The weeks go by and are sadly similar for Liverpool, beaten for the third time in a row at Leicester on Saturday.
Jürgen Klopp, who had never lost three times in a row and was celebrating his 300th on the bench, conceded, on the verge of tears, that his team had no choice but to give up the league title.
Decryption of a collapse at the time of fighting to continue the adventure in the Champions League, the only title still accessible for the Reds.
Alisson's recent blunders
First winner of the Yachine Trophy for the best goalkeeper in the world (2019), Alisson Becker is unrecognizable.
Much less decisive in his cages, he is above all one of the causes of the recent routs of Liverpool.
The first, even, against Manchester City a week ago (1-4), where the Brazilian offered two goals on a plateau to his opponents following two missed raises at the foot.
Errors as unusual as this sweeping exit Saturday in Leicester, at the origin of the second goal of the Foxes, who could overthrow the Reds (3-1).
A decimated defense and the failed debut of Kabak
The serious injury of Virgil Van Dijk, a real pillar of the Reds' defense, is the starting point of a sudden curse in defense.
Affected by the cruciate ligaments of the knee in mid-October, the captain of the Dutch selection was joined on the flank by his partner Joe Gomez, affected a month later in selection, then by Joel Matip in early February.
All are absent until the end of the season.
As a result, Liverpool recruited for this post but making up for the absence of such important players is a challenge.
Arrived from Schalke 04 this winter, Ozan Kabak missed his debut with the Reds since his disagreement with Alisson recorded the turnaround in favor of Leicester on Saturday.
His coach spoke of "an error relating to a lack of communication that usually happens in the preseason", but the Turk has only had two weeks to get to know his partners.
Thiago's performance questions
Orphan of Jordan Henderson, metronome of his team down a notch to help out with uneven success, the traditional mid-three of the Reds suffers.
And Thiago Alcantara is painful to see.
Debauched from Bayern Munich, with whom he won the C1 last summer, the Spaniard is a shadow of himself.
One statistic is telling: he still hasn't won at Anfield.
If this stat is mitigated by the fact that he was kept away from the pitches for more than two months due to the Covid-19 and especially a knee injury, the brilliant midfielder trained at Barça has not changed his style. of play. His vision and dribbling are at odds with the Reds' transition play duzz.
Result, the Spaniard does not bring his share to his team.
Worse, "his return coincides with the free fall of Liverpool," said Paul Gorst, club follower for the
Liverpool Echo
.
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Apart from Salah, the offensive sector is at a standstill
Mohamed Salah had done the hard part by opening the scoring with class thanks to an
equally brilliant
assist
from Roberto Firmino at Leicester.
As against Manchester City, where he brought his people up to par.
But the Egyptian, with a five-star performance (four consecutive seasons with more than 20 goals), is too alone, since the attack has been amorphous for several matches.
Apart from the demonstrations carried out in Tottenham then West Ham three days apart at the end of January (1-3 each time), the Reds do not scare many people recently.
The poor form of Sadio Mané (7 goals this season) is one of the reasons, while Firmino is still struggling to weigh in terms of statistics (6 goals).
And the bench of substitutes is not able to provide lasting solutions for a club of the standing of Liverpool.
"Monsters of mentality" losing confidence
The absence of supporters does not explain everything.
If obviously, the Reds are walking alone now, pandemic requires, the collapse against City and then Leicester sounds like the antithesis of the
fighting spirit
of "monsters of mentality", as Klopp had nicknamed his players.
With revealing mimicry, his players conceded three goals in less than ten minutes, ten minutes after scoring one.
But the revolt has given way to depression lately, as if the Liverpuldians did not have the weapons to get out of this situation.
"The current situation is a real challenge, and it is interesting," Klopp said on Monday.
I am convinced that we will get by, not only by playing football but above all by remaining united, while retaining lessons that we would not have learned in previous seasons. ”
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