Liverpool
Trending
Liverpool currently occupy a position inside the top-four but only just. Recently they made light work of their Merseyside rivals Everton and have won three of their last four games in the Premier League. They would appear to be one of the favourites for a Champions League spot come season’s end.
Yet too often this season have Liverpool constructed a mountain for themselves to climb. Their problem isn’t against facing direct rivals vying for the trophy, it is the teams nearer the other end of the table. Hypothetically if you were to fashion a league made out of the top six sides currently in England, Liverpool would be runaway leaders.
Four of Liverpool’s five defeats in the league this season have come against sides who started the match in the relegation zone, most recently their hammering at the hands of a Ranieri-less Leicester. During the opening stages of the season, the Reds played exhilarating football.
Their defence was certainly porous as it has been nearly all season, but at that stage, it did not matter. They were simply able to outscore their opponents. Yet this should have been seen as foreshadowing. Liverpool play with an energy-sapping intensity that was bound to slow them down at some point.
When that happened and they found themselves unable to break through defences at will, they lacked a plan B to overcome it. They do not possess the adaptability of teams such as Chelsea and Tottenham. They will continue to hammer on a door that simply won’t budge rather than look for the open window around the side of the house.
Simply enforcing their style of play has often run them into the ground only to be picked off by teams such as Bournemouth and Burnley.
During the earlier stages of the season, players such as Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino left defenders in their wake. Their relentless drive was orchestrated via their dynamic Brazilian wizard Philippe Coutinho, a player who possesses the ability to land a football on a tee from fifty yards.
At one point they looked nailed on to break the one-hundred goal barrier for the season as superlatives were thrown around in regards to their displays of attacking talent. Now though, such an achievement appears unreachable. Since Coutinho’s lengthy lay off and Sadio Mane’s return from a heartbreaking AFCON, the team appear unable to click.
Their cohesive fluidity had deserted them, replaced by stray balls peppered across the field and a general lack of sharpness in the final third.
Whilst their attacking displays have slowly begun to improve as Coutinho once more finds form, their defence must be reconstructed during the summer transfer window. Numerous times it has been stated that Liverpool do not possess a goalkeeper of their direct rivals’ calibre.
When people look to the best men between the sticks on these shores they think of David De Gea, Hugo Lloris or Thibaut Courtois. Certainly not Simon Mignolet or Loris Karius. Costly mistakes through a lack of communication between the goalie and defenders have thwarted Liverpool’s chances of winning the title time and again this season.
Confidence in players such as Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan is most certainly low and hardly instils reassurance in the fans. Jurgen Klopp opts to assign James Milner as a makeshift left-back and station Lucas Leiva, a player who has no right of being there, at the heart of defence.
There is a certain amount of positivity in the acquisition of Joel Matip who is certainly a decent signing but Liverpool will need to once more recruit in the summer to build upon a threadbare defensive unit.
Liverpool’s upcoming fixtures are fairly daunting on the face of it. Their next game comes against a Bournemouth team who beat them at the death thanks to a goal from Chelsea loanee Nathan Ake, and further games against a resurgent Crystal Palace and a compact West Brom could further hinder Liverpool’s top four aspirations.
Liverpool must show they can adapt and harbour a strong mentality if they are to find themselves in the Champions League next season.
Chances of a top four finish - 7/10
