3) Liverpool cannot score enough goals, and need fresh striking talent.
Luis Suarez was always going to be a huge loss. But on paper, Reds fans had every reason to be optimistic at the start of the season. Daniel Sturridge scored 24 goals in all competitions last term, Mario Balotelli scored 18 for AC Milan, Rickie Lambert got 14 for Southampton, and Fabio Borini netted ten on loan at Sunderland.
The major issue is that Suarez’s goals might have statistically been replaced, but Suarez the player was definitely not. The Uruguayan superstar brought so much more than that to Liverpool, from his unique understanding and partnership with Sturridge, and to a lesser extent Raheem Sterling, to his relentless hounding of opposition defenders.
Balotelli, Lambert and Borini are all different types of players. The former is a hold-up player, who needs to be playing alongside a second striker – as demonstrated by his best performance for the club, on his debut against Tottenham. Lambert has himself admitted that he was in the wrong mindset for a successful start to his Liverpool career, while Borini’s head can not have been right after he was all but forced out of Anfield during the summer.