Liverpool have a serious problem and Richard Hughes must fix it ASAP | OneFootball

Liverpool have a real problem right now and it's one Richard Hughes must fix as soon as possible. New UEFA Champions League data has shown it up.

Think back to Liverpool's great team under Jurgen Klopp and a few things stand out. One of them is simply how well the team meshed together - a near-flawless machine where everyone's respective job complimented one another.

That directly led to maybe the other great skill of that side: they could play any style. That was a team that was happy to have possession up against a deep back line.

A solid midfield allowed for that, as did the full-backs actively wanting to get on the ball in dangerous areas. Liverpool were able to overwhelm teams through sheer numbers.

But above all, the Reds knew they were absolutely lethal on the counter-attack. Teams had to sit deep against them and rarely risk pushing forward because if they did, the sheer pace up front would carve them open.

It was so much that opposition corners were a decent creative outlet for Liverpool. Mo Salah and Sadio Mane just needed the ball to fall their way and they were off - and few could catch them.

That, however, is a lost art at Liverpool. And it needs fixing.

Liverpool's pace problem

Liverpool had pace in the team even just last season. Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz weren't the most reliable players in the world for them but they certainly delivered raw speed.

But in selling the pair, Liverpool lost that. They've now got essentially no real pace from wide positions, with Salah not as quick as he was and it never being Cody Gakpo's strength.

CIES Football Observatory have highlighted that with data on UEFA Champions League speeds. Liverpool have zero players in the top 20 for wingers and only one in the top 20 for full-backs - Jeremie Frimpong (9th).

So that's their ability to counter-attack summed up. This team just isn't an elite threat in that regard, far from what they once were.

Teams know full well that they can throw people forward against Liverpool as the pace just isn't there on the break to counter. We saw that at Anfield as PSV Eindhoven consistently broke forward to score four.

It's something that, really, should have been sorted in January. That window has now gone, of course, but there's no question that Richard Hughes has got to fix the problem in the summer.

It should be priority no.1, in fact.