How defensive crisis is impacting Liverpool’s offensive capabilities
ON Sunday evening, Manchester United became the first side to stop Liverpool scoring at Anfield in a Premier League match since Manchester City managed to do so in October 2018.
The goalless draw was Liverpool’s 43rd home game in the division since then, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knew it was not something to trumpet about.
“I’ve got to be honest and say I’m a bit disappointed at the moment,” the United manager admitted.
“With the injuries they’ve had, you think you might be able to come here and get a win. We didn’t.”
Liverpool have not been themselves since mid-december, with their centre-back crisis impacting their psychology and offensive powers rather than their defensive numbers.
And actually, if you scroll back further, the reigning champions have won just six of the last 15 fixtures in all competitions — one of them courtesy of a second-half blitz against Aston Villa’s kids.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have gone three top-flight matches without scoring for the first time since February and March 2005.
Against United, it has to be said that midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson were excellent in the heart of defence.
As Klopp analysed: “They played really good football, made our build-up flexible, made it really difficult for United to press — I can’t remember a real pressing situation of United and they are pretty good in that actually.”
Another point to note is that no change of personnel can legislate for Roberto Firmino, for example, only mustering a tame shot or making a poor decision and not picking out Andy Robertson when the left-back was free.
The unavailability through injury of Diogo Jota, who was the league’s in-form player before his setback, also cannot be overstated.
However, to divorce Liverpool’s attacking problems from the loss of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez would be a misunderstanding of their methodology. Variety in possession at the back has been removed without Van Dijk’s superb long diagonals and the ability of his two partners to step out with the ball.
But not having the senior centre-backs available also affects the position of the fullbacks, who are not as high, which allows the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to tuck inside.
The level of risks the team takes further up the pitch diminishes as there is a fear of being left exposed. The midfield having to cede its anchor in Fabinho and the tempo-setter in Henderson is counter-productive as well.
It is going to be a difficult dilemma for Liverpool to solve because the inaction of clubs in the January window illustrates the influence of the pandemic on transfers right now. Self-isolation periods and the lack of training time and a chance to settle due to the stacked schedule means the majority of teams are apprehensive of doing deals, especially if it’s with a short-term view.
Klopp and Henderson have both insisted that the tonic to the drought is to keep creating chances.
“The only possibility you have to score goals is to create situations and to be ready to fail and to do it again,” the Liverpool manager said.
“That’s a massive difference between when you are flying and you score with pretty much each chance you have because then you deal with the missed chances better. It is just information. That is the difference and nothing else.
“We will create chances and we will score, but I know, now we face Burnley on Thursday and they are not famous for conceding an awful lot of goals. Then a few days later we play again against United and they obviously defend with all they have.”
Henderson added: “We’re not getting any luck in the box at the minute. That can happen in football — you have to keep going, keep working hard and hope it’ll change quickly.”
Liverpool have no choice but to ensure it does, especially with City in the ascendancy, before they lose greater grip at the top and enter the traffic to try and secure a Champions League place.
‘You have to be ready to fail and do it again’