is making up for lost time. They reckon the Portuguese slapped down a world-record offer for the Senegal international

 Mourinho is a huge fan of the 27-year-old. However, Napoli apparently have no intention of selling their prized asset

 When quizzed about whether the rumours are true, Mourinho replied: "I cannot answer to your question

 "If is true, if is not true, I cannot answer to your question, maybe your question is the first one about the market and maybe the next press conference I have two more questions, and maybe the next press conference I have three more

 "The only thing I can tell you is Koulibaly is a Napoli player. "And I don't speak about players from other clubs

" United could only manage an underwhelming 2-2 draw with Southampton yesterday. The Saints were 2-0 up after just 20 minutes

 Former Premier League star turned pundit Jermaine Jenas thinks Mourinho's time is up

 "Manchester United are poor, Jose Mourinho has sucked the life out of them," he told the Sunday Times

 "He's making brilliant players mediocre and there's no way Mourinho can (or should) make it to the end of this season as United's manager

 "What are United these days? I don't know what they stand for. "I don't know how they want to play

 "I do know they were out-thought for periods by a Saints team they really should have been able to beat

" United host Arsenal at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

For more infomation >> Man Utd news: Jose Mourinho responds to stunning world-record deal rumours - Duration: 2:54.

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✅ Breaking News - Chelsea 2-0 Fulham: Pedro and Loftus-Cheek score in win against rivals - Duration: 7:13.

In the visiting dugout, Claudio Ranieri span on his heels and vented to the heavens

He had seen this script before and in the heady days of Leicester City's title push, he was usually the director of the piece

This time, however, the plot was agonising. On the centre-circle, N'Golo Kante appeared in a flash, picking the pocket of Fulham's expensive summer signing Jean-Michel Seri and he was, by now, speedy towards the penalty area

The worst was yet to come but Ranieri knew Kante would make the right call. The Frenchman powered on, teeing up Pedro Rodriguez,, who jinked inside Maxime Le Marchand and clinically dispatched the finish

Inside four minutes, Fulham were a goal down and Ranieri was undone by a player he knows better than most

For Kante's new manager Maurizio Sarri, it was a reminder of Kante at his most effective after the Italian criticised his performance at Tottenham last week but also proof that the midfielder can influence games even in his newly adapted role

If Ranieri needed it, this one moment encapsulated much of what has derailed Fulham in the opening months of this campaign

Fulham had actually started the match on the front foot and their general play was impressive for much of this game

Yet the best-laid plans of Slavisa Jokanovic were often undermined by individual lapses and so it was here for Ranieri

Seri's mistake, caught sleeping in the centre of midfield, was fatal and such moments explain why Fulham are the only one of the 92 league sides in English football still to keep a clean sheet this season

Bottom of the Premier League, Fulham have taken only one point on the road but this is not a fixture that Ranieri will have earmarked for season-defining results

It is, on paper, a derby game but this felt more like an old school reunion as Ranieri returned to the club where he launched his Premier League managerial career and the stadium where Leicester sealed the title - courtesy of Eden Hazard's goal against Tottenham

Friends were reunited in the dugout, as Ranieri only recently spent a week observing Sarri's methods at Chelsea's training ground, while Gianfranco Zola and Carlo Cudicini - now part of Sarri's backroom staff - were once key parts of Ranieri's own Chelsea side

As such, the contest lacked the bite and ferocity of a gritty derby but Fulham have rarely had much their way in this fixture

After all, Fulham's last first division victory at Chelsea came in 1964, when Sir Bobby Robson, Alan Mullery and George Cohen adorned the team-sheet

Even by Ranieri's history-making standards, to obliterate a 54-year record within his first fortnight in charge would have been some achievement

Yet by the end of this match, Fulham had created more than enough openings to merit a draw and only the continuing excellence of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga spared Chelsea another poor result after a defeat against Tottenham and draw at home to Everton in their last two Premier League games

After grasping an early lead through Pedro, some might have foreseen a derby demolition but Fulham did not fold and Chelsea's performance was flat

Eden Hazard, now 10 games without a goal for club and country, was flat until late on and when he does not excel, there is little else by way of inspiration in the Chelsea side

Sarri sought to gee up his team and at one point he was so far down the touchline that the fourth official went scurrying after him to coax the Italian back into his technical area

As Chelsea took their pedal off the gas, Fulham's game-plan began to emerge. They pressed with courage, forcing mistakes in the Chelsea midfield in the manner trail-blazed by Tottenham last week

Seri picked out Le Marchand to earn a corner and Calum Chambers struck well but comfortably into the hands of the goalkeeper

Yet even in Fulham's more progressive moments, mishaps are always around the corner

Under little duress, Cyrus Christie misplaced a pass inside his own half and Chelsea seized the initiative as Hazard's low cross was flicked towards goal by Olivier Giroud

Sergio Rico reacted sharply but Ranieri was apoplectic once more, walloping his hands against his trousers in frustration

At half-time, Ranieri made two changes, replacing Ryan Sessegnon and Stephan Johansen with Floyd Ayite and Aboubakar Kamara

During a sharp opening to the second period, Fulham really should have drawn level

Christie galloped beyond Marcos Alonso on the Fulham right-flank and his dangerous low cross required a fine intervention from Antonio Rudiger to divert the ball wide of the post as Aleksandar Mitrovic waited for a tap-in

From the resultant corner, Chambers powered a header towards goal and Kepa responded well from pointblank range

Soon after, Cairney drove into the penalty area, tiptoed his way around his markers and laid the ball off to the edge of the box, where Chambers galloped onto the scene but his side-footed strike was a good height for another Kepa parry

Chelsea all of a sudden appeared ragged. Azpilicueta was booked for a late challenge on Cairney and Chambers, who looked at ease in a midfield role, then wasted another bright opening in the penalty area with a poor final ball

Chelsea, inevitably, began to find more space as Fulham pursued an equaliser. Hazard skipped into space and his rasping effort was superbly saved but substitute Alvaro Morata inexplicably volleyed over as the goal gaped on the rebound

Sarri turned around and put his hands on his head. The Italian was soon content, though, as Hazard and Pedro bamboozled Fulham with intricate interplay and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, off the bench in the second half, arrived on cue to slot in the decisive second