We're an unbalanced attack with Lallana, Firmino and Coutinho all playing as No.10's. All the stick these three are getting at the moment (basically for looking soft/not scoring/appearing frustrated/having limited influence on the game) seems a bit harsh because they all basically want to do the same job. Klopp, as stated in Liverpool Echo's review of the game, seems to leave the three of them to work out how best to operate together on the pitch. So what we see is Coutinho acting as a limited left winger who only really cuts inside or plays the overlap with Moreno, Firmino trying to do a similar thing in the inside right area while occasionally buzzing around as a foil for Benteke (though not often enough), and Lallana doing the link up work between defence and attack, pressing/ball-winning in the middle third of the pitch, and occasionally getting into the right flank areas with Clyne's support.
In short, Lallana isn't playing his own game (as he was at Southampton) as a 2nd striker/No.10, but is playing a slightly deeper role in which his stamina, game-reading and two-footedness are assets. Whether the three have worked out this arrangement for themselves, or whether Klopp has redesigned their roles that way, I don't know.
For me, they're three players who all want to be in the same role, and haven't worked out how to play effectively as a group, except in games like Man City, in which they had time and space on the ball, to pick runs and passes. I'd drop either Firmino or Coutinho to the bench as an option, and keep Lallana in, because his work in midfield is more consistent and vital.
I'm not expecting goals from Lallana because he's not playing a role that offers him many goalscoring chances. Coutinho and Firmino, on the other hand, I think should be scoring more, and will only do so when they make runs beyond Benteke.
Logged