Are Liverpool losing their edge?

Are Liverpool losing their edge?

It’s taken me a couple of days to gather my thoughts after the debacle at the weekend. Anybody that knows me and reads my thoughts on Liverpool knows that I will generally find something to cling to; one positive that we can build on for the next game.

After lauding the players for a couple of ruthless performances against Arsenal and Chelsea I have to say that I am disgusted by what I saw against Aston Villa. No one comes out of that game with any credit, not even goalscorer Mo Salah.

Mentally we were not at it right from the start. To me, it was obvious that we went into the game expecting to win. The players thought it would be another easy day at the office and everything we did showed it.

There was no urgency in our passing, which made our play sloppy, predictable, and easy to pick off. The communication between the back four was almost non-existent, making our high defensive line pointless. Our pressing was lackluster and unstructured.

I know that this can happen, sometimes you can start a game and just be a yard off the pace. It happened numerous times last season, but there was a difference. Our hunger and desire to not let games get away from us often got us through, while our superior quality would finally get us the win.

Against Villa there was nothing. Even when Salah got the game back to 2-1 we just weren’t mentally in this game at all. Last season that would have been the signal to take over and get back on track, but we just didn’t respond.

I don’t know if it’s an arrogance after our so called title challengers continue to drop points or if there is something more sinister creeping into the squad. Whatever it is, Klopp needs to get on top of it quickly because this type of negative thinking can spread and quickly destroy teams, squad relationships, and five years of hard work.

We have to get back to winning ways quickly because a loss against Everton in our next game could be disastrous as it would signal to the league that we are more than fallible, putting a massive dent in defence of our Premier League title.