Sport

LIVERPOOL ARE ON THE BRINK OF CRISIS AGAIN

2017 Slump

Since the turn of the year, Liverpool have collected one less point than Everton (despite having played a game more) and conceded 10 more than Manchester United.

Jurgen Klopp’s famed heavy metal football was in full flow in the first few months of the season. On December 31 st , Liverpool had won 13 of 19 and were comfortably the league’s top scorers, a mere six points behind Chelsea. Now they are 17 points behind Antonio Conte’s champions.

Sadio Mane’s African Cup of Nations absence and subsequent injury is given a weight of responsibility for this decline. Overplayed at times, though, Liverpool have a barrage of troubles more significant than the loss of a key player. The pre-Christmas form – at the time – did not seem like a flash in the pan, it appeared to be the beginning of Klopp’s footprint on a club in dire need of an uplifting force.

Liverpool were proving their title credentials relentlessly, but their decline into the mire of a crowded top four battle leaves the all-action, free-flowing football of 2016 as nothing more than a hazy memory.

Relegation to mediocrity

Thanks to a surprisingly emphatic victory at the London Stadium on Sunday, Liverpool are a home victory over Middlesbrough from returning to the Champions League. The five-time winners have become strangers to Europe’s elite. Since their first round elimination in 2010, Anfield has witnessed Champions League football only once – in 2014/15 – and on that occasion they were knocked out at the group stage once again.

Clubs can cope with a season or two out of the Champions League, but Liverpool have suffered as a result of their hiatus. Not once have they appeared in the knockout stages of the competition since 2009, a record that serves as a reminder for a club who became regular residents between 6th and 8th aside from the shock title charge in 2013/14.

Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers all had critics, as did the board and transfer policies. Signings have been erratic and poorly judged too often at Anfield, and the risk of that continuing could yet undo the good work done by Klopp to this point. With the second half of this season having underwhelmed in a way few will have predicted in November, the former Borussia Dortmund manager is in a delicate position.

 

Target reached

Champions League qualification was the aim last August and it is all but achieved. That should make this a perfectly successful season, but there is a sour tone to the end of this campaign as Liverpool are left looking below rather than having joined Spurs in the late crusade towards Chelsea. Managers are – rightly or wrongly – often judged on their latest work. Klopp will have ticked boxes with a top four finish, yet the trend of the second half serves as a warning for where the club could be heading.

Proving they can win matches even when far from their best has been a positive given their struggles against bottom half sides, however. Klopp’s relative pragmatism is perhaps an acceptance of the need for change in personnel, but it does little to create optimism. Liverpool’s season has ridden heavily on their joyous 2016 form, and their eventual top four spot will have been secured as much by Arsenal and Manchester United’s inability to deliver as Liverpool’s own successes.

 

Changing Jurgen

Klopp’s own demeanour has altered drastically. The ever-smiling German may still be a popular figure across the footballing world, but his anger at officials, complaints about Ross Barkley’s tackle and frustration with Adam Lallana’s injury have reflected a man clearly unfulfilled. His happy-go- luck approach has become less noticeable, as the tension of a Premier League season and pressure to avoid slipping out of the top four has engulfed his enthusiasm for the sport. Not to mention his latest moan about the dryness of the pitch.

Liverpool are in desperate need of a positive summer. Klopp has watched his side come within a couple of points of a disappointing season despite such a thrilling opening couple of months. Liverpool’s dysfunctional transfer policy cannot resurface if they are to retain Klopp and hold their own in 2017/18.

 

Issues to solve

With a goalkeeper, at least one central defender, a defensive midfielder, a left-back and a striker all necessities this summer, spending is a guarantee at Anfield. Spending, though, secures nothing. Spending for the sake of it has cost Liverpool in the past and, while recent transfers have been significantly smarter, the ghosts of previous disorganised windows continue to haunt the squad. Dysfunction in the market has seen Liverpool languish for the majority of this decade. This current Liverpool squad has the skeleton of a competitive unit, but falling short or cutting costs in player recruitment will see their 2017 form extend into 2017/18.

With their top seven rivals all ready to flash their financial muscles, Liverpool’s additions must be perfect. They will not compete financially for the biggest names with Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, so the club must find a way to add suitable quality and depth that can enable them to at least hold their own.

Mediocrity looms for Liverpool again if this summer follows the familiar pattern of empty rumours and underwhelming arrivals. And, given the way this season is finishing, Klopp’s future could quickly come into question should next season start with the same issues that have unsettled 2016/17.