We've all asked this question a hundred times this season already: What has gone wrong for Liverpool?
Just nine Premier League games ago they were on the verge of history, minutes away from the greatest triumph in football history with a clean sweep of all four trophies they entered. Now, if we’re being brutally honest, the title race is already over for them, because with the best will in the world, they’re not catching Manchester City - even if Jurgen Klopp will still believe a miracle can happen.
I think you only have to look at their rivals on Sunday, Manchester City, to get an idea of what has happened, both over the summer and since the start of the season, to explain the problems at Anfield.
The two clubs were separated by a single point after another epic battle for the Premier League, Liverpool beat City in the FA Cup semi final, and went one step further into the Champions League final. So they were particularly well matched, and in the summer, they actually had relatively similar transfer windows, with the majority of their spend going on a couple of the most coveted young strikers in the world.
That’s where the similarity ends though. Because in Erling Haaland, City got an already proven elite player, while Darwin Nunez - and no way I am criticising him here - has the potential to be an elite player.
Haaland is actually a year younger than Nunez, but he’s had more time at the elite level, he’s more established, he’s much closer to the finished article. And there you have the biggest difference between the two clubs. Yeah, I know people will argue that Nunez actually cost more, but c’mon, that’s just gaslighting. The wages City pay to their striker are about six times the salary Liverpool cough up.
How many goals will Haaland and Nunez end up with this season? Have your say here
That’s the difference between potential and proven talent. And I think you’ve seen it on the pitch this season. Both clubs got rid of an established forward to make way for their new signing. But where Sadio Mane has been a loss - though I would argue that Liverpool’s best player so far has been his direct replacement Luis Diaz - Haaland has been an upgrade on Jesus.
Why? Well, the thing I admire about him most is his absolute desire to get into the box. You can see him killing himself to get into those spaces at the far post to get tap-ins.
Analyse a modern striker in the Premier League these days, and yeah, they want to get on the ball. But do they want to then strain every sinew to get into the box?
How many times have you seen Haaland stretching to get on the end of a ball into the six-yard box? It’s incredible. He bursts everything to get there. You don’t see that in too many modern forwards, if I’m honest.
I think when you look at Darwin Nunez, he has the potential to develop in the same way, but he’s not there yet, even if he’s been a bit unlucky. I look at him and see someone who is playing catch up. It was his own fault, getting sent off, but even that was maybe a sign of his desperation to impress, to get something started at Liverpool.
Now, he looks a little bit like he’s trying too hard - he’s too anxious. It can happen, your touch goes a bit, your instinct goes a bit. It doesn’t quite come naturally.
Yet the way he took his goal at Rangers the other night, after missing a few too many in the game at Anfield, showed that the quality is there and the potential to be an elite player is there.
The difference though, is what Jurgen Klopp was saying this week. Liverpool can’t go out and match City’s spending. Basically, no team can other than perhaps Newcastle and PSG.
So they have to get creative to match them in other ways. If City are paying a rumoured £900,000 a week in wages to Haaland, then Liverpool have to develop a similar player, rather than trying to outbid their rivals.
Nunez’s package, I can guarantee, is FAR less, even if his fee was higher. But the trade off for that, is they don’t get an elite player immediately, they get someone like Mane, who developed to become that player. Like Salah too, or even Virgil van Dijk, who was far from the finished article when he first arrived at Anfield.
That’s the main difference from last season. City have been improved by the signing of Haaland, they’ve gone up a level, because they finally have that number nine with the burning desire to get into the places that hurt opponents.
Liverpool had to take a step back, to eventually try to move further forward. They have a young striker now, who could be an elite player for the next 10 years, but he’s not quite there yet, and their performances have suffered a bit.
It’s not a catastrophe. They showed in the second half against Rangers the quality is there still, Salah looks suddenly confident and cheeky again, as Klopp said. Nunez looks like he can step up a level.
Here’s the frightening thing though. For me, Liverpool were the only club this season who could genuinely challenge City for the title, and I do fear that is well and truly gone already. And you know what?
Haaland wasn’t even bought to win the Premier League. How many more points can he deliver? How many more goals can he get them, when they scored 99 last season? No, he was bought to win the Champions League, pure and simple. And that is terrifying.
