Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James has listed three reasons why his old club have struggled this season.
The Reds are currently battling to achieve a top-four finish in the Premier League. Jurgen Klopp’s side are sixth and six points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand.
Liverpool are also out of every cup they entered this season after being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in midweek Compared to last year, the Reds were fighting for all four major honours, winning two and missing out on the Premier League title on the last day before being beaten by Madrid in the Champions League final.
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And James thinks injuries, confidence issues and a hangover from the previous campaign are all factors in the Reds' problems. “The absentees that Liverpool had at the start of the season has been crucial. Not starting with a fully fit squad to utilise had an impact,” he told Lord Ping.
“Confidence has played a massive role too. If you look at the nature of how Liverpool finished second in the Premier League and beaten finalists in the Champions League, they were arguably the better team in that final. Had it not been for the heroics of Thibaut Courtois, Liverpool would have won.
“Liverpool know that they did everything right to win the Champions League, so when you’ve made those sacrifices and put in such a huge effort to be successful, to end up losing the last game of the season - the biggest club game in world football - the players would have been thinking about that all summer.
“Liverpool drew the opening game away at Fulham. They drew the next one at home to Palace, so it's only natural for players’ confidence to start to be affected by poor results and form.
“They went to United and lost and had two points after three games. They demolished Bournemouth 9-0 and followed that with a win at home to Newcastle where they needed two very late goals.
“They went to Napoli and took a bruising defeat. At this stage, you’re a month into the season and the players are reminded that they are still not at a level where they need to be if they want to challenge for everything again.
“I was at the game where Liverpool beat United 7-0. The atmosphere was amazing, everything went to plan. Liverpool had eight shots on target and seven of them went in.
“You can’t replicate that week-in, week-out, it isn’t sustainable. To go to Bournemouth and have some early chances, miss a penalty and lose the game, sums up perfectly the confidence issues that Liverpool have suffered from all season.
“Liverpool built confidence after a nice run of victories, so I think that this a hurdle that Liverpool will be able to overcome in regards to their Champions League qualification - I don’t think the Bournemouth result will seriously affect them. Liverpool will deal with this defeat better than they would have done at the beginning of the season.”
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