2 weeks ago
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Robbie Fowler has expressed concerns that some of the new additions to Arne Slot's team are not up to Liverpool's standards.
Despite spending heavily in the summer transfer window, the current Premier League champions have experienced a downturn in form, losing five out of their last six league matches. Jamie Carragher has even said Liverpool can't cope.
Initially, the club received plaudits for its transfer dealings, breaking its own record twice to secure the services of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. The acquisitions of Jeremie Frimpong and Mlos Kerkez were also seen as shrewd business, while Hugo Ekitike added another dimension to their attack.
However, Slot's team now finds itself in eighth position, a significant drop from its title-winning form.
Last season, Liverpool icon Fowler suggested that striker Darwin Nunez was "not a Liverpool player" and he has recently been asked if he feels the same about any of the Reds' summer recruits.
"I do," he said with Adventure Gamers.. "When you're analyzing footballers, and you can take this with a pinch of salt, but I think a lot of coaches and managers now can probably see within the first training session or the first game, how a player adapts, see how they control things, see how they run, see how they move, and how they collect the ball. That was one of the first things I noticed with Darwin Nunez."
The ex-Liverpool striker shared his assessment of Nunez prior to last season's FA Cup encounter with Accrington Stanley in January. Nunez found the net 40 times in 143 outings before making his move to Al-Hilal during the most recent transfer window, reports the Mirror.
"We're saying the same things now that we were saying two or three years ago," Fowler remarked about Nunez on ITV Sport. "He's raw, he's this, he's that, and we can't keep saying that.
"So for me, the more I see him, the more I think he's not a Liverpool player. Now, people might have a go at me for saying this: you know, he works hard; you're not signing a player because he works hard because that should be a prerequisite anyway.
"You've got to come in, you've got to score goals, and I know he's a fan favourite for what he puts in, but at the time that we're talking now, you've got to perform better, and you've got to do better in the Liverpool shirt."
This campaign, Fowler has already stated that the Reds must achieve perfection for the rest of the season to stand any chance of retaining their Premier League title. He also considers that Liverpool has struggled to adequately replace Fabinho in the defensive midfield role since the Brazilian departed two years ago.
Fowler chose not to specify which summer signings he would liken to Nunez. Nevertheless, he did share his thoughts on how Frimpong and Kerkez have adapted to Liverpool's restructured defensive line.
"It's been difficult for Jeremie Frimpong because everyone is thinking he's going to come in and replace Trent, when he's not really been played in the same position as Trent for his whole career," Fowler told Adventure Gamers.
"Kerkez for me was a player who was outstanding in the Premier League last year. Hence the reason why he was picked in the Premier League team of the year.
"So there's definitely potential with him as well. Is he ready now? I don't know, but I think he will be."
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