Liverpool’s Premier League odds going into this season priced them firmly as second favourites, very much in touching distance with Manchester City.
Presently, it would take an optimistic soul to back the Reds to finish inside the top four come May.
By this simple metric, it is irrefutable that the 2019/20 league champions have dramatically under-achieved this term and perhaps with other clubs that would lead to the simple response of criticism. Criticism of Jurgen Klopp. Condemnation of the players.
Such is the unique model for success that Klopp has built at Anfield however, it’s really not as straightforward as that.
Which isn’t to say of course, that Liverpool are not deserving of negative press and indeed it could be argued that both manager and club have got a surprisingly easy ride in this regard.
Klopp, it’s been said by way of explanation for his team’s alarming slump - that at the time of writing has seen them concede two more goals after 20 games than the whole of last season - has been ‘too loyal’ to players who have previously scaled unprecedented heights.
His team meanwhile have been largely excused for their poor away form and propensity to concede first in games – to date, 12 times, equalling the entirety of last season – because they’re exhausted from chasing down Manchester City in recent campaigns, smashing the 90-point barrier on three occasions.
In short, they’re average now from being too good for their own good.
While both points are valid, when combined they equate to reasoning that a man struck out on a date because he was overly charming and it’s difficult to think of other failing sides defended in this manner.
This though is a secondary detail, and certainly from a Liverpool perspective they will do well to keep such external judgements at bay, no matter how soft-padded. What they need now, above and beyond all other considerations, are answers.
Sourcing those answers does lead us to addressing the two points above because, as stated, they are valid.
Klopp’s ways and means to create a winning football side infamously relies heavily on his players showing a ferocious intensity from the first whistle to the last and when this is replicated 38 times a year in the league alone it will inevitably have a consequence at some juncture.
This we saw during his final campaign in Germany with Borussia Dortmund when his personnel were burnt out after six years of high-intensity fare. This it seems we are witnessing again.
The solution to this is two-fold and related, with investment in new players necessary as much to allow existing players to step off the treadmill and be rested as to provide fresh impetus.
Alas, with the transfer window next opening in the summer, bringing in new blood is not an option, or at least not an option to assist the Reds in their current malaise.
🗣️ "I'm here, 100% committed."
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 13, 2023
Jurgen Klopp says he "will not go" from Liverpool! 🔴#BBCFootball #LFC pic.twitter.com/DM7c3Hy5CN
Which brings us to the other charge levelled at one of the best coaches of the modern era, that he has displayed too much faith in individuals who have excelled in prior seasons, an accusation that largely concerns his midfield roster.
It must have been enormously frustrating for Liverpool fans last summer when their club forewent the opportunity to sign a new midfielder, instead hearing their manager insist their present stock was strong and varied enough.
Because this has evidently been proven to be a costly miscalculation, with Fabinho a shadow of his former self, and Henderson and Milner each a year older and less effective.
Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Fabio Carvalho meanwhile are all extremely promising young talents but are not yet ready to boss games. Lastly, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – for differing reasons – are not up to scratch.
If Liverpool’s midfield used to be its beating heart, full of industry and endeavour, it is now its weakness and nothing can be done about this until May.
Elsewhere however, solutions do emerge, namely the long overdue resting of Mo Salah who has been in atypical form this season, his powers seemingly waning.
With Diogo Jota returning to action, and new signings Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo in need of minutes to acclimatise to the English game, this finally affords Klopp the chance to rest his usually lethal star who has come to epitomise the burnt-out theory surrounding Liverpool’s slump.
Salah has played an exorbitant and taxing number of games in recent seasons and has been off-the-pace and decidedly ordinary of late. These two truths are not unrelated.
If the Egyptian is in dire need of respite, at the back a fundamental change of approach is required, with a high line that has been one of Liverpool’s calling cards increasingly falling into disrepair.
It’s a strategy that still has its backers, who rightfully claim it was a key aspect of the club’s success under Klopp.
Yet if something is broken surely, by definition, it no longer serves a useful purpose and you have to wonder how many times Liverpool are to be undone by direct balls fired into behind Van Dijk and company before the German acknowledges this.
Cutting out silly individual defensive errors will undoubtedly help their cause too.
Taking such measures will not automatically see the Reds prominent again in the betting odds for the meaningful trophies. That will take time, a busy transfer window, and for changes to be implemented. A reset no less.
But perhaps it does explain why the media have handled their struggles with kid-gloves to this point, sympathising instead of criticising.
Because the truth is, a tweak here, a signing there, and very likely the formidable Liverpool of old will return.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 13th February 2023
