It is all doom and gloom for Liverpool at the moment, but Jürgen Klopp is suffering from a number of temporary problems that will have disappeared by the summer.
Jürgen Klopp gave his pre-Wolves press conference on Monday afternoon, and he seemed surprisingly optimistic. His Liverpool team lost 3-0 against Brighton just a few days earlier, yet the Reds boss seemed eager to look on the bright side, which the performance his players put in at Molineux in many ways proving him right.
The performance on the south coast was dreadful from start to finish, and Klopp knew as much but wanted to look past those struggles with his side lying ninth in the Premier League table. Instead of being negative, the German touched on how things will be different sooner rather than later.
As much as the win at Wolves does not negate all of the issues and many will return, he isn’t wrong, as, despite Liverpool’s largely awful form, the Reds are suffering from some temporary issues that will naturally disappear with time, particularly over the next six months. Let’s take a look at three headaches that Klopp is currently managing with the awareness that things will change in the near future.
It feels like an injury crisis is always just around the corner for Liverpool and as a result, people are tired of hearing about setbacks and fitness issues. Nevertheless, injuries have certainly had an impact on the season so far.
Right now, Klopp is without Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez, Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk. Imagine how many points those players are worth to Liverpool over the course of a full campaign, yet they aren’t sporting the red shirt.
Jota and Díaz are two long-term absentees. Without them, Klopp has been forced to toy with his favored 4-3-3 shape — using 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 at times — and his team’s pressing game in particular has deteriorated.
Nobody wants to talk about injuries, but it is reasonable to suggest Liverpool would be much higher up the table if everybody had been fit since August. Just look at Arsenal, for example.
Midfield
Liverpool made a mistake in the summer. After failing to sign Aurélien Tchouaméni — who joined Real Madrid — the Reds opted against sourcing an alternative option and instead decided to keep hold of James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta.
By the time Klopp realized his oversight, it was too late. Since, Liverpool’s midfield department has looked shattered — particularly on the defensive side of the game — and opponents have progressed through the center of the park with ease.
It feels like an overhaul is required to fix the issue, but with at least two new midfielders lined up for the summer, the landscape looks likely to change pretty quickly for Klopp once his main void is addressed.
With Jude Bellingham and Matheus Nunes potentially due to arrive on Merseyside at the end of the season, Liverpool’s engine room will be revitalized.
Finishing
Finishing can be a curious skill to master. The best players in the game are often regarded as clinical when presented with chances to score but in reality, it is normal to experience hot and cold streaks and the timing of them seems to be completely random.
This season, Liverpool has looked surprisingly wasteful in front of goal. In fact, the Reds have generated a total of 60 big chances in the Premier League, placing them behind only Manchester City. However, only 16 of them have been converted.
Liverpool’s big chance conversion rate is the second-worst in England’s top-flight ahead of only Leicester City at the foot of the table. With players such as Jota, Díaz, Núñez, Firmino and Mohamed Salah up front, that is simply unlikely to continue for much longer.
Klopp doesn’t have to change much in that sense. Before he knows it, shots will start to find the net, and Liverpool will start to convert to a normal level. When that doesn’t happen, though, it simply makes positive results a little harder to achieve.
