Liverpool’s spine has been ripped out and Jurgen Klopp was powerless to stop it

Liverpool have played much of their season to date without much of a spine thanks to injuries and out-of-form players

It’s difficult to root out the one defining problem that Liverpool have struggled to overcome this season.

In a term of widespread underperformance, Jurgen Klopp finds his side 10th in the Premier League with less than half the campaign left. An 11-point gap between them and the top four leaves success in the Champions League itself as their best route back to Europe’s premier competition next term and the inquests have been regular and far-reaching from the outside.

Fingers have been pointed at the lack of transfer activity both in the summer months and the January window, while a failure to refresh and replenish at vital junctures has also been an accusation placed at the door of those in charge of recruitment.

The drop-off is also a symptom of last season’s exertions when a 63-game marathon campaign saw the Reds go all the way to the final of every cup competition possible while also picking up 92 points in the Premier League.

For the best part of five months at Anfield, every single fixture was laced with genuine significance for the overall aims of the campaign. Whether it was vital league fixtures that needed to be won to continue chasing down Manchester City or knockout games in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup or Champions League – every result mattered. Even more so when the prospect of a quadruple gently eased into focus following a first League Cup victory for 10 years in February.

It is maybe easier to understand – or at least explain – the downturn when the games just don’t have as much immediately riding on them at the beginning of the season. Even a subconscious dip in performance can have major ramifications.

But while both the manager and the players have been unable to put their fingers on just what the problem is, not publicly at least, there is some explanation to be found in the injuries experienced by Liverpool this term, particularly in the spine of their team.

The knee injury picked up by Ibrahima Konate in the friendly defeat to Strasbourg on July 31 has contributed towards limiting the centre-back to just 10 appearances for a team who will play their 33rd game of the season when they entertain Everton on Monday night. A hamstring issue will further limit the France international’s involvement over the next few weeks.

Another hamstrung centre-half at Liverpool is Virgil van Dijk, who has missed the last six-and-a-half matches with the injury he picked in the first half of the 3-1 loss to Brentford last month. The Netherlands captain has not reached the levels usually associated with him at his imperious best but there is little doubt the Reds are missing their £75m man. Klopp’s men have conceded 11 goals in his absence.

The lack of Konate and Van Dijk, at various points, has inevitably had an impact at a time when Joel Matip and Joe Gomez are out of form and struggling to hold back the intensity of Premier League-level frontlines.

Further up the pitch, the ongoing absences of Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz is proving to be a different problem entirely. Firmino has now missed the last 10 games through an injury that was initially slated to be only a minor one, while Jota and Diaz have been sidelined since October.

At a time when Cody Gakpo is struggling to integrate into a team so bereft of confidence and energy, the inability to field any of that trio is undoubtedly hurting Liverpool. The Reds look toothless up top as a result.

Throw in injuries to Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara alongside the startling dip in form for Fabinho and captain Jordan Henderson and Liverpool start to resemble a team that has been without a spine for much of the season. It is no real shock that results have tailed off.