All contingents of Liverpool Football Club will be happy to see the back of the 2022/23 season after what has been quite a bizarre year on Merseyside.
After coming within two games of an unprecedented quadruple last season, Liverpool were expected to kick on this season and at least challenge for some silverware having fought on all four fronts last campaign.
What transpired was an almighty collapse in consistency as Liverpool trudged through the season, performing at their usual 100-mile-an-hour pace one week and then flatlining a week later.
This season also exposed what some conversant Liverpool fans have always preached- the alarming concerns in midfield and a desperate need for the club to invest in the transfer market, both of which have drastically caught up with the team this year.
Jurgen Klopp and his backroom staff steadied the ship for the remaining ten games with their tactical tweak of Trent Alexander-Arnold and almost managed to salvage a place in the Champions League but in the end, it was too little, too late.
A big summer lies ahead for Liverpool and all eyes will be on them in the transfer window to see what new faces will embark on a new era at Anfield.
But where did it all go wrong for Liverpool this season?
Lack of midfield reinforcements
Pre-season brought some optimism when the club’s new £85 million striker Darwin Nunez demolished the online stick he was receiving with a four-goal haul against RB Leipzig in a friendly and a goal off the bench against Manchester City in the Community Shield final.
Nunez was seen as an obvious solution to the departure of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, but the more rational Liverpool fans were still crying out for additions to what was clearly an ageing midfield.
Liverpool’s signature of Thiago from Bayern in 2020 was and still is the club’s latest midfield addition- unless of course you count Arthur Melo’s disastrous transfer from Juventus in which he has played just 13 minutes for the club.
With Thiago, Naby Keita and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlian constantly flirting with the injury table, Liverpool were left with Fabinho, James Milner, Jordan Henderson and youngsters Harvey Elliot and Fabio Carvalho as their senior midfield players heading into the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, Klopp said, “As a manager, I’d like to have more players who are available, naturally. But that’s all I can say. We’re always working on it. But whether we can do something, I don’t know.
The doubt in Klopp’s words at the time gave an insight into the relationship that the German has with the owners. FSG have failed to back Klopp in the past and the same can be said for this season.
Liverpool’s midfield went from a steel gate to a splintered fence and ultimately played a leading role in the tragedy the club would experience.
Zig-zag form
Three games in and two points for Liverpool was followed up with the 9-0 demolition of Bournemouth at Anfield. The result was initially perceived as a turning point, but it was an indicator of how Liverpool’s inconsistent form would unravel for all to see. One facet of the team that remained consistent, was the inconsistency.
After the Bournemouth game, Liverpool were victim to a battering themselves- losing 4-1 to Napoli in the Champions League.
A 3-3 draw with Brighton and a 3-2 loss to Arsenal was quickly patched up with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Manchester City- but then two weeks later, they suffered back-to-back losses to Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
Wins over Napoli, Tottenham and Southampton once again suggested that Liverpool were slowly wrestling back some consistency, but then came the abruptness of the World Cup.
Despite beating a resurgent Aston Villa and edging a destitute Leicester City after the World Cup concluded, Liverpool headed into their most challenging period of the season.
January and February brought two heavy defeats from Brentford and Brighton, an exit from the FA Cup and a truly eye-opening 3-0 defeat to Wolves at Molineux. It signalled a crisis.
“The team is not full of confidence, but do you need a lot of confidence for that? To put your body between the ball and the opponent? Stop the cross? I cannot sit here and say it’s ok,” Klopp lamented after the Molineux mauling.
10th in the Premier League and a swift removal from the Champions League after a 6-2 loss on aggregate to Real Madrid rattled everyone associated with Liverpool.
Liverpool then delivered one of their greatest performances, against their greatest rivals, in one of their worst seasons as the seven heavens over United offered some saving grace.
What followed was a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth. A truly remarkable level of inconsistency that had followed Liverpool all season.
Great but late turnaround
After two dismal outings against City and Chelsea, Klopp implemented Alexander- Arnold’s new hybrid role as his final effort to salvage something from the season. Liverpool won seven and drew three and in doing so offered signs that the worst was behind them but crucially- it was well overdue.
After Liverpool’s bizarre 4-4 draw with Southampton, Klopp said, “I understand people are devastated about our season. We are really not happy about it. But you can’t hold on to anger after such a turnaround. We didn’t lose in 11 games.”
Liverpool ended up securing Europa League football when at times this season not even that looked achievable.
The failure to reach the Champions League was fresh months ago but according to Klopp, Liverpool’s late resurgence and still being within a shout for top-four with four games to go is a sign of encouragement going into the new season.
With midfield surgery on the cards and reports that Alexis Mac Allister may be on his way, Liverpool’s business is already well underway.
Embed from Getty ImagesHowever, the team’s mentality and attitude this season has been a major flashpoint. Players arguing on the pitch, grimacing at their own errors and running fewer miles than ever before suggests there may be something else for Klopp to tackle behind the scenes.
Amid all Liverpool’s criticisms and changes over the last eight months, Klopp has remained the only man capable of guiding the club out of this tricky period.
His job was never in doubt this season but over the next 4-5 months, he will embark on his toughest test yet as he looks to continue his legacy at the club.
