Liverpool's defensive woes have been a matter of wide spread media comment, Sunday's visitors to the London Stadium are currently without ANY established centre backs in their squad, captain Jordan Henderson has filled in admirably for them, however fans from both sides are of the opinion that Michail Antonio, Angello Ogbonna, Craig Dawson and of course 'Mr Potato Salad' himself, Tomas Soucek, will be a 'difficult' proposition to deal with for any back line, let alone one that is down to the bare bones!
That said, the way Liverpool carved Tottenham apart in their last fixture will serve as an acute reminder those Hammers fans, and possibly some players who have been getting ahead of themselves, that the visitors are still the League champions and as such deserve respect, but not too much of it. If Moyes sets his team up to defend and then hit the 'Pool' on the break then the result will only go one way, if however he gets his boys to really 'rat' the Liverpool players from the get go, then the result could see Hammers cementing their spot in the coveted top six.
The arrival of Jesse Lingard has been met with mixed reception, the reality is he is a far better option than the player who's place in the squad he has essentially taken, Bournemouth's Jack 'bite the hand that feedeth' Wilshere. Lingard is on the same salary except he doesn't have a permanent deal with wheel chair sponsors.
Jurgen Klopp's search for a centre back is almost hopeless now, the latest two injuries to his defence only occurred in the last 48 hours, so he has had no time to seek 'effective' replacements. Yesterday we mentioned that Liverpool had been 'sniffing around' for a possible loan player from the Irons, and our source told us that the player being offered to Liverpool after their enquiry is Winston Reid, as opposed to Issa Diop who they were originally enquiring about.
Diop's first team opportunities have been very limited since he was struck down with Covid-19, but David Moyes definitely sees Diop as part of his future plans especially bearing in mind Ogbonna is 32 years old and Dawson will be 31 years old in a couple of months.
Hammers fans aren't used to seeing their club loan players to members of the 'top six' elite Barclays Premier League teams, but if they are after something for nothing they can sling their hook, if Klopp wants a Hammers centre back, he can have 'Winny', the Kiwi captain would relish the opportunity of playing week in week out and despite his age is most definitely an upgrade of what Liverpool currently have available for their centre back berths. Reid Yes, Diop, No! - Ed
* This article has been republished in the Star virtually verbatum, we do wish those pesky red tops would stop nicking our articles and not crediting the Org! Grrrrrrrr