Perhaps Liverpool’s loss to Wolves (0-3) at the Molineux Stadium (4/2/23) was not too surprising. The reason is, Liverpool’s performance in the last few matches, or this season is generally not very convincing. Liverpool have conceded 27 goals in 20 matches. Then, have never won in the last five matches in the Premier League.
Liverpool are stuck in 10th place in the Premier League standings. Two opportunities to win trophies have disappeared from the hands of Moh Salah and friends. The only real opportunity is the European Champions League, but the situation is complicated when you consider Liverpool’s performance so far.
Liverpool have fallen sharply in Jurgen Klopp’s seventh season as coach. It is very difficult to judge Klopp as one of the main reasons for Liverpool’s decline. The most obvious is the cause of the squad change which led to a change in team play. Klopp’s orientation in buying players is not much different from his playing philosophy, gegenpressing, especially strikers such as Darwing Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Luiz Diaz who were bought in the last season.
That seems to only apply to the front line. In which case, when Sadio Mane chose to leave for Bayern Munich, Klopp closed the hole left by buying Darwin Nunez from Benfica. Unfortunately, Nunez did not appear consistently until the middle of this season. Then, Klopp bought Gakpo from PSV to strengthen his line of attack. However, even that step still stuck, in which of the 6 matches played by Gakpo, not a single goal or assist has been recorded.
Apparently, Liverpool’s game is not entirely determined by the front lines. The midfield is one of the lame lines at Liverpool. Fabinho, who is usually crowned as anchor midfielder, is in a slump. His speed decreases when blocking the opponent’s counterattack.
Same with Thiago. In addition to the problem of injuries that sometimes haunt the Spanish national team players, it is also a matter of speed in responding to tactical demands. Thiago is indeed good at controlling the flow of the ball and controlling the tempo of the game.
However, his weakness is physical in serving the team’s fast game. So, when Liverpool counterattacked, the midfielders often lost quickly to the movements of the forward players. As a result, there is a big hole between the attackers and the midfielders. In the match against Wolves, Klopp played Thiago, B. Bajcetic and N. Keita in the midfield. However, all three lost fast and competed with Wolves midfielders and attackers.
Klopp has not closed the hole in midfield by buying a strong midfielder who can act as a link between the lines. Bellingham was indeed targeted, but that was just a rumor without any definite clarity. It was also quite strange when Liverpool brought Arthur from Juventus. The Brazilian midfielder failed to contribute to the team, and was instead stuck with a long injury.
In addition, Liverpool also did not find a replacement for the injured Roberto Firmino. Among the trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino, Firmino often plays the role of providing the ball for Mane and Salah. His position as a center forward and sometimes playing a little behind Salah and Mane helped create chances. Even Firmino often scores goals for the team.
Darwin and Gakpo are more of a direct attacker. They also need midfielders who can supply the ball, and not strikers like Salah who can penetrate or Firmino. Not surprisingly, Nunez and Gakpo became ineffective because neither midfielder really knew their character. So, the main cause of Liverpool’s decline is the character of the players who no longer match the character of the team’s play. The players do not fully answer the coach’s tactics.
Even though there were efforts to regenerate, the players bought failed to answer Klopp’s demands and did not match the actual needs of the team. It was proven, when Liverpool bought Gakpo instead of looking for a midfielder who could help the roles of Thiago and Fabinho in the midfield.
In the winter transfer, Klopp failed to find a player who could become a midfielder who could connect the midfield or front line. The solution really depends on the current squad. Klopp may need to work on changing the team’s game, as well as changing the roles of the players.
Salah is often played as a right striker. Wrong’s strengths are short and deadly passes in the opponent’s defense area. Also, Salah has a qualified dribble quality. Klopp can use Salah as a hole striker behind two strikers like Gakpo and Darwin. His role is as a supplier of the ball and creator of the chances for Gakpo or Nunez in midfield. With this, Salah became the link between the midfielders and the front lines.
Of course, this role can happen if the coach wants to change the player’s role and also the player accepts the role. It can be close the gaping hole because the midfielders don’t seem to be responding to the needs of a Jurgen Klopp-style counter-attack system.
Liverpool’s slump has reasons that the winter transfer window failed to address. The solution depends on Klopp’s courage to change the role of players according to the conditions and weaknesses of the team.
ASL
