The arrival of Luis Diaz al Liverpool generated a wave of attention in Colombia towards that team, which had been doing things well for several seasons.
Con Jürgen Klopp under his command, Liverpool reached three Champions League finals, of which they won one, in 2019, against Tottenham, and lost another two with Real Madrid, in 2018 and 2022. In addition, he led the club to its first League title in England in 30 years.
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Last year, Liverpool came close to the gold standard: they won the League Cup and the FA Cup, but lost the Champions League final and finished second in the Premier League, behind Manchester City. But the 2022-23 season has been one of Liverpool’s worst in recent years.
Liverpool said goodbye to the League Cup in the round of 16, after losing 3-2 to City. He was also left out in the fourth round of the FA Cup, in which Brighton beat him 2-1. In the Premier League he is eighth, with 35 points, 19 behind the leader, Arsenal, and seven of the Champions League places.
The Champions League was hope, but…
The Champions League was the lifeline of the season. But this Tuesday, after leading 2-0 before 15 minutes, he was overwhelmed by Real Madrid, who scored five goals and made him look very bad. Only a miracle at the Bernabéu would leave him alive.
What happened to Liverpool? Here are some reasons for a loud and painful fall:
Attack weakened. Liverpool have been unable to adequately replace Sadio Mané, who left the club at the end of last season for Bayern Munich. He also lost Luis Díaz since October, due to a knee injury that got complicated and forced him to stop again when he was close to returning. Darwin Núñez, in theory Mané’s replacement, has not been able to fit into the scheme.
Lack of effectiveness. As a consequence of the above, the team has lost a lot of offensive power. Counting only the Premier League, last season Liverpool scored 94 goals in 38 games, for an average of 2.47 per game. Enormous. This year, the figures are more earthly: 38 in 22 games (1.72).
Rosary of injuries. Jürgen Klopp has not been able to stabilize his roster due to injuries. So far this season, in addition to Díaz, Virgil van Dijk, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, Ibrahima Konaté, Joel Matip and Naby Keita have been injured. And with the Colombian, in the medical department, are Arthur Melo and the youthful Calvin Ramsay, the latter with a knee problem. And there were not many signings, beyond the arrival of Cody Gakpo. “In a fantasy place you would sign players, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. It’s not that we have money and we don’t know how to spend it, it’s not that easy, because we can’t solve all the problems in the market,” Klopp said a few weeks ago.
The defense, in a bad moment. Also compared to the last Premier, Liverpool’s defense does not provide security. The losses have greatly weakened that area, to the point that it went from having the best defense of the 2022-23 season (26 goals conceded in 38 games) to one that receives more than one goal on average per game: 28 in 22 meetings. That, without counting the wins he received in the Champions League, such as Real Madrid’s 2-5 or Napoli’s 4-1.
Loss of confidence. Defeats at key moments in the campaign have made Liverpool lose strength. Klopp seems resigned. “I think the tie is over right now. We’ll see in three weeks. A loss is a loss, what I tell the players is that they have to learn from it. We have to improve a lot, but we have to take the good things with us too , now we have a difficult match against Crystal Palace and there are three weeks left for the return,” he said after the defeat against Madrid.
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