Steve McManaman builds up Liverpool's 'beefed up' squad ahead of Premier League match at AFC Bournemouth

Liverpool may be enduring their worst season in some time, but former players and BT Sport pundits Steve McManaman and Joe Cole believe there are some exciting times ahead.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have set an extremely high standard in recent years and just last term threatened to win an unprecedented quadruple, eventually having to settle for the FA Cup and EFL Cup.

The Reds start the weekend just out of the Premier League’s top four after a poor run of form in which they lost heavily to Brighton and Wolves.

But they come into Saturday’s game at Bournemouth – shown live on BT Sport – in confident form after crushing rivals Manchester United 7-0 last weekend, with Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino all getting on the scoresheet.

And with some key players returning to the fold following lengthy injuries, including Diogo Jota, McManaman insists Liverpool can still make an impact this season.

“I think the great thing now, if you’re Liverpool fan, is that four or five months ago, they looked bare up front,” McManaman began.

He continued: “Yes, Nunez had come in, but he was only quite raw. Four of their forwards scored last week. And you look today at the sub bench, Arthur Melo is back into the squad, they suddenly look a real beefed up squad at the latter end of the season.“They’ve got three great forwards in form, they’ve got Firmino and Jota back and they’ve still got Luis Diaz to come back. So suddenly it looks an incredibly exciting time for Liverpool.”

With an array of attacking options now available, Klopp has an “amazing problem” in picking his best front-three, McManaman continued.

“We don’t know who are going to be the best three, it’s an amazing problem to have when you’ve got that many games,” he said. “At the moment, it’s set in stone that Firmino is going to leave, but we know how good Jota has been when he’s played, we know how good Luis Diaz was when he first arrived. So, it’s going to be a really good problem for Jurgen Klopp to have.”

Liverpool’s new-look attack has the potential to get the club back to the top, said Cole.

“Without a doubt,” he started. “Liverpool fans are very intelligent around their football club and they understand that this is an era where there's going to be a slight rebuild, you know? Because you've got [Stefan] Bajcetic; Harvey Elliott, very, very young; Gakpo, young; Darwin Nunez, young.“So they're all going to develop together. Playing for Liverpool Football Club, you've always got the ghosts of the past, you know, because it's been such a huge emblem of a football club with massive success, great players of the past. There’s always that pressure on you to perform like before.

“But these young lads, I think Jurgen Klopp is a great manager for them because he’s going to let them breathe. Every time you watch any of them play, they get better and better week by week.

“So, I think it's very positive for Liverpool Football Club.”