In the 2021/2022 season, Liverpool was two games away from immortality, winning the quadruple, and achieving the seemingly impossible. A season later, they can barely win football matches. For a team that has had 90+ points three times in the last five seasons, played three champions league finals and won seven cups, it’s a sad decline. What went wrong? Pundits think the following are Liverpool’s major problems:
An Aging Squad
Liverpool has too many players aged over 30. Virgil Van Dijk, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Joel Matip, Mo Salah, Firmino, Thiago Alcantara. Players this age are not reliable and shouldn’t be key players in your team. And when they are, they should have quality replacements. Many of these players are injured more often than not, and this affects the team’s performance. It’s troubling that James Milner still plays for Liverpool.
Some players are shadows of their former selves
Some players, like Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, and Mo Salah, are just not ticking like they used to. Fabinho seems to have lost his legs. He can’t run. He can’t turn. And when key players in key positions are a shadow of themselves, the team just can’t perform.
The Van Dijk Problem
Since the Champions League final in May 2022, Virgil Van Dijk, once the rock of the Liverpool defence, touted as one of the best defenders in the world, has been terrible. That’s just the truth. The man is stiff. It’s probably down to some injuries or just his lazy style of defending. I’ve never seen him fall to the ground to tackle. Never wants to get dirty. Terrible.
The Trent Alexander-Arnold Problem
I’ve mentioned Trent among those who are shadows of their former selves. But he still deserves another mention. He is a cause for serious concern. Also, he probably never knew how to defend all this time, and has been covered by a good team or he has somehow lost all his ability to stop even the most random of players from getting past him. He has cost the Liverpool team a time too many.
What’s the Solution?
Well, the silver lining in all of this is that Jurgen Klopp is still the manager. He has to solve the mess that began under his watch. Some old legs will be going out the door this summer (Firmino, Milner, Chamberlain, Matip) and the like of Nunez, Gakpo, and Bajcetic have shown they have talent that can be fine-tuned. Klopp has to go back to the drawing board and come back better next season.
