Where do Liverpool go from here?

Saturday was a huge disappointment but Liverpool simply don't have the engine to keep up with top sides away from home, nor to sustain a high level of intensity throughout ninety minutes of football

After several weeks of nonstop university work, I’ve finally found the time to write about Liverpool, even though there is an exam to be revising for- so this won’t be the longest piece, more a quick overview of how I see things at the moment, and a few observations from the City game. I will try and do a writeup about the Chelsea game as well, if I can.

I keep saying that we are seeing two different Liverpool teams, not least a team that beats Man United 7-0 then loses to Bournemouth 1-0 a week later, but also two different teams in two different halves of the same game. One team, the team of the first half against City, the first half against Madrid, the second half against Man United, is what we are rebuilding towards as to achieve those levels more consistently, and the other team, the one that came out for the second half against City, are incredibly painful to watch (perhaps more painful to watch than any Liverpool team I’ve seen before, in the sense that we know how good they can be), but are also the team Jurgen Klopp will essentially be ripping up.

Ripping up doesn’t mean replacing the whole XI, it means replacing the engine, which is clearly broken. Unfortunately, the engine cannot be fixed immediately, especially not with two billion injuries a week- which is why I don’t think the Reds can make top four this season. The injury pileup this season has been a joke, and you can’t keep pulling off miracles time after time.

However, none of this excuses what was an abysmal second half in every sense. Jittery defending, poor tackling/unnecessary defending, an awful team shape, a dire lack of energy, sloppy passing, and very little threat going forward, that second half was about as depressing as it gets. Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson in particular, had horror shows. There is a pretty good chance the international break had something to do with that, and this isn’t my observation, it’s Paul Tomkins’, but it’s a harsh reality- if these players don’t have the energy to start every game for club and country, they have to retire from their national team, or suffer the consequences in their club football, whether that means fewer starts, or even being replaced permanently.

Robertson goes from what I hear was a superb performance in the win against Spain, to not being to put a decent ball in and spending the entire game being skinned by Mahrez, as well as being caught out for the first goal. Van Dijk was also poor for the opener; he should have shown Mahrez down the line to hold up the play, unless he didn’t back himself in a footrace, which only further proves the original point.

Grealish and Mahrez looked like the speedy kids in PE football who toy with the fat kids who get picked last, or in my personal experience, a fully developed man tormenting an undeveloped 16-year-old right back playing u19 football.

The Reds’ looked petrified to make a tackle, which meant that when they did, they were just fouling or getting skipped past. Paradoxically, more aggression can lead to better tackling, whereas lack of aggression and jittery, leave a leg out defending, leads to more fouls.

But speaking of fouls, I did lose my voice yelling at Simon Hooper the party pooper, who decided not to give Rodri a second yellow card, for something he had given him a first yellow card for just two minutes earlier. What drives me crazy with these referees isn’t so much making a decision I don’t agree with, or perhaps making a big call that’s controversial but at least subjective, it’s the doing nothing. Big decision, in a big game, the easy thing to do? Absolutely nothing. ‘City end up tonking Liverpool, so there’s no limelight on me, the managers won’t shout at me, and the press will have forgotten all about it.’

It's the inconsistency. How can something be a yellow card one minute, and then two minutes later, the exact same offence not be a yellow. “I’m going to charge you for the first murder I saw, but not the second one I saw two minutes later. I’m charging you for the first one, so there’s not point acknowledging the second one.”

Liverpool may not have even gotten a result against ten men, but when confidence has wilted, important players are unavailable, available players are off form, and you’re up against a top class side, you can’t also legislate for crap decisions. Fabinho and Trent should have been booked too, but that would have been a first yellow. I’m arguing that Rodri should have had a second yellow card and there’s no whataboutery that can change my stance on that. He does it regularly, he is a master of the dark arts, and you can see that he realises he’s going to get sent off (because he always takes the booking on autopilot) and tries to pull away, but it’s too late. Well, it should have been too late.

I’m sick and tired of referees just doing nothing when it’s a big decision in a big game. Kane’s red card last season, the penalty in the same game, the Rodri (again) handball against Everton, the Jota handball against Arsenal this season. I was absolutely amazed when City’s goal in the reverse fixture got disallowed, even though it was the right decision.

Anyway, back to the engine- with the injuries we have, I just don’t think there’s enough power left to mount a crazy run that will see us break into the top four. I think the reason Liverpool are so much better at home is that it’s less demanding physically, because naturally, the Reds control the game more. Another problem is that when they concede they don’t fight back, they do the opposite, but at home, it’s easier because they have the crowd behind them, although Madrid was a freak exception. Newcastle could also be considered an ‘exception’, but the Reds capitalised on a good start, and then actually did a pretty rubbish job of controlling the game, but Newcastle had ten men (hmm, perhaps that would have been useful on Saturday) and weren’t clinical.

As for next season, new midfielders will be added- we have an excellent manager when it comes to making signings. I do think it is underestimated how brilliant Klopp is at buying the right players. One of the only positives to come out of Saturday was the performance of Cody Gakpo, who I thought was outstanding. When Klopp brings players in, they nearly always have a positive impact, and he will be bringing in several players in the summer. What also must be remembered is that new players could improve the form of some of the players around them; players who have struggled this season. It’s a bit of an extreme example, but one only has to look at Granit Xhaka, who looked rubbish for about four or five seasons before finally coming good with the right team around him.

We don’t need to make one thousand signings like Chelsea (no one needs that. I said that Potter was an idiot for taking that job at the time, and here we are), we need a few smart signings in key areas. I would say two to three midfielders, another centre back, and potentially a left back. If Brendan Rodgers was in charge of making those signings, I would be worried, but we have, I think, the best manager in the world when it comes to recruitment.

This club has not made top four before, and they survived- if they don’t make it this season, they will survive again, and come back stronger. I’m also extraordinarily sick and tired of the majorly cliched argument that players don’t join clubs who haven’t finished on the top four. How many huge (although not successful) signings have Manchester United made whilst in the Europa League. Didn’t Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who was/is running out of opportunities to win his first Champions League) join United when they were in the Europa League? Yes, there was the added incentive of loads of cash, but are you telling me Bellingham is even more arrogant than they are?

Even if he is, Klopp wouldn’t be interested in a player with that mentality. Jude Bellingham is younger than me- he has plenty of time to play Champions League football. Of course, he wouldn’t want to stay at a club that repeatedly failed to make top four, but Liverpool aren’t that club (at least not yet!), there’s still an outside chance that they make top four this season, although I doubt it.

Liverpool failed to land Tchouameni last season, and decided not to go for anyone else. If they fail to land Bellingham this time around, they won’t make that mistake again. The impatience of football fans is uncanny; you can’t have one poor season, even if it comes after several years of glory and greatness.

There are several fantastic players to build the team around. I love the Tomkins’ analogy that Liverpool have a Ferrari, but the engine is broken. Unfortunately, I cannot put it any better myself. At half time against City, we seemed to fill our Ferrari with water instead of fuel. Over the summer, the engine will be fixed, and come August, the Reds will be raring to go.