Liverpool great John Aldridge has defended manager Jurgen Klopp for not signing a new centre-back over the summer.
Liverpool have found themselves exposed due to Virgil van Dijk's knee injury.
But Aldo wrote for the Sunday World: "The spark that made Klopp's team so special as they won the Premier League title last season is lacking, but you sense the manager is trying to edge his way towards the big game on the horizon against Manchester City next Sunday.
"I'm pretty sure that Thiago was fit to play last night (against West Ham), but he is looking at the tricky Champions League game against Atalanta and the City game next weekend as the matches when he will need his big-hitters playing.
"If Liverpool could get Joel Matip fit for the City game and have him alongside Gomez with Thiago in midfield, Klopp would feel he has a chance to get something out of that game at the Etihad Stadium.
"Yet, this is not how Klopp would have envisaged this season working out when he and the club's key decision makers opted against signing an additional centre-back in the last transfer window.
"It was always a risk to go into the season with three senior central defenders and Fabinho as the back-up, but they hoped the nightmare scenario of losing Van Dijk would not happen.
"You could say now that they were mad not to sign a centre-back after Dejan Lovren left, but I can see why they decided to go with what they had as it looked like that might have enough, so long as Van Dijk was fit."
