LIVERPOOL have had a very stop start season so far. Very similar, results wise, to last season.
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| Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have won just twice in their last eight league matches |
It was hoped that when Jurgen Klopp was appointed as manager in October that this would come to an end but, week after week, it is becoming clearer just how big a job the German has on at Anfield.
Two months after his appointment, it looked as if Klopp was going to be able to get the very best out of this Liverpool side on a consistent basis.
A 4-1 win at Manchester City, a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge and a 6-1 win against Southampton in the Capital One Cup were the standout results.
Daniel Sturridge was very briefly fit and firing and it looked as if Liverpool were strong contenders for a top four spot.
A trip to Newcastle arrived on Sunday December 6, and most people expected a thrashing for the home side after Liverpool’s fantastic away form.
Instead, a lacklustre performance saw Klopp’s side slump to a 2-0 defeat, with Georginio Wijnaldum scoring two goals which could have been easily avoided.
Since then, Klopp’s men have failed to find any consistency and nobody is ever really sure which Liverpool side will turn up on matchdays.
Injuries certainly haven’t helped. If Liverpool had had a fit Sturridge for the majority of the last two seasons then this article may well have been one of a totally different story.
Whenever he plays we are reminded of the fantastic talent that he is.
His cameo at Southampton earlier this season was a clear example of just how effective he is for the team.
He’s the perfect Liverpool striker. Half a sight of goal for him and teams will be punished.
When Luis Suarez left the club for Barcelona the summer after the strong title push, there were expectations among everyone that Sturridge would go on to become the main man for the club.
Injuries have stopped that from happening and the idea of £32m signing Christian Benteke in the summer was to have a goalscorer, with or without Sturridge available.
That hasn’t quite happened, with the Belgian struggling to find his feet at Anfield and Klopp often preferring to use Roberto Firmino as the front man.
The timing of injuries to the likes of Danny Ings, Joe Gomez, Divock Origi and Dejan Lovren have been incredibly unfortunate.
Ings in particular looked to be in fantastic form, scoring important goals for Liverpool and earning a first England cap. He’s been another huge miss.
You’d imagine that his style as a striker will be exactly what Klopp wants. A hard worker that presses well, plays on the shoulder of defences and has an eye for goal.
Gomez was reportedly scouted by Klopp’s Dortmund before Liverpool signed him in the summer.
He started his Liverpool career in fantastic form and would have been a big help in a season where the team is leaking so many soft goals.
Lovren and Origi’s injuries are not as bad, but again they came at a time where they were entering a very good period form-wise.
The pattern that has emerged, when looking at Liverpool’s results this season, is an interesting one.
The games where Liverpool have flourished have been against sides that play free-flowing, attacking football, rather like themselves.
A 1-0 win against Leicester City on Boxing Day raised some eyebrows, but the Foxes came to Anfield to play their game and to try and win it.
We also saw the same against Stoke, who now base their play around their explosive attacking players and no longer look to to sit back and wait for Liverpool to break them down. This suits Liverpool perfectly.
What doesn’t is when Liverpool play against organised teams who get in their faces.
The Reds lost 3-0 away at Watford, 2-0 at West Ham and could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to West Brom. All of these sides look to bully and outmuscle the opposition and have a lot of physical players.
When Liverpool are playing teams that look to get in their faces and stop them from playing, they struggle massively.
Manchester United aren’t the most physical side, but they don’t have the players to play through Liverpool at the moment.
Instead, they used the height of Marouane Fellaini and the physicality of their midfield to try and bulldoze their way to victory - and it worked.
Arsenal are, in most people’s opinion, the best footballing side in the league this season.
They have the best chance of winning the Premier League they’ve had for a long, long time.
Their offensive quality shone through at Liverpool, but their attacking philosophy meant there were constant gaps between their midfield and defence that Liverpool could capitalise on.
The 4-1 win over Manchester City was the same story. City's defence was weak and the gaps in their play were huge.
If Liverpool get the space they will punish you, but if they don’t they will struggle massively.
So what must be done to stop this? The first step would be to add some more physicality to the squad and there are already signs that Klopp is prioritising this.
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| Marko Grujic is awaiting his first Premier League game |
Young midfielder Marko Grujic is only 19 but stands at 6ft 3.
Joel Matip is reported to be a player the club want to bring in on a free transfer this summer, a defender who can also do a job in midfield, he is 6ft 4.
Liverpool’s defence this season has been shaky and what certainly doesn’t help is the fact Klopp can hardly ever put out the same backline in three or four successive games. The club have conceded a lot of very poor goals this season, particularly from set pieces, and while the players and staff insist they are working hard to cut these mistakes out, they have been present at the club for a long time now.
The congested fixture list doesn't help, and Liverpool’s centre backs have all had injury problems at some stage this season.
Mamadou Sakho is seen by most as the best centre back at the club, but the fact is that he can’t be relied on because of his injury record.
Klopp must decide on his best centre back pairing or bring fresh faces in to the back four.
New signings this month would help, but Klopp, like a lot of managers has explained his reluctance to do too much business in January, where clubs are often looking for extortionate fees for their players.
The addition of one or two quality players would be a welcome one though and give the players a big lift, as they head in to another crucial period.
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