Liverpool looks at the standings and can’t believe it: ninth place, only 10 points in 7 games and +9 in goal difference (18 goals scored) and the only one of the greats of the Premier League outside of European competitions . And it is unlikely because Arsenal, leader with 21 points and next Sunday’s rival, and Manchester City, second with 20, have a difference of +10 and +20 respectively.
It is an uncomfortable reality for a team accustomed in recent years to being at the top, in that discussion in which the candidates for the title are, which seems like a chimera after the bad start to the season of the ‘reds’.
The defense suffers from an atypical irregularity in the Jürgen Klopp era and that offensive strength, that trident that made half of Europe tremble and that now has Luis Díaz, simply stagnated. Yes, the Colombian himself acknowledged that it costs life after Sadio Mané but Firmino and Salah continue and Darwin Núñez arrived for a millionaire, and there is Jota and everyone’s partner, Thiago Alcántara, is healthy and available. What happens then?
“We don’t want to make it more complicated than it is, but obviously there are different systems available to us and we have to choose from now on which one is the best for the next opponent, or the best for us at that moment,” Klopp himself analyzed. .
His demand for Díaz and the attacking men is clear: “We definitely have to be more unpredictable. We need different systems for that too and this is not the only system we can play with.”
The German coach knows that when there is so much information it is difficult to surprise, but he hopes that the talent of his coaches will overcome that predictable team syndrome that he is suffering now: “some teams have learned how to play against us when we are not at our best. Other teams have figured out how to play us for years, but it still didn’t work for them because we were exceptional at the time. When you’re not exceptional then it’s like, ‘Oh, now they realize.’ No. In our best matches I can show you the parts where we might have struggled. We did not do it because we pushed so hard that they could not find spaces (…) There is no system in the world without weakness; it’s about how we perform.”
That intensity was not completely lost but the precision in speed was and that is where everyone needs to work. For Díaz, in addition, there is the task of being more effective in front of goal. Now that Salah seems to have a downturn and that the Uruguayan Núñez is still in the process of adapting, Liverpool needs him like never before.
