Virgil Van Dijk’s damage deepened the disaster at Liverpool who host Wolves within the FA Cup, a contest they gained final season, on Saturday. Liverpool are sixth within the Premier League, seven factors off a Champions League berth and 16 factors behind leaders Arsenal. They usually have been knocked out of the EFL Cup which they gained in 2021-22.
Van Dijk’s hamstring damage throughout Monday’s 1-3 defeat at Brentford may take a month, Liverpool supervisor Juergen Klopp mentioned on Friday. He joined Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Arthur, Roberto Firmino, James Milner and Jordan Henderson on the record of unavailable gamers.
However that’s solely a part of the issue. Liverpool’s midfield wants reinforcement. Missing the depth of Manchester Metropolis, the squad may be feeling the aftereffects of a 63-game season in 2021-22 the place Liverpool completed second within the Premier League and within the Champions League. It could possibly be why Liverpool haven’t pressed in addition to they, and Klopp’s groups normally, are identified for. That in flip has led to the excessive line of defense being underneath strain. To this, add Darwin Nunez’s lack of targets and Mohamed Salah typically being a peripheral determine. New signing Cody Gakpo may must hit Anfield operating on Saturday.
After the World Cup, Liverpool misplaced to 2-3 to Manchester Metropolis within the EFL Cup and although they beat Aston Villa and Leicester Metropolis within the league, the efficiency was not convincing.
They collapsed in opposition to Brentford who notched up their first win in opposition to Liverpool since 1938 benefiting from the guests’ lack of depth on all areas of the pitch.
“We’ve to be first to the ball within the field, we have now to be extra aggressive in our field,” mentioned left-back Andy Robertson.
Robertson mentioned Liverpool’s 2-1 win in opposition to Leicester “ought to have been a kick up the bottom” going into Monday’s match. “Three days later we put in one other dangerous efficiency.”
From two defeats within the league in 2021-22, Liverpool have already misplaced 5 occasions. They’ve gained solely two of the eight away video games and have trailed in 10 league video games. Liverpool had 10 clear sheets in 17 video games final season, this time they’ve 4.
Forward of a busy seven weeks with video games in opposition to Brighton, Chelsea, Wolves, Everton, Newcastle and a Champions League spherical of 16 first-leg in opposition to Actual Madrid, Liverpool don’t know whether or not van Dijk will likely be at his finest as soon as he recovers from his damage.
Liverpool are higher positioned with replacements than in 2020 when Van Dijk wanted surgical procedure. However in 5 years since he moved from Southampton, Liverpool have gained 72% of video games he has performed. The quantity drops to 57% when he has not.
Van Dijk is 31. Liverpool used six gamers over 30 in opposition to Fulham, a primary within the league since 1994. Together with Chelsea, they’d the oldest groups within the league initially of 2022-23, a mean age of 28.7 in keeping with FBref.com. Once they performed Manchester Metropolis within the Group Protect, the common age of the beginning 11 was 29 years, 315 days. It was their oldest crew since 1953. From when Klopp joined in 2015-16, Liverpool’s common age has elevated from 25.2 to 27.7 final season.
Within the period of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and James Milner, who turned 37 on Wednesday, that will not be an issue however having younger gamers but to peak and a few previous their finest years could possibly be. Liverpool want to seek out a direct answer to that within the midfield the place Curtis Jones is 21, Harvey Elliott 19, Fabio Carvalho 20, Stefan Bajcetic 18 and Milner is 37, Thiago 31 and Jordan Henderson 32.
Milner, Naby Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain are out of contract in summer season and loanee Arthur as a result of return to Juventus. Jude Bellingham is a a goal for summer season as is Matheus Nunes.
Off the pitch too issues are fluid. Klopp signed a brand new deal final 12 months however house owners Fenway Sports activities Group mentioned they had been seeking to promote. Liverpool can have three sporting administrators in two seasons after Julian Ward leaves in Might. It might be one 12 months after Micheal Edwards, who between 2016 and 2022 helped construct the squad that conquered Europe and England, left.
At Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, Klopp has proven he can get the crew to have an excellent second half of the season. Lots is using on whether or not he can do it as soon as extra.