Liverpool – a club in crisis?

It has been a frustrating period for Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp’s men haven’t picked up a win in their last three games, all coming against winnable opposition in West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United, and Southampton.

It isn’t just the results that trouble Klopp and his backroom staff, but the manner in which they have come about.

In this tricky triad, Liverpool has totaled just seven shots on target, with only one of those resulting in a goal.

That was Mane’s in the game against West Brom, and since the Reds have spent 258 minutes hunting for the next.

It has sparked questions after the champions had seemingly dealt excellently with the absences of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Diogo Jota and Joel Matip (the latter in interludes), but have recently really missed all three.

Not that defence is the issue though – but it has had a delayed, relayed impact on the rest of the squad.

Fabinho is a great centre-back, who has filled in an unfamiliar position with professionalism and serious quality. However, when gaining a great centre-back, you lose a world-class defensive midfielder.

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And when you are without that key number six, you rely on players who aren’t quite there in terms of the Brazilian’s quality. You then lose a key cog between midfield and attack, which is the aspect in which Liverpool are not performing, even with the creative brains of Thiago Alcantara and Xherdan Shaqiri in the side.

Consequently, despite receiving the service, the formidable front three are immobile, inactive and seem somewhat disinterested.

Are Liverpool a club in crisis?

In the bigger picture, of course not. How can a club who are Premier League champions, and European Champions just two years ago in crisis?

That doesn’t even contemplate this season; in which Liverpool are challenging well for the Premier League and through to the knockout stages in Europe, from a tough group featuring Ajax and last years’ quarter-finalists Atalanta.

Many fans would ridicule the fact that it’s inferred in the same breath of ‘crisis’ – and realistically, they’re right. But that doesn’t prevent either criticism or the admittance that, yes, there is a problem.

This problem can be split into four main subsections – fitness, fatigue, fluidity and lack of confidence. They all intertwine and rely on each other, and Liverpool are lacking all four in all departments at the moment.

The fitness of the squad is usually up there with the best worldwide, with seven first-team players playing at least 34 of the 38 games in the Premier League last season. (Van Dijk, Firmino, Alexander-Arnold, Wijnaldum, Robertson, Mane, Salah)

Without being used to this problem, the long term injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez especially have had an impact not dealt with in previous years for Liverpool. They’ve also been without Mane, Salah and Alexander-Arnold for sustained periods this season, due to either injury or COVID-19.

This leads to my second subsection – fatigue. Injuries to a squad are only going to have a negative impact on the other players, who need to play more games.

In a congested season like this, that is an added strain to quite a small squad. Fatigue in a player will lead to poorer performances, and that’s seemingly what we’ve seen from the Liverpool squad these last few games.

The lack of fitness and fatigue in players has a huge influence on the fluidity of play. The vast majority of this Liverpool squad is fine-tuned into each others’ styles, having played so many games together.

A lack of presence with Van Dijk out in particular and a need for constant rotation has seen this cohesion falter in recent weeks. Despite having pumped 43 crosses in the box against Southampton, Liverpool only created one discernible opportunity from them – a late Mo Salah header in the first half.

A lack of cohesion and fluidity also has come from selfishness in goal scoring opportunities. We’re used to a competitive rivalry between Salah and Mane, but in the last three games the two have picked the wrong opportunities to pass and/or shoot in these situations.

Mane put three crosses in against Southampton when he had a clear shot on against Fraser Forster – with Salah only managing one shot in the match, the aforementioned header.

A factor that cannot be explained by stats though (except perhaps the results column) is confidence, or lack of.

It just seems that a concoction of the preceding three factors and questionable refereeing decisions have slaughtered the Premier League champions’ confidence, both in front of goal (as seen in the previous Mane and Salah stats) and in the creative phases.

Everything written is just a roundabout, scenic route answer to the question.

No. Liverpool are not in a crisis. They have a problem that could impact the rest of their season.

That problem is far from beyond repair. It is yet another challenge for Jurgen Klopp to navigate as this team continues to evolve.