ROBERTSON: WE’RE IN A JAM
Title race? Kop star says real fight for Reds now is to finish in the top four
FOR Liverpool the task is now simple: it is no longer about a title challenge but about ending a malaise that threatens their top-four chances.
Sunday’s clash with Manchester City is not the title showdown we were all so eagerly awaiting. Instead it’s a chance to end an Anfield run of results that is the club’s worst in almost 40 years.
It seems almost impossible that the Reds should be talking of an Anfield weakness. This is the all-conquering team that set an all-time club record of 68 league matches unbeaten on home soil, a run that was ended only a fortnight ago by Burnley.
Yet now they have gone three league games without scoring a goal on their hallowed turf, for the first time since 1984, and have in fact scored just one goal in their last four at Anfield. In that spell they have claimed only two points at home, a staggeringly low haul for a side who last term took 55 out of a possible 57.
“It’s just not clicking here,” said Kop left-back Andy Robertson after the 1-0 defeat by Brighton on Wednesday.
“After a long run going unbeaten we’ve lost two, but when you don’t show up, you don’t get results.”
There are no illusions now at Liverpool. If their dismal Anfield record since midDecember continues, they will struggle to finish in the top four. It is why Robertson believes the game against City is not quite as pivotal as it might have been.
“We’re not in the title race,” he said. “I’m sure City would say the same thing. We are seven points behind them and they have a game in hand.” And the bookies certainly agree. Liverpool, short-priced favourites a few weeks ago, have now been pushed out to 12-1. City are almost unbackable at 1-6, and Manchester United are rated their most serious challengers at 10-1. Brazil star Fabinho, desperate to return from injury for Sunday’s clash with Pep Guardiola’s table-toppers, believes the City game offers Liverpool the chance to restore battered pride. “We need to win and perform to our best levels and get our confidence back fully,” he said. “It is always a big game, but they are all important now because we have so many games coming up (after City it’s Leicester, Leipzig and then Everton). We know the quality of this team, we know that we have the quality to be in a better position in the league table. Sometimes you have difficult times in football and you just have to stay together and work hard because you know the results can turn around quickly. The confidence will come back for sure.“Manager Jurgen Klopp (with skipper Jordan Henderson, left) put Wednesday’s setback against Brighton down to tiredness – it was Liverpool’s third game in six days following wins last Thursday at Spurs and Sunday at West Ham. “We haven’t created enough, of course, but now we have time to recover,” he said. “That sometimes means the world to players.”