How the mighty have fallen
It really shows how much we’ve dropped off a cliff when after just losing to Brighton for the second time in a fortnight we’re looking for positives from it – At least we didn’t get pumped like last time, at least we created a chance or two, at least we didn’t concede early again etc. It’s really quite sad when you think about it.
Klopp stuck with the same team that played out a drab scoreless draw with Chelsea last week and once again, persisted with playing the totally ineffective Gakpo through the middle and shunting Harvey out to the left.
To be fair, we weren’t terrible first half. Harvey got his goal and Salah should have done much better when sent clean through on goal, only to see his poorly struck shot drift harmlessly wide. Can anyone remember the last time Salah had a good game? I certainly can’t and if I’m in that dressing room, I’d really be questioning why he’s been paid twice as much as everyone else. He’s done nothing for the best let of a year now.
We were susceptible to Brighton attacks though, with Trent picking up where he left off two weeks ago against Mitoma – barely making any effort to stop him at all and then sulked when he was subbed. We’ve seen a fair bit of sulking from Trent this season but he wants to give his head a wobble as he’s been one of the poorest players in what has been a very poor side this season.
Second half Klopp rang the changes and once again inexplicably played our £85 million CF wide left, while playing our £37 million left winger through the middle, despite him publicly coming out this week and saying he feels much more comfortable playing from the left. Can anyone understand this decision making from Klopp because it has me totally stumped. It’s not been in any way effective, the few chances we had created to that point dried up and Brighton looked increasingly threatening.
Speaking of threatening, we were doing our best to get a red card with both Konate and Fabinho extremely lucky to stay on the pitch and Robbo could have got his marching orders late on as well. Fabinho’s in particular was an especially poor challenge and looking at the replays I can’t understand what he was thinking. He’s been so poor this season and I’m starting to wonder if it would be worth letting him go to try and raise some extra funds for what is looking like an increasingly major summer rebuild by the week.
Yes we have injuries, Diaz, Van Dijk, Bobby etc. but they were all available at the start of the season and our form wasn’t any better then than it is now. Jota has been a big miss but having missed the best part of a year, he’s not going to be up to speed any time soon and same goes for Diaz, whom I suspect it will be next season before we see the best of him again. As for Bobby, who knows. His “minor” injury has now kept him out for nine games, with no talk of an imminent return.
I’ve given up trying to come with the answers this season. We just look an extremely average team now, regardless who plays and Klopp seems to have lost the plot with the way he’s setting up our forward line. It hasn’t even looked close to clicking the last few weeks but we just keep persisting with it.
At the rate we’re going, our season is going to be over by the end of next month, I’ll be absolutely amazed if we get a result against Madrid and at this point, the big worry is that the tie will end in utter humiliation. We’re still talking about top four but the sad fact is, at the moment Brighton look a better team than us and there’s nothing in our form that suggests the kind of run we’d need to secure top four is imminent and the lack of serious movement in the transfer window shows a distinct lack of ambition from FSG for this season in my opinion.
I’ll never say never while Liverpool are in Europe but this season is looking increasingly like a write off and to be saying that in January is a damning indictment of the squad but it’s where we’re at.
Wolves next then. Again. Bloody Brighton and Wolves every second week for a month, and we’ve only managed one win out of four games against them so far. Who knows what team will turn up for that game or god forbid Klopp might play our forwards in their natural positions and give them a chance.
In hindsight I probably should have waited a while before writing this as I’ve just got angrier as the article has gone on but the club seems to be in utter disarray at the moment, from boardroom to boot room and it’s difficult to feel optimistic at the moment. It really is a case of just trying to weather the storm, try not to embarrass ourselves too much and limp along to the summer, at which point if there isn’t a statement transfer window from FSG, then I think it really will be time for them to move on. We’ve been badly left behind this season and without serious investment, that gap is only going to get wider.
I’m not picking a McMOTM for this game as I don’t really think anyone was worthy of it so I’ll leave the rest of you to pick the bones of our latest defeat and decide McMOTM for yourselves. Walk on!
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