Former Liverpool forward Stan Collymore reckons that Jurgen Klopp should have swallowed his pride and kept Mamadou Sakho in the team.

The former Paris St Germain defender has been rated as one of the top defenders in the Premier League, but he has been susceptible to the odd issues off the pitch. After being involved in one such issue during pre-season,Sakho was forced out of the first team been definitely. The 27-year-old sat out of the first half of the campaign, and he was allowed to join Crystal Palace on a loan deal till the end of the season.

Collymore says that Sakho was clearly the best defender when it comes to dealing with balls in the box. However, letting him go meant that Jurgen Klopp currently has a back four which is completely unfit for this purpose. Collymore reckons that it has been one of the main factors behind the club conceding an excessive amount of goals.

Lack of defensive solidarity has been a main factor behind Liverpool being unable to compete in the Premier League title race despite having scored more goals than table leaders Chelsea. Since joining Crystal Palace on a loan deal in January,Sakho has been quite impressive and has already helped the club get back-to-back wins.

“FSG didn’t make the decision to let Mamadou Sakho, the club’s best in-box defender, go when they still needed him.That was down to Klopp, because his pride was more important than putting an arm around Sakho’s shoulder and telling him he was the best thing since sliced bread.He should have used him until the end of the season and then biffed him off. That would have been the clever thing to do. But Klopp knew better.And in booting him out of the club, he basically left himself with a back four that’s almost unfit for purpose,” said Collymore.