Jurgen Klopp’s ability to coin a phrase has been a constant during his seven years at Liverpool. His toughest season has posed him problems when he has search for explanations for a slump few foresaw. “You cannot explain similar 500 mistakes in a different way or new mistakes,” he said. Five hundred mistakes in a different way: it could be the title of Liverpool’s end-of-season DVD.
It is not merely the shift to streaming that means such a product will never be made. The mistakes would make for unwelcome viewing; some, as Klopp suggested, have the feel of action replays. There have been recurring themes: when Liverpool went 2-0 down in 12 minutes at Molineux, it extended a habit of conceding first and early. Wolves may not have even been their worst performance of 2023: not when Brentford and Brighton are factored in.
There have been slow starts and false dawns, injuries and more injuries. There have been patched-up teams and disjointed displays. There have been problems in the midfield with most of the myriad combinations Klopp has tried. There have been repeated reasons to regret a failure or inability to buy in the centre of the pitch and stuttering starts from the forwards he has acquired. From Trent Alexander-Arnold to Fabinho, from Joel Matip to Jordan Henderson, there have been talismen who have run into troubled times, overachievers who have become underachievers, starters who have been substitutes at times.
But when solutions have to come to look short-term fixes with every relapse. Henderson has begun the last two games on the bench, but taking him out of the team proved no remedy. A Merseyside derby on Monday could call for the captain’s return. “Hendo is not our problem: never was, never will be,” Klopp said. “We don’t have to make a Jordan Henderson story, this is a team story and, if you want, a manager story but nothing else.”
It is a manager story: of one who scaled heights and is now plumbing depths. Liverpool were two games from the quadruple last season. Now they have one point in 2023, one league goal and even that came on the second day of the year. Liverpool prop up the 2023 table. Everton surged ahead of them with their terrific display in beating Arsenal.
The common denominator with happier times is that Klopp still possesses the gift for rousing rhetoric. He issued another rallying cry, arguing a low can be used to spur Liverpool back to highs. “I think it is a time where we can show that the club is really special,” he said. “The boys delivered a lot of great moments in the last few years. In the moment, for different reasons – not all of them are clear – it’s not possible or we didn’t do it. But we are fighting for it, to change the situation in a better direction. I really believe the better you behave in your lower moments, the quicker you get in the better moments again and then the much more success you will have in the better moments.”
Some of those fine moments came against Everton. Klopp has had 16 Merseyside derbies and lost just one: even that was behind closed doors, when he was without his premier specialist centre-backs and when his immediate opponent was Carlo Ancelotti. Now he faces Sean Dyche, fresh from a debut win against the league leaders.
Klopp has often been able to beat Everton with weakened teams. Now he has too few compelling choices, not too many. Virgil van Dijk is unlikely to recover from his hamstring injury in time. Joe Gomez and Matip, so fallible at Molineux, may have to be paired again unless Klopp drafts in Nat Phillips; the consolation for Liverpool is that Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a doubt, potentially depriving Everton of their best striker.
A hip problem could cost him the services of Thiago Alcantara, the remaining cornerstone of the midfield after the collapse of Fabinho’s form and Henderson lost his place. The centre of the pitch could be manned by , a veteran of two league starts, and Naby Keita, who could leave on a free transfer in the summer.
In attack, the seeming coup of signing Cody Gakpo was supposed to add firepower but he has failed to score in six appearances. Mohamed Salah has not even mustered a shot on target in Liverpool’s last four Premier League matches. Darwin Nunez, who seemed to be finding form by the World Cup, has no league goals since it. Indeed, the only player with more than one top-flight goal for them since domestic football resumed is Wout Faes, the Leicester defender who gifted Liverpool their last victory at Anfield.
There is a glimpse of hope for Liverpool in the imminent return of Diogo Jota, out for almost four months, and Roberto Firmino, who has not featured since the World Cup. Liverpool need goalscorers and goals, for Klopp’s analysis not to be in the form of inquests. “I can explain absolutely everything in football but not to you,” he said. But it would help if there were no more mistakes to explain.
