After two home losses in a row shook their confidence, Liverpool were ready for a win. They were up 1-0 on Saturday night, away against Leicester City, with less than 15 minutes to go. It was exactly the kind of result they needed to boost their spirit. All they needed was to keep a clean sheet. But, as Liverpool have become accustomed to this season, nothing went according to plan. Three goals from Leicester in the match’s final 12 minutes sealed their fate.
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Now, the Reds are 13 below table leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand. So, how did the 2019-20 EPL champions go from celebrating the end of their 20-year title drought, to dropping further down the table each week this season? We break it down.
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INJURIES GALORE: The biggest and most obvious blow to Liverpool’s performance has been the absence of Virgil Van Dijk, due to a season-ending ACL tear. The award-winning centre-back provides a huge amount of support to the team’s fullbacks and allows them to charge forward without fear of leaving the defensive line vulnerable to attack. Now, without the intimidatingly good Van Dijk looming tall against their enemies, the Reds’ fullbacks — chiefly Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson — no longer have the confidence they used to, to roam freely and play wherever the wind blows them.
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EXPECTATIONS AND PRESSURE: You always hear stories of underdogs fighting tooth and nail, while more established teams falter and fumble. If you’re wondering why, it’s a little thing called high expectations. And it almost never produces the kind of results you wish for. For Liverpool (and Jurgen Klopp), winning the League last season after a decades-long drought put a huge amount of pressure on them to maintain their position. Psychologically speaking, high expectations can lead to anxiety, under performing, depleted confidence and magnified feelings of failure. Ironically, those who have ‘nothing to lose’ usually play the most intuitively, while those who have ‘everything to lose’ might let their mental blocks get the best of them.
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COVID-19: Not only did the pandemic impact sports — and football — as a whole, but it also hit Liverpool as a team quite hard. Several of their biggest goal-scorers tested positive, including Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita. Xherdan Shaqiri and Thiago Alcantara were also ill. These players had to be off the squad for two weeks, but it could go deeper than that. Covid-19 symptoms don’t necessarily disappear after the 14-day isolation period, and can have longer term effects, including on breathing and stamina, which are crucial to any athlete.
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STRATEGY UNCOVERED: There’s only so long that one can keep their cards close to their chest. And after nearly six years with Liverpool — and ever since establishing himself as a real threat to other teams — Klopp’s tactics seem to be hung up on a laundry rack for all to see. It’s not Klopp’s fault that his side’s opponents have learned his strategies, and can therefore anticipate and thwart them. It’s the same reason Mo Salah has never scored as many goals for Liverpool as he did in his first season — people know how he plays now.
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NEW PLAYERS: Newer players have been having a tough time adjusting to their new team. In addition, the existing team requires time, practice and patience to acclimate to new additions. Diogo Jota, one of Liverpool’s most promising new signings, is out with an injury. But Ozan Kabak, on loan from Schalke, was one of the main reasons Liverpool lost on Saturday, after a miscommunication between him and goalkeeper Allison Becker cost the Reds a goal in a hard-to-watch fashion.
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PERSONAL ISSUES: There are things that are bigger than football and bigger than sports. One of those things is family. Jurgen Klopp suffered a huge loss last week, when his mother, Elisabeth Klopp, died in Germany at the age of 81. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions during the pandemic, Klopp was unable to fly home for the funeral on Tuesday. “She meant everything to me. She was a real mum in the best sense of the word,” said Klopp. No doubt that losing a loved one is an indescribable grief and requires time to heal — and Klopp will need to be afforded the time to do that, too.
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