Stevie Nicol says he would take Brighton boss, Roberto De Zerbi, as Liverpool manager if the struggling Premier League club sacked Jurgen Klopp at the end of the season.

That was the question put to the Anfield legend ‘who is the best coach for Liverpool if Klopp gets sacked at the end of the season?’, as he put forward De Zerbi’s name, as he told ESPN.

Despite only becoming Brighton boss back in September, the Italian, who replaced Graham Potter at the Amex Stadium, is unbeaten in three games against Klopp.

Their most recent meeting is still fresh in the mind of all because Liverpool were booted out of the FA Cup on Sunday, after Kaoru Mitoma’s stoppage-time winner.

Post-World Cup, everything that is going wrong for those on Merseyside, is going wrong – and it’s the case for both ends of the divide.

Nonetheless, when talking about Klopp’s future, Nicol shared what he likes about De Zerbi, as he compared the 43-year-old to Brendan Rodgers.

“There’s not another Klopp,” said Nicol. “I tell you what you could do, because you are a big club, go and get De Zerbi from Brighton.

“On the face of it, you were like ‘wow, you are taking over from Potter. How are you going to get more?’ Yes (prefer De Zerbi to Tuchel or Pochettino), because he plays exciting attacking football.

“I liked Brendan Rodgers, the way he coached the team. I just didn’t like the other stuff. But the way he played the game, I liked it. And I like the way De Zerbi has Brighton playing. The ғᴀᴄᴛ that he has got them better from when Potter was there is incredible.”

LIVERPOOL WOULDN’T SACK KLOPP

Yes, the German has to take some form of responsibility for the club’s current situation, but there’s no way FSG have the bottle to sack him.

There would be absolute uproar from the fans if that were to happen because there are bigger issues than Klopp himself.

The lack of pro-active nature in the transfer market is now hurting the team, and whilst rival teams spend money for fun, Liverpool are still relying on the likes of Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner.

Klopp’s ‘perfect technique’ for Liverpool’s star was not working against Brighton

The latest Klopp plan involving a “special” Liverpool player isn’t working.

Cody Gakpo’s original Liverpool strategy isn’t working. To get the best performance out of the player, Jurgen Klopp needs just do something novel.

When he arrived at Anfield this month, Cody Gakpo almost certainly wasn’t expected to be their first-choice striker. It isn’t the Dutchman’s favoured position or the position he held while representing PSV Eindhoven, after all.

I do have a definite preference, he said to FC Update in late last year. “Instead of playing in front of the striker, I like to play behind him.

You can still look for the most deep man to hook up with as “10.”

Attempting Gakpo as a False 9 after Darwin Nunez was injured was logical and something we expected. Only Jurgen Klopp is sticking with the team, despite Nunez’s return.

We believe there are two contributing fаctors. Gakpo’s defending of the pitch’s middle is a strength for Klopp, to start. Despite not being powerful enough this season, using the Dutchman should help Liverpool’s push. He covers the defensive midfielder when the Reds don’t have the ball, which frees up the midfield to sit a little deeper.

You may say we signed a striker and brag about his defense, but his defending in this center position is amazing, it’s what we need, according to the Athletic, which quotes Klopp.

The other aspect is that Gakpo plays the position more like a False 9 than Nunez does. Once more, by moving a little deeper, he will enable the midfield to avoid the need to join up with the ɑttack. Liverpool has relied on Roberto Firmino for this position for years. Given that their striker is capable of handling the position, they do not need an offe𝚗sive playmaker.

But we’re not positive it’s working.

Gakpo started in the center of the field on Sunday against Brighton and, notably, failed to create any chances or take any shots that were on goal. Sadly, that is not particularly sҺocking.

Actually, Gakpo hasn’t even created a chance from the position. In his two striker-only Premier League games, he failed to generate any chances. However, he was still able to fire off a few shots—one against Brighton and seven against Chelsea. Few, though, were successful.

Think about Firmino’s False 9 for Liverpool in comparison. He has created opportunities in 14 games this season while failing to create opportunities in 6. This covers both substitute appearances and simple beginnings.

However, the overall passing statistics are more telling. In the league game against Brighton, Gakpo completed 14 passes, 13 against Chelsea, and 19 on Sunday. If you tally together Firmino’s Premier League statistics, he tried 27 shots in 74 minutes against Tottenham Hotspur in November.

That is actually a relatively low number for Brazilians. He made 44 attempts in his most recent game against Southampton. He has a season-high 54.

Gakpo may provide Liverpool with the defensive traits they need, but he isn’t delivering any ɑttacking production in that position, and that is the key issue here. He finds it difficult to contribute anything, doesn’t make anything, and largely just has half-chances to score.

Liverpool’s forward play is lacking. That is demonstrated by the fаct that they only achieved one goal in the cup and failed to score against Chelsea or Brighton in league play. It’s a concept that is just ineffective.

Something needs to change for the Reds’ match against Wolves this week, and that something is Gakpo’s departure from the lone striker position.