Anyone wanting an idea of how Liverpool’s season is going need only look at the last seven days.
On Sunday, a mammoth effort earned Jurgen Klopp ’s side deserved victory over champions Manchester City and issued a stirring a reminder of the levels they can still reach as they looked to move up the Premier League table.
It came at cost, though, with the loss of a key player. Another was forced off three days later, when the Reds showed further resilience to grind out another narrow home win, this time against West Ham United.
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And now this, an abject defeat against limited opposition that had gone into the game propping up the Premier League, all while once again having to do without a key player, Thiago Alcantara having withdrawn in the early hours of the morning with an ear infection.
Perhaps the Spaniard knew what was coming.
The performance at another promoted side, Fulham, on the opening day was more alarming. This 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, though, was by some distance Liverpool’s worst result of the season, further evidence of how easy it so get something from the Reds at present. Indeed, they have now already lost more times in the Premier League this campaign than the whole of the last term. They’ve played 11 times.
From the slow start, lack of tempo, occasionally iffy defending and slipshod midfield protection from a team that very much looked like having been thrown together at the last minute, those in the grumbling City Ground away end would be correct in thinking they’d seen it all before this campaign.
One step forward, one back. Rinse, repeat. It’s no wonder Liverpool seem to be going nowhere this season, Klopp’s side unable to build any sort of meaningful momentum.
It wasn’t as if Forest were brilliant. They are, of course, struggling for a reason. But all it took was an application of simple defensive organisation and a bit of fight to frustrate the Reds and knock them out of their stride, even if it ultimately required heroics from goalkeeper Dean Henderson during injury time to preserve Forest’s victory.
That Craven Cottage calamity back in August now looks more a portent than the one-off Klopp hoped it would be, Liverpool still to win a game on the road in the Premier League this season.
With Tottenham Hotspur the only top-flight trip remaining before the World Cup break, the Reds may well have to wait until next year to address that statistic.
This was a bad, bad end to what should have been a week that kickstarted their campaign. What next? Who knows. And that’s the worry.
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