Merseyside Insider reveals the 'key' Liverpool tactic to unlock Bradley Barcola
Liverpool's Champions League campaign may be crucial to helping star winger Bradley Barcola build his confidence after his huge summer move.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the 24-year-old's game is better suited to a more open, European style.
The Reds splashed £123million on Barcola in the summer, but he has just one assist in the Premier League after his opening five league games.
Wyness believes that Andoni Iraola and Co. need to try and boost the wideman's confidence as much as possible, with the Champions League expected to be crucial to help him find his feet.
The former PSG ace netted a hat-trick in the 6-3 win over LASK before delivering an infuriating display in Saturday's 2-1 triumph over Brentford in which he wasted multiple excellent scoring opportunities.
Liverpool will ultimately hope for far more from their expensive summer buy, but for now, Wyness is adamant that the cup competitions can help him find his feet.
Liverpool style not helping Bradley Barcola
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Liverpool's current style of football is not massively helping Barcola at the moment.
The Scottish businessman feels that the France international thrives off lofted balls over his full-back, allowing him to latch on and run in behind the opposition defence.
However, speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness is under no illusion that this could be hard to facilitate in the Premier League.
"If you look at his background before, a lot of the balls that made him successful were flat balls behind the full-back," he said.
"They've got to start playing that early ball to him and get the geometry right in terms of the way that he is fed the ball and where he starts from.
"That's a pretty key thing for Iraola.
"Also, he's got to get him into the Champions League games and the cup games where I think there's a better chance of him getting a goal, which will also help his confidence."
Jeremie Frimpong has no future at Liverpool
Former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown recently told Football Insider that Liverpool right-back Jeremie Frimpong has "no future" at Anfield.
The Dutchman has been relegated to the bench by Iraola of late, and endured a notably difficult cameo appearance in the recent defeat to Manchester City.
Brown believes that the 25-year-old is not at "Liverpool standard" and also feels that is now becoming clear to Iraola as well.
The former recruitment man does not view Frimpong as a capable option for the Merseysiders long-term, and expects him to be replaced sooner rather than later.