Liverpool’s fabled front three have been blamed for their side’s failure to defeat West Bromwich Albion in the Reds 1-1 draw at Anfield.
It seems a somewhat bizarre swipe when you consider that one of the trio, Sadio Mane, scored while the other two, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, were not set up with many chances as Jurgen Klopp’s men struggled to break down a stubborn Baggies outfit drilled into a typically attritional approach by new boss Sam Allardyce.
However, Liverpool great Steve Nicol, who won four League Championships, three FA Cups and a European Cup with the club has earned a reputation for being a harsh taskmaster in recent years when it comes to his appraisals of contemporary Kop Idols as a US-based pundit.
True to form, the Scot was taking no prisoners when it came to his dissecting the Premier League champions’ frustrating display against a side second-from-bottom of the table.
The Mirror quote Nicol as telling ESPN: "We have applauded this front, three patted them on the back, said how brilliant they are, how they can produce something from nothing.
“And you know what, these are the sorts of games where you have to earn that sort of praise.
“It’s one thing to go and play in a big atmosphere against the big teams and you turn it on and it’s razzle dazzle.
"But when it comes to down to [it], Mane, Firmino and Salah for me are the reason Liverpool didn’t win the game.
“Yes Mane scored the goal, but after that, particularly Salah, who dribbled at an opponent about 15 times, stood on it about four or five times and gave it away – wasn’t at it.
"Bobby Firmino – wasn’t at it.
“So if you want to take all the praise, you’ve got to take the criticism, because with the amount of the ball the rest of the team got to the three of them, it’s up to them to produce and they didn’t produce.”
