Less than 300 days ago, Liverpool were still fighting for what would have been an unprecedented quadruple. However, the season slipped away from them – and the slide carried on to the 2022/23 campaign. Pressured by injuries, poor results and a lack of confidence, their manager Jurgen Klopp has to lift his players – and do it quickly.Over the past month, the Reds have endured some painful blows. As a team and a group of individuals, their belief has been tested by defeats against Brentford, Brighton and Wolves. Not only do players find themselves in an alien atmosphere. Klopp himself must have forgotten when was the last time his team felt so inept.It’s all going wrong for Jurgen Klopp 😬 pic.twitter.com/NPIAaX10IS— GOAL (@goal) February 4, 2023 The defence has been conceding too many goals – Liverpool have conceded 28 Premier League goals so far this season. In the top half of the table, only Fulham have conceded more. At the same time, their midfield is looking flat.Strikers Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez haven’t had the desired impact on the team’s fortunes this season, and injuries to Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz have wiped out Liverpool’s attacking capacity that looked so vast a year ago. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7014103##Straight away, it was clear Diaz would fit into Klopp’s side like a glove with his willingness to charge down defenders. That made the Anfield faithful expect an instant impact from every new recruit – and that’s where Nunez and Gakpo have failed. Unlike Erling Haaland at Manchester City, most players need time to adjust to their new surroundings and teammates before they begin delivering the goods. At a club as big as Liverpool, the expectations are there from day one.Is the 60,000,000 euros African midfielder the biggest failure of the Klopp era?In the meantime, the Reds lost Sadio Mane to Bayern – and are forced to rely heavily on Mohamed Salah to score goals and win games – with one of the biggest games coming on Monday.Everton visit Anfield on the back of an impressive victory over league leaders Arsenal, raising fears a second upset could be on the cards as Sean Dyche searches for consecutive Premier League wins.The Reds must start winning now if they want to stand any chance of competing in the UEFA Champions League next season. Klopp faces his biggest test yet.
