Liverpool won't be held to ransom in market but three deals are now essential

New head coach Andoni Iraola has already made clear on several occasions the Reds are short of options in key positions, not least on the right wing.

Liverpool have known for more than five months that Mohamed Salah was leaving and still they have yet to come up with a replacement.

Any of the solutions Iraola has tried thus far has not convinced they can be do the job effectively in the short to long term.

Victor Munoz has only just come to Anfield and is adapting to English football, Rio Ngumoha is very young and prefers to play on the left, and Cody Gakpo is better in the other two forward positions.

Federico Chiesa has also shown he isn’t the answer and wasn’t even involved at the weekend along with Harvey Elliott, which was perhaps a telling sign.

We really need to bring in one or two forwards, and I’d be amazed if at least one big-money attacker isn’t through the door before the deadline.

Liverpool won’t pay over the odds for whoever they want, whether it be Bradley Barcola or Yankuba Minteh. Fenway Sports Group have long shown they don’t like to play such games in the market.

But our need for reinforcements means we are almost certainly going to have to pay a premium on any target. Clubs know where we are short.

And I would also like to see a defensive midfielder brought in. It may not necessarily be one of the profile FSG prefer, but with Wataru Endo not featuring much in the last two years, there may be scope for Liverpool to add a bit of steel with an experienced player who is a bit cheaper.

They wouldn’t necessarily have to play every game. But they can be a positive influence on the squad and help encourage the more physical approach Iraola wants from his midfielders.

Encouraging treble for Reds

Sunday saw three players make their competitive debut for Liverpool. And all can be happy with their efforts.

The two centre-backs in particular showed they are very different players in the same position who can be of real use to the Reds this season.

Jeremy Jacquet was preferred as the centre-back partner to Virgil van Dijk and definitely caught the eye with some of his composure on the ball.

Ronald Araujo replaced the Frenchman midway through the second half and is more of a no-nonsense defender, particularly when it comes to dealing with the aerial threat.

He has experience at the highest level and hopefully won’t be as error-prone as Ibrahima Konate was during his last season at Liverpool, when he made some horrific mistakes.

That said, Liverpool could have done a lot better with the two goals they conceded, and that they shipped so many throughout pre-season indicates they are still nowhere near solid enough overall defensively.

Victor Munoz, meanwhile, was lively enough when coming on from the bench on the right and did well to win the equalising penalty.

Maybe expectations have been checked a bit by the performance at Newcastle, though. Liverpool aren't going to be an overnight fix.