Liverpool do not look confident enough to battle for the Premier League title, according to former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino.
The Reds returned to the top of the table on Sunday with their draw at Manchester United, though Jurgen Klopp’s side missed the opportunity of moving three points clear of Manchester City.
Fans have been critical of Klopp for Liverpool’s performance, as they failed to take advantage of United’s thin squad with the Red Devils forced to use all three substitutes before half-time and play the majority of the match with an injured Marcus Rashford leading the line.
Having been flying clear of second place Manchester City before the end of last year, Liverpool have endured a tough beginning to 2019.
They began the new year by losing to City, and have drawn three of their league matches since, with the United stalemate following poor results at home to Leicester and at West Ham.
Worryingly for Klopp, it is not just the results of these matches which have been poor – but the performances also.
Liverpool looked like a team that have lost their spark on Sunday afternoon, and Cascarino believes all their confidence has drained away.
In his Times column, Cascarino writes: “Liverpool don’t look like a team confidently chasing the title. They look afraid.
“They may have got a point away against one of their rivals but the bigger picture is that they don’t look like they believe they can win the Premier League.
“Given that Marcus Rashford played on with an injury, Liverpool only had to beat a United side who had ten and a half men and had used all their substitutions in the first half. At times in the second half United looked very tired and yet Liverpool managed only one shot on target.
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“He [Pep Guardiola] will sit there thinking, ‘This is not the Liverpool we saw last season and at the start of this campaign’. They were laboured and wasteful with the ball.
“The Liverpool forward Sadio Mané gave it away so many times he was nearly United’s man of the match.
“Daniel Sturridge was shocking when he came on and Mohamed Salah looked out of sorts.
“But this wasn’t a one-off for Liverpool. They have looked poor in recent draws against Leicester and West Ham too.”