Lallana wants ugly wins for Liverpool to bridge experience gap

Adam Lallana believes Liverpool must add winning ugly to their repertoire if they are to match runaway Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Jurgen Klopp’s side looked poised to mount a strong title bid after beating Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield on New Year’s Eve, but their form has collapsed alarmingly in 2017.

Three points from five winless league games leaves them outside the Champions League places in fifth – 13 points behind Antonio Conte’s side, who have continued to march on relentlessly.

Next up for Lallana and his team-mates is a crunch clash with Tottenham on Saturday and the England international acknowledges the gap in terms of experience of winning major honours between Chelsea and the rest is vast.

“You can see they have a lot of experience and that they are used to winning,” the 28-year-old told the Liverpool Echo.

“They know how to win games even when not at their best. You don’t have to always win by scoring five or six.

“Maybe that’s an area we need to improve on. We maybe need to realise how good we are at times.”

Lallana feels two-time Premier League winner James Milner can be an invaluable presence in the Anfield dressing room.

“Milly is probably the only one in our group who has that type of experience because it only comes from winning silverware like he did at Manchester City,” he added.

“Myself and the other players haven’t won titles or loads of cups so we need to learn from him and listen to him because that type of experience is vital.

“We need to learn and get back to winning ways in the league as soon as possible.”