Liverpool are a 'poor man's Arsenal', says Reds legend Mark Lawrenson
Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson has labelled his former side a "poor man's Arsenal" following the Reds' defeat to West Ham.
Brendan Rodgers' side suffered their first loss of the season - and conceded their first goals of the new campaign - after the Hammers beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield for the first time in 52 years.
The defeat came after Rodgers' team had opened up the 2015/16 season with three solid defensive displays but, following their poor performance against Slaven Bilic's side, Lawrenson has now slammed Liverpool for disappointing the fans - comparing the club to Arsenal in the process.
Writing in his column for the Liverpool Echo, he said: "We are a poor man’s Arsenal at the moment, in that you know this Arsenal will always let you down eventually.
"You know deep down they won’t win the league because, somewhere along the line, they will disappoint and disappoint greatly. This Liverpool are the same."
While Lawrenson pointed to Liverpool not having any "real wide players" as a current problem for the team, he also criticised some of the club's players for lacking the character to affect a game when the team were losing.
"Character is standing up and being counted when things are going against you on the pitch and it would be quite easy to hide and keep well away from the ball," he added.
"Character is about having the cojones to keep plugging away when you’re having a bad day.
"If players each show that individually, and you have that collective, then you can eke a result when not playing particularly well.
"Once you get one or two players who are having second thoughts during the match – and maybe I’m generous by saying two – then you are going to be in trouble."
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren was in part to blame for one of the goals that the club conceded against West Ham after he failed to clear the ball from near the byline, which subsequently allowed Manuel Lanzini to win back possession and provide the cross that Mark Noble scored from.
However, Lawrenson insisted there was nothing wrong with Lovren's ability to take charge during a match, but pointed to his lack of self-confidence as the reason why the defender makes mistakes.
"I genuinely don’t think Lovren’s character is an issue. His problem is confidence, in that he can lose it far too quickly," he said.
"Lovren is the type of player who can perform well for 30 minutes then make a single mistake and his head is gone. That’s not a lack of character – if he had no character, then he really would hide."
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