Friday 9 December 2016 17:05, UK
Phil Thompson says he would drop goalkeeper Loris Karius following last week’s 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth and recall Simon Mignolet for Liverpool’s Super Sunday clash with West Ham.
Karius, a £4.7million summer signing from Mainz 05, has been an ever present in every Reds Premier League game since starting in the 5-1 demolition of Hull City on September 24.
However, the German stopper came in for some stinging criticism after Liverpool blew a 3-1 lead on the south coast, prompting some fans to demand Mignolet's return against the Hammers.
Jurgen Klopp today refused to single out Karius for individual criticism in the wake of the Cherries result.
And although Sky Sports pundit Thompson anticipates the Anfield manager will keep faith with his compatriot at home to West Ham, he still feels a change should be made in the wake of that late Bournemouth collapse.
"To me it would be Mignolet - and I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon because of what happened last week," the former Liverpool defender explained.
"I've always thought Mignolet was actually very unfortunate to be left out. We'd had a good start but I think Klopp had always had it in his mind that Karius was going to be his number one.
"Is Mignolet one of the top goalkeepers? Probably not but I think he is a very good goalkeeper and deserves his chance.
"If it was me I would make the change. If I'm looking at it through Jurgen Klopp's eyes he is probably going to keep faith in the goalkeeper."
Last week's shock loss was only Liverpool's second defeat of the campaign and saw them drop one place to third in the table, four points adrift of leaders Chelsea.
Klopp's charges will be strong favourites to quickly rediscover their winning touch at home to strugglers West Ham in front of the Sky cameras on Sunday.
And Thommo is particularly intrigued to find out how the Merseysiders respond to a very rare setback in what has been an otherwise impressive season.
"We have to see a reaction," he said.
"It has been a fantastic year. Jurgen has turned it around. We've got great home form and we've got to continue that.
"We've been beaten at teams we should be beating. That has got to change. We've lost to Burnley, we've lost to Bournemouth - we now have to have a reaction."
Liverpool v West Ham is the second Super Sunday fixture on Sky Sports 1 and kicks-off at 4.30pm following the earlier encounter between Manchester United and Spurs.
