"It's just a bunch of guys running around": Steve Nicol makes worrying claim about Liverpool ahead of Man Utd test

Former Liverpool star, Steve Nicol, has slammed Liverpool's midfield and seems baffled by the lack of quality available to Jurgen Klopp.

As much as the headlines were understandably dominated by Darwin Nunez being shown a red card, the real story at Anfield was once again Liverpool's midfield.

Klopp started a trio of James Milner, Harvey Elliott and Fabinho, leaving captain Jordan Henderson on the bench.

Alongside the skipper on the sidelines were Naby Keita, Fabio Carvalho, Stefan Bajcetic and Bobby Clark.

Carvalho was brought on in the second half as was Hendo but overall, the Reds lacked incisive passing against the Eagles and deserved little more than a point and needed a screamer from Luis Diaz to even get a draw.

He said: "If you look at Liverpool's midfield, it's blank, it's blank.

"It's just a bunch of guys running around, I don't see any real diversity in it, it's just a bunch of guys that chase and try to give to the front three."

Liverpool's greatest strength is its counter-pressing. Teams battle to break the Reds' oppressive swarms high up the pitch but with the mismatched midfield of Elliot, Milner and Fabinho, Crystal Palace were able to play on the counter quite easily.

Milner, in particular, was caught high up the pitch where his lack of recovery pace at 36 a real issue which left huge spaces for the impressive Eberechi Eze and Wilfred Zaha to exploit.

While it's not fair to judge Liverpool based on the midfield that played against Palace, it is worrying that a few injuries reduce Klopp's side to what was on show at Anfield.

There have been many calls to sign a new midfielder this summer but Klopp has stuck to his guns and will not sign any more players before the transfer deadline.

While things could change in the remaining two weeks of the window, it seems overly optimistic to expect any incomings at this point.

Klopp will need to make the most of what he's got. Naby Keita is still due to come back into the side after illness prevented him from starting against Fulham while he was kept on the bench against Palace.

Up next is Manchester United and in a way, it's the perfect opportunity for Liverpool to put their awful start to the season behind them and condemn Erik ten Hag to three straight defeats in his first three official games as manager.

Klopp has until next Monday to assess his options and conjure a plan to get Liverpool's season properly underway with a win.