“They’ve got no fluidity going forward" - Dietmar Hamann believes defense is rescuing Liverpool amid struggle to score goals
Liverpool legend Dietmar Hamann believes that the club has struggled to score goals freely in recent weeks, and that their defense has been the saving grace. Although the Reds secured a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals following a 2-1 win against Inter Milan across two legs, the recent 1-0 defeat in the second leg has raised some concerns.
Despite fielding a full-strength side, the Premier League giants simply failed to break past Inter Milan's defense and eventually succumbed to a 1-0 defeat. However, their 2-0 away win in the first leg proved to be just enough to get them over the line and into the next round of the UEFA Champions League.
Defeat on the night, but we progress into the #UCL quarter-final 👊 https://t.co/h3Hk5ILqZT
Liverpool legend Dietmar Hamann spoke to talkSPORT about the club's performance over both legs against Inter Milan and said:
“If you look at the first game, I don’t think that Liverpool were two goals better than Inter at the San Siro.
“I think that they will be very happy to be in the hat because over the two legs you can probably say that Inter weren’t any worse than Liverpool.
He added that the club seems to have lost fluidity in attack in recent weeks, and have been overly reliant on their defense to win them games. Hamann said:
“They’ve got no fluidity going forward at the moment and struggle to score goals and I think that their defense keeps them in these competitions.
“Last week at the San Siro they kept a clean sheet and had numerous chances without taking them, but at some stage they’ll play better going forward again.
“As long as the defense is functioning with [Virgil] Van Dijk looking back to his best, they look rock solid and the defense is what stands out.
Hamann further likened the current team to that which won the the UEFA Champions League in 2019, largely due to their excellence in defense
“When they won the Champions League a few years back, as good as they are going forward, I think they won the Champions League because their defense was the best in the competition.”
Attack will be crucial as Liverpool eye elusive quadruple
Liverpool and their fans will hope that their attack finds its potency at the soonest, with plenty at stake for the remainder of the season. Having already won the Carabao Cup, the Reds will look to go the distance in the three remaining competitions - the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup - to complete an unprecedented quadruple.
While the win against Inter Milan has booked them a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, the Reds currently find themselves six points adrift of Manchester City in the Premier League race, albeit with a game in hand. With eleven games left to be played, the league title is by no means out of their reach just yet. Jurgen Klopp's men are also scheduled to face Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup quarter-finals later this month.
With plenty of silverware and glory at stake, Liverpool's attack will absolutely have to fire if they seek to sweep all three competitions.
Liverpool's quadruple dream is alive and kicking 🥥 https://t.co/0k622OvWla