What went wrong for Liverpool?

• Liverpool just lost to Brighton as they recorded a poor start to the season
• They currently sit ninth in the table, just below Brentford.
• SportsLeo looks at what went wrong for Liverpool.

Liverpool has hit rock bottom, or so it seems.

After being humiliated by Brentford and fortuitously drawing a heavily rotated Wolves side at Anfield (with a significant assist from VAR), the prospect of facing Brighton away from home seemed like the ultimate doomsday scenario for Liverpool.

And so it turned out. Before a ball was kicked, every aspect of Saturday’s 3-0 demolition was utterly predictable.

SportsLeo looks at what went wrong for Liverpool.

The midfield problem

Liverpool players in discussion in a past match against Fulham.|PHOTO: Getty Images|

Although Liverpool desperately needs midfield reinforcements, this does not fully explain why so many of their performances this season have been so poor.

After all, this is a team comprised of players who have won everything there is to win in club football. Some of them are past their prime and lack the dynamism they once possessed, but this is still undeniably a Liverpool squad with a wealth of talent and experience. Yet, they’ve become a team without an identity that performs far below the sum of its parts.

Being demolished by Brentford and Brighton should not be a formality, yet these outcomes have been incredibly predictable.

When Liverpool was at their best under Klopp, everything they did was supported by a strong, intense, dynamic midfield unit that pressed and harried opponents, providing a solid platform for the front three and full-backs to do their damage.

They could pin teams back so far that they couldn’t even get out of their final third before giving up possession and allowing Liverpool to build their next attack. It was a process of constant suffocation, and it worked brilliantly.

What we’re seeing now, game after game is unrecognizable as a Klopp squad.

The midfield is slow and sluggish, consistently finishing second in 50-50 duels and picking up loose balls. They are bypassed without even making a challenge, leaving the defence brutally exposed – which is a big reason why Liverpool has gone down 1-0 in well over half of their games this season, and often reasonably early on.

Poor squad planning

Sadio Mane left Liverpool for Bayern Munich.|PHOTO: Getty Images|

Liverpool’s current predicament was entirely avoidable.

Liverpool was arguably the most appealing project for prospective signings in world football in the summer of 2020 after winning the Premier League and the Champions League in consecutive seasons.

They’d reached the sport’s pinnacle and built a platform to kick on and cement their status as a consistent challenger for the most significant honours after several years of meticulous planning on and off the pitch.

Liverpool cannot be accused of resting on their laurels and allowing things to become stale in the forward department.

In defence, Liverpool found a capable replacement for Andy Robertson in Kostas Tsimikas and one of Europe’s best young centre-backs in Ibrahima Konate. Calvin Ramsay could also be a valuable addition, but it’s difficult to say with so little game time.

The arrival of Konate was perhaps a year too late, given the shambles that occurred in 2021/22 when Liverpool went into the season with only three senior centre-backs and ended up losing all of them to injury. Still, the Frenchman demonstrated his credentials in his debut season and has all the tools to succeed.

For whatever reason, however, Liverpool hasn’t followed the same approach in midfield.

Drop in individual performances

Salah has not had the best of performances for Liverpool this season.|PHOTO: Getty Images|

Regarding Liverpool’s midfield options today, there are issues almost everywhere you look. Jordan Henderson’s best days are clearly behind him, while Fabinho’s levels have plummeted dramatically. Curtis Jones hasn’t delivered (injuries haven’t helped), James Milner is 37 and on the verge of retirement, and Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can’t be relied on and are both out of contract in the summer.

Ultimately, the cumulative impact of consistently ignoring the midfield over several transfer windows is the most critical factor in why Liverpool is where they are. It just so happens that it has taken until now to expose that fact in the most heinous way imaginable.

Rather than seizing the opportunity to cement their position at the top, Liverpool allowed themselves to fall back into the chasing pack and, this season, off a cliff. It remains to be seen how long it will take them to recover and whether their lack of spending will change depending on the outcome of a potential ownership takeover.