Liverpool news: Michael Owen claims Jurgen Klopp's squad is not good enough amid inconsistent spell

The former Liverpool striker does not think his old club have enough 'top players' to compete consistently

Liverpool forwards Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke (Getty Images)

Michael Owen has criticised Liverpool’s current squad of players, claiming that not enough of them are good enough to compete at the highest level.

Jurgen Klopp’s side fell to their sixth defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday, when goals from Michail Antonio and Andy Carroll earned West Ham United’s 2-0 win.

The defeat raised questions about how much the club’s new head coach has changed his taking over at Anfield in October, following the dismissal of Brendan Rodgers.

Owen, who came up through Liverpool’s youth system and spent a total of thirteen years at the club, believes that there is only so much that Klopp can do with the current crop of sub-standard players.

"I think it highlights the importance of players - they are the same players as under Rodgers. There is a different manager but he hasn't come in and waved a magic wand,” he told BT Sport, ahead of yesterday’s defeat at Upton Park.

"Top players are top because they produce consistently good performances. There are not enough top players in that team and that's why you get some games good and some games bad. It was the same under Brendan Rodgers."

Following the loss, Klopp cut a frustrated figure and admitted that he was angry with the level of performance that he saw from his players.

"It's not a day for being disappointed, it's a day for being angry with ourselves," he said.

"In each moment of this game we could've come back but we didn't. Who wants to see 90 per cent? You can't win a football game with 90 per cent or 95. Nobody wants to see this.

“You have to do everything. We lost in decisive moments, that can happen, but you have to use your chance more."