Lambert tipped to prise open defences

Rickie Lambert will enable Liverpool to break down dogged opposition defensive performances at Anfield, according to former boss Roy Evans.

Given Liverpool’s attacking clout and the club’s stature in the global game, rival Premier League sides tend to sit back when they visit the red half of Merseyside in the hope of grinding out a result.

But Evans thinks that the close-season arrival of burly forward Lambert from Southampton gives manager Brendan Rodgers a different attacking outlet to combat that.

Evans, who was in charge between 1994 and 1998, told the club’s official website: “When teams come to Anfield this season to ‘park the bus’, which they are quite entitled to do, Lambert will give us another option to break them down.

“I’m not saying we should start going long and pumping balls forward, but if you can get down the flanks and get quality balls into the box then Rickie is the type of guy who can put the ball in the back of the net for you.

“He is good in the air, good in and around the box and he’s a player that takes his chances when they come.

“I just feel he gives us good options and obviously with us being back in the Champions League – and hopefully we will be back there for quite a while – you need a bigger squad.”

Boyhood Liverpool fan Lambert, born within 10 miles of Anfield, scored 13 goals in 37 league appearances for Southampton last season and recently returned from the FIFA World Cup with England.