Another Day, Another Loss

Tenth loss in the season, and it isn’t over yet. You have to go back a decade to find a season with the same tally, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that this number might well tick upwards. Might we match the 14/15 season, with 12 losses? Or perhaps rewind the tape a couple of years further, and get 14?

What makes this maddening is the challenge of reconciling this performance with the one from just three days ago against Galatasaray in the Champions’ League. Liverpool looks increasingly like a cup team. Equally maddening is that this might not be so bad; it is worth remembering that the Miracle in Istanbul took place amidst an otherwise atrocious season, which also ended with 14 losses in the league.

Let’s be honest. Should Liverpool win some silverware this season, and especially if they bring home Big Ears, then everything will be forgotten.

However, if they fail to do so, and especially if they fail to qualify for next year’s Champions’ League, then I suspect at that point that FSG will run out of patience and Arne Slot will be out of a job, merely a year after recording a rare feat in winning the league in his first season on the sidelines.

Which brings the obvious question up: Was he able to do it because it was still Klopp’s team?

Back to today’s game. On the record, Danny Welbeck’s efficient brace sealed Liverpool’s fate, but on the evidence, the result today was all up to the Reds themselves. Had they played the way they did vs. the Turks, Liverpool would have romped home over a physical but vulnerable Brighton. Instead, we went back to the overly cautious, listless, starved-for-inspiration Liverpool that somehow managed to avoid beating Spurs a week ago. When the only bright spot in attack is Milos Kerkez (whose goal was brilliant) – at least until Rio came on – then you really have nothing to hope for except sheer blind luck.

Watching VVD going slowly over the hill is painful, to say the least. Mamardashvilli may be a fabulous keeper in the future, but he isn’t that now, more like a decent one. Frimpong is a dynamo, but when paired with Konate, the end result is plenty of holes for the opposition to exploit. Wirtz is still more promise than present. Macca is having an inexplicably atrocious season compared to the last one, only outdone in terms of inconsistency by Gravenberch. I won’t spare any words for our front-line. Once Ekitike went out and Brighton scored an insultingly cheap goal, it was just a matter of how bad this will sting in the end. I predicted 4-0 at that point, and I was thankfully wrong about that, but after that second half, I will argue that I wasn’t wrong in spirit, just in the final scoreline.

There is no telling where this is going at this point. We could still be headed for unexpected glory, just like in 04/05, or we could be headed, as Szoboszlai pointed out in a frank admission after Spurs, for the opportunity to have a crack at the Conference League title next season.

All that’s left is to say enjoy the rest of your weekend.

I truly welcome the International break.