After securing their first ever Premier League title in 2019/20, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool went into the following campaign in extremely high spirits.
A successful transfer window saw Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota added to a squad that had averaged 98 points across two seasons, remarkably losing only four games along the way, and with fans rumoured to be returning soon to Anfield post-pandemic confidence was sky-high.
Only then, just four games in, disaster struck when Aston Villa trounced the champions 7-2 and if that was bad, less than a fortnight later it all got considerably worse for the Reds.
In a fractious Merseyside derby, Virgil Van Dijk succumbed to a serious injury, ruling him out for much of the season.
So seismic was this loss it swung the betting odds Manchester City’s way, and as Liverpool manfully kept apace with the Blues so their injury list lengthened.
Losing Joe Gomez and Joel Matip to long-term lay-offs left them starkly depleted at the back while all told eight first-team players missed 10-plus league games that term.
His absence could have a knock-on effect in Liverpool's squad#LFC https://t.co/H6wxCTQf8v
— Liverpool FC News (@LivEchoLFC) January 4, 2023
It was an accumulation of absences that gave rise to the notion that Liverpool are cursed with rotten luck concerning injuries, and thus experience more than other clubs, and this fallacy has somehow taken firm hold and extended to the present day.
As recently as last August, Klopp jokingly surmised there must be a ‘witch in the building’, so ravaged was his side via misfortune whereas in reality, Ibrahima Konate, Diogo Jota and the injury-prone Joel Matip were missing.
Though each were big losses it could be argued that three absences does not a crisis make.
Last season, Manchester City endured an average of three absences per game on route to winning another league title.
If Klopp routinely blames bad luck whenever a player is unavailable, others meanwhile highlight Liverpool’s high-intensity style of play and attribute that to the supposed curse.
What nobody seems to consider as a possibility however is that the Reds don’t encounter more injuries to their rivals.
That instead for one high-profile campaign only, they were hit by an above-average number of losses, an unfortunate circumstance for sure, but one that strikes every side from time to time.
Last term it struck Chelsea and then some. After lifting the Champions League the season before Thomas Tuchel’s men dropped like flies throughout 2021/22, meaning they merely limped into the top four.
In total, the Blues suffered 97 different lay-offs across the year, ranging from minor niggles to ACLs, and no other club in Europe came close to that figure.
It’s hard to recall much coverage of this extreme suffering, and while Liverpool were excused to the hills for their poor title defence, Chelsea were solely castigated for their mediocre offerings. Thomas Tuchel was sacked soon after.
Nobody of course is suggesting that Jurgen Klopp’s position should be in jeopardy, just as nobody is denying that Liverpool have struggled with costly injuries in recent years.
But to propagate the myth that their woes are exceptional and sustained is wrong.
Last term, 13 top-flight peers endured more lay-offs, while improved analytical data – courtesy of a partnership with a Californian tech firm – means Liverpool are far more in control of risk assessment than ever.
When weighing up the various Liverpool betting tips that are available, base your judgement on form and results only. Because there is no curse on Merseyside. There is merely a spraining of the truth.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 4th January 2023
