The new year has been a disastrous one for Liverpool up until now. After finishing the year so well against Man City, their form has been spiralling down with each passing game. The Sunderland game looked like a one-off at that point in time, given they had only one day off before it. But, it doesn’t seem like that now. They have been knocked out of the League Cup, the FA Cup, and now almost certainly from the title race.

The draw against Chelsea showed glimpses of the pressing and fluid football that Liverpool were appreciated a lot for early on in the season. But Saturday’s loss against Hull City wiped all of that.

Klopp’s underestimation of the league’s quality

When you talk about a team that puts so much effort into every game, it is natural there will be minor bumps along the way. But exhibiting pathetic football for an entire month will always raise questions. Jurgen Klopp got a trial season last year. There were no expectations, given that he is prepared for this one. But the more we look at Liverpool, the more we see his lack of understanding as to what it takes to succeed in England.

He played the similar brand of football in Germany, and was immensely successful. Klopp seems to have assumed that he can follow the same brand of football and management to succeed. But the Bundesliga has a winter break. They get a month to recover, hence don’t need to use the January window much. England, on the other hand have double the amount of fixtures instead of that.

Klopp has stayed in England long enough to realise how physically demanding the English football calendar is. When he has fresh legs in his team, there is no stopping them, but they just don’t seem to have decent options on the bench to rest their top players.

The lack of quality in the squad

There is no denying that Liverpool don’t have a squad of the same quality as Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City or Manchester United. Liverpool’s brilliant start to the season came as a surprise to many, including their fans themselves. Sadio Mane has been a sensational signing, no doubt. Klopp knew that he would be gone for a month in January. It must baffle the fans that he did not care to find players to make for the loss of his best player this season.

Philippe Coutinho’s injury has also exposed the lack of bench strength at Liverpool. They have the likes of Sheyi Ojo, Ben Woodburn and Ovie Ejaria on the bench as attackers, who don’t have even 15 appearances in top-flight football combined. He has absolutely no one to call upon if Coutinho or Mane need to be taken off. He ends up pushing Adam Lallana to the wing where he has clearly struggled in the past.

Liverpool have been linked with the likes of Julian Brandt and Christian Pulisic. Why not show some ambition and go for them now? Why does he want to wait till the summer? It’s not like their asking price will go down. Dimitri Payet left West Ham this January. It was shocking that Liverpool didn’t even try to get him knowing their position.

Defence still the biggest concern

Liverpool have struggled defensively for quite a few years now. It was a problem under Brendan Rodgers, and is surely still a problem under the German. Joel Matip has been a fantastic addition to the team. The fans early on in the season were hoping that a potential Matip-Sakho partnership will stop the leak in their defence. But Sakho’s disciplinary issues have not helped the team much. Dejan Lovren, Ragnar Klavan don’t look like a player who could be part of a Premier League winning back-line.

It is surprising that Klopp didn’t go for a defender in this window, given the best defender in the team wasn’t part of his plans anymore. When you have good defenders like Jonathan Tah available, it sounds a bit illogical when one still chooses to play Lucas and Klavan instead. The goalkeeper situation is also a frustrating one for the fans. Klopp’s decision to buy Loris Karius hasn’t worked up until now. Whereas Simon Mignolet continues to drop points for Liverpool. 

Klopp’s squad selection questionable

Emre Can has had a horrible time this season. After many impressive performances last season, he has just not lived up to the expectations. It can happen to any footballer. But Klopp’s continuous perseverance has affected the overall performance of the team. Gini Wijnaldum has been much better than Can, and it is confusing seeing him sit on the bench while the German continues to underperform.

Klopp’s lack of substitutions in the games where they are struggling clearly demonstrates his lack of ideas, resulting from the lack of options. Against Hull, he waited for 70 minutes to bring Daniel Sturridge on. Liverpool then started hoofing balls into the box. If that is what Klopp wanted to do, why was Origi not brought on instead?

What next for Liverpool?

Jurgen Klopp has solved the problem of a busy fixture list, although unintentionally. With only the league to concentrate on, Klopp can make no excuses from here on. They need to get back to their high standards. Mane and Coutinho’s return would be huge boost. 

Passion is great, it can help you a great deal, but Liverpool need to find some grit and robustness if they want to finish in the top 4. Man City and Arsenal won’t keep doing them favours every week. Sooner rather than later they will find themselves away from the 4th place if they don’t end their slump.

Image courtesy: The Indian Express