MY ACCOUNT
Liverpool are enduring a tough season and Jurgen Klopp needs to turn things around fast.
The Reds sit ninth in the Premier League table, 10 points off the top four and 19 behind league leaders Arsenal.
They have also lost each of their last two top-flight matches — at Brentford and Brighton — conceding three times on both occasions.
Ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea, we take a look at the Merseysiders’ issues and how they can fix them.
A complex problem
Klopp has insisted that he has no plans to step down, despite Liverpool’s poor league form and that more January signings may not be the answer to his side’s struggles.
The German boss, 55, said: “Either the manager’s position changes or a lot of other things change. So, as far as I am concerned, unless someone tells me, I will not go.
“So that means maybe there is a point where we have to change other stuff. We will see but that is something for the future. Like summer or whatever. Not now.
“I have space and time to think about it. We have to play better football now.
“I am loyal [to my players]. I think everybody should be loyal but I am not too loyal.
“The problem is too complex. You have a good player who did a lot of good things in the past and then in your mind [you think] maybe that’s it for him.
“If you can, then go out and bring in another player to replace [him] — that makes sense. [But] if you cannot bring anybody in, you cannot bring anybody out. That is the situation.”
The ex-Borussia Dortmund coach will at least have been buoyed by his team’s 1-0 FA Cup victory at Wolves on Tuesday night, though his players will need to greatly improve on that performance in Premier League fixtures before confidence returns to Anfield.
Wasteful
The good news for Liverpool fans is that their side are still creating plenty of good opportunities — the bad news is that they are not taking enough of them.
Missing a large volume of big chances is not unusual for teams that create at a high rate. After all, Manchester City and Manchester United both rank inside the league’s bottom four for this metric.
However, Klopp’s men are missing significantly more than their counterparts. The Reds have squandered 44 big chances, which is the most in the division and 10 more than the second-highest tally of 34, recorded by both City and Newcastle.
That would be palatable if the ratio of significant opportunities converted to those missed was closer together but it is not. The Anfield outfit have scored just 16 of their 60 big chances.
Keeping composure
Liverpool’s collective profligacy is reflected in the numbers of their key forwards.
Marquee summer signing Darwin Nunez has missed a league-high 15 big chances, converting just four, while talisman Mohamed Salah has failed to convert 12 of his 17 such opportunities.
Both players are getting into good positions and are being found by team-mates, they just need to show more composure in front of goal.
The pair’s quality is not in question but the Merseysiders need their star duo to gain confidence and belief, whether that comes from repetition on the training ground or a couple of morale-boosting goals in their next few games.
Costly mistakes
Liverpool have conceded 25 Premier League goals this season, a number that does not appear to be overly concerning at first glance.
However, the underlying data paints a far more worrying picture.
The Reds have kept just four clean sheets — only Southampton, West Ham and Leeds have managed fewer. The former two are in the relegation zone and the latter are just two points better off.
In some ways, Klopp will feel his side have been harshly punished when they have made mistakes.
They have made four errors leading to a goal — only Tottenham have made more (six) — but those have come from a total of just seven errors leading to a shot.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have made the same number of total mistakes (seven) but have only conceded once from those situations.
Sloppy defending
Bad luck is an excuse that can only carry Liverpool so far, however.
The reigning FA Cup and Carabao Cup winners are famed for their pressing prowess but they currently rank joint-13th in the Premier League for possessions won in the attacking third. That is level with Southampton on 86, 36 behind City’s total of 122, the highest in the competition.
Furthermore, the Reds sit 15th in the league for challenges lost, with 121. As players lose their duels, they are taken out of the game and the team’s solidity is compromised, leaving gaps in the defence.
Liverpool are losing key battles across the pitch and the knock-on effect is clear. Every one of the 25 goals they have conceded have come from shots taken inside the box. Newcastle, who boast the best defence in the league this term, have only shipped 10 such goals.
It is difficult to pinpoint the root cause of these alarming numbers. It could be that fatigue after a long 2021-22 campaign is dulling the players’ ability to press with aggression, or it may be that the spaces between defence, midfield and attack are too large and the team must be more compact.
Whether Klopp changes the way his side defends to combat tiring legs, or uses time on the training ground to tighten up their shape, change must come quickly if they are to have any chance of salvaging something from this Premier League campaign.
