This Saturday lunchtime (28th January) Liverpool lost 2-1 at home in the FA Cup fourth round to championship side Wolves. This has followed two consecutive home defeats to Swansea in the league and then to Southampton in the EFL Cup semifinal second leg.
What was
It is important to mention that at the end of 2016 Liverpool were flying high. As stated on the Fotmob website, after the 1-0 victory over Manchester City on New Year's Eve, Liverpool were in the semi-finals of the League Cup, were pushing Chelsea at the top of the league and had lost once since August.
So the question is, what is going wrong with Liverpool?
The problems for Liverpool
One major problem, which has been their strength, is the high intensity that they have played with. As the Paste Magazine noted, this was known as "gegenpressing". The idea behind it is essentially "high-pressure defence" and then counter attacking to catch the opponents off guard. In the first few months of the season, Liverpool simply blew teams away with such a tactic. These included the 4-3 victory at Arsenal, four goals scored against Leicester, five against Hull and six against Watford. But it now appears that they have run out of steam. It is, as shown, difficult to maintain such a style of play throughout the whole season.
This view was echoed by former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who stated that "I never had a team who could press a ball all season" as reported on the This Is Anfield website. The tiredness which has set in has had a knock-on effect causing other problems.
One of that being that that the squad is not actually that deep and have not been able to cope with the demands placed on them.
As a result of such 'gegenpressing', it has arguably contributed to the injuries sustained to key players, most notably to Nathaniel Clyne and captain Jordan Henderson. With exhaustion setting in, a weak squad and key injuries, the problem is heightened by the fact that other players have simply not stepped up to the plate.
The likes of Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi have simply not done enough. Without a clear plan B when things are not going their way, it makes you think whether it was such a clever idea to sell Christian Benteke last summer. Another related point to make is that Liverpool have been further exposed by the absence of Sadio Mane. It is clear that Liverpool miss the midfielder what with his pace. As a result of these factors, a number of young players have been thrown into action. These include individuals such as Connor Randall and Ben Woodburn (who both played today). It has shown today against Wolves and in the previous round tie against Plymouth that it is a risky move and many would argue that it has not paid off.
The knock-on effect
As a result of such exhaustion, players missing or injured, others not playing well and the use of young players as a result, Liverpool have suffered. This has been illustrated by the fact that in January, the Merseyside team have won just one game (against Plymouth), have drawn three and lost four games in all competitions.
Whatever will be, what is of the upmost importance is that Liverpool arrest their slump in form and get back to winning ways. They need to do so quick.
