We are looking for the root of the “red” problems.

The just ended season in the Premier League can hardly be called successful for Liverpool. The Reds left the Champions League early for themselves, failed to reach the top four in the Premier League and the whole season was like driving through potholes and potholes. A year ago, after losing the Champions League final in Paris, Jurgen Klopp optimistically advised Liverpool fans to book a hotel for next year’s final in Istanbul.

Anyone who booked a room in Istanbul on this advice could apply for a refund as early as February, when Liverpool lost 2-5 to Real Madrid. That evening marked the end of hopes for any trophies in the current season, which for such a team can be called a failure. Now Klopp says next season will be different.

The Reds will try to sum up as they have allowed too many shots this season. We managed to lose at home to Leeds, who have won twice away all season. Lost by the road eight times – the same number of defeats for Everton, who almost flew away. In their final league game, Liverpool conceded 21 percent of all the goals relegated Saints have scored at home from Southampton.

The season didn’t go as planned. And this can be seen for many different, or similar, reasons, but from different angles. The authors of FourFourTwo have tried to systematize some of them. Let’s look at five negative factors that have influenced Liverpool’s season performance.

Preseason

And it all started in March last year, when Liverpool confirmed the holding of a pre-season match with Manchester United. It seems to be nothing special. But it was Liverpool’s first pre-season match, and right away in Bangkok. No home preparation. And immediately 0:4 from Manchester United.

It wasn’t until January that Klopp admitted he planned preseason the wrong way. When asked what he would change, the coach replied that he definitely would not fly to matches in Asia in the first week of training. Not even Liverpool prospect Darwin Nunez could handle the intensity of pre-season. The adaptation was not the best way and during the season he received six different injuries, albeit minor ones.

Lack of strong midfielder

Last July, Klopp was bombarded with questions about who he would sign for the midfield. Then the coach reacted: Why do we need a midfielder? Tell me, which midfielder are we missing? Maybe, over the course of the season, he might find answers to those questions. When his middle line was pierced by Leicester’s swift Dewsbury Hall or Southampton’s Suleman.

Fabinho’s form deteriorated at the end of last season, Alcantara suffered from injuries, Henderson’s efficiency decreased. Klopp said many of this season’s problems were unpredictable, but the proneness of some players to injuries and others to fluctuating form was to be expected.

Klopp is said to have tried to sign Tchuameni, but he preferred Real Madrid. Who knows how things would have gone if I had chosen the Frenchman from Liverpool. And there was no backup plan. Finally, Arthur was signed in a panic at the end of the re-offer window. But this deal cannot be called successful. Probably, Liverpool were waiting for the moment with the signing of Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. But the matter did not go well.

Problem awareness

Klopp and Liverpool have big problems with this. For years, the style of the team and the coach convinced them that they were doing everything right, moving in the right direction and coping with any difficulties. This created a false self-confidence which led to a delay in responding to real problems. Already heavy draws against Crystal Palace and Fulham at the start of the season should have been alarming. In both matches, Liverpool conceded first.

Klopp insisted this was not a problem. But in October, Liverpool underperformed in ten of their last 12 league games. The constant need to recover mentally and physically is exhausting for a team that burned out the previous season, having played 63 games in which they had to expend a lot of emotional and physical strength.

Lost opportunities for change

Liverpool could improve the situation over the course of the season. There was a big break for the World Cup, there was a long break after the Queen’s death, there was a three-week break in March and several breaks of ten days or more. Klopp constantly speaks of intensive training work as a necessity for the formation of the desired style and form. But these pauses could not be used properly.

We expected to deal with it fasterKlopp said later. – But we work with people and sometimes it takes longer to fix bugs..

In the end, more or less noticeable changes were made that really improved the team’s game. The most notable example is Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to a hybrid position, with an increase in his role as an attacking midfielder. And that paid off for him. But the measure was adopted with catastrophic delay. The season was not saved.

Klopp defended himself by saying that the team played better after the World Cup. But that’s when there were humiliating defeats to Brentford and Wolves, elimination by Brighton in the FA Cup, a 2-5 defeat to Real Madrid, a defeat to Bournemouth, a rout to Manchester City and so on. .

One step forward and two steps back

A week after beating Manchester City at Anfield, Liverpool lost to Nottingham Forest. A week after beating Manchester United 7-0, Liverpool lost to Bournemouth. A week after beating Newcastle in August, Liverpool were beaten 1-4 by Napoli.

It seems that Liverpool have been the more inconsistent team. You never expected how he would perform in the next game. Why did Liverpool sometimes look like a familiar and sometimes terrified monster? Someone says that the team has lost mentality and passion. We need to work on this too.

But when a look appeared in the team in front of Baycetic, he quickly “collapsed”. He was not among the nine midfielders who got through pre-season under Klopp and started 13 times. But Baycetić could easily be Liverpool’s best midfielder. And after seven games in a row at the start, the young midfielder suffered a hip injury. Even in this “red” he was not lucky.

Klopp insists that even the improvement in form of Liverpool at the end of the season, who were unbeaten in 11 games, has not affected his plans for the summer. He has firmly decided on his own how to build the job already from the preseason, taking into account the mistakes of this season and already with the new sporting director. Let’s see if Liverpool themselves can come back, or have we witnessed the end of an era.