Just weeks into the year 2023 and one thing is certain – Liverpool won’t be Premier League champions. Manager Jurgen Kloop admitted so even at the end of last year, but maybe some fans believed something will change in the New Year. Nothing happened, and ahead of the match against Brighton in 20th round of the Premier League, the German is talking about the reasons why is this season already lost. The same excuse remains – injures, but new thing has been added, last year’s quest for the quadruple.Since joining Liverpool, Mo Salah has played 99% of all mins Liverpool football club have played. [@SimonBrundish]This man is an absolute machine. 😮 pic.twitter.com/JszDamBQ2R— The Anfield Buzz (@TheAnfieldBuzz) January 13, 2023 Last season, the Reds were in contention for all four trophies until late in the season and the German tactician thinks that it has taken his tool on the players, whose performances are subpar this season as Liverpool is currently in the 7th place, seven points away from the Champions League spot and 16 from league leaders Arsenal.“It must have taken its tool. We can say that now. There was no book written about it, there was no data about it. There was nothing about it because nobody played that many games ever before. Outside the club they are speaking as if we are bottom of the table. There are times when you just have to get through it” said Klopp.Trossard the TraitorAside from the quadruple, the injuries are also being mentioned as the main reason why Reds season will not end in many (if any) trophies. Injuries and pre-season in Asia.“We had a similar situation two years ago with injuries, I’m sorry. The year after that, we had a completely different situation, we could use them all. Sometimes it happens. Could anybody know how the last season of 63 games could influence this season? I don’t think anybody could know. We had a holiday, not too much, but we had a holiday, there were games here and normally the boys are used to these kinds of things. They all looked fine and then it started with Diogo Jota coming back from international duty and getting injured and then bam, bam, bam. So that’s how it starts. There is a lot of bad luck, I know. Bad luck is only a reasonable point when you have it yourself. For everybody else bad luck is ‘yeah, so what?’. Maybe we are but would I do anything different? I wouldn’t go in the first week of pre-season to Asia, not because Asia is not great, but I would go in the third week to Asia or something like that. It was not really in our hands” said Klopp.Sometimes, you just have to make do with what you’ve gotDarwin Nunez has been added with the injury list so it’s easy to predict that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah will lead the line in Brighton. The Reds have lost three of their last seven league games, as many defeats as in the previous 37 combined. Brighton’s coach Roberto De Zerbi decided to leave Leandro Trossard out of the squad due to his attitude after coming back from the World Cup, and now the Belgian is looking for a way out of the club. The Italian tactician took over Graham Potter who left for Chelsea and ended winning a point at Anfield in a thrilling 3-3 draw in October 2022. Brighton have earned 14 points in 11 league games under De Zerbi.PREMIER LEAGUEThursdayFulham – Chelsea 2-1 (1-0)/Willian 25, Vinicius 73 – Koulibaly 47/FridayAston Villa – Leeds United 2-1 (1-0)/Bailey 3, Buendia 64 – Bamford 83/Saturday15:30: (5.40) Man.Utd. (3.70) Man.City (1.75)18:00: (2.70) Wolverhampton (3.05) West Ham (2.80)18:00: (3.05) Nott.Forest (3.25) Leicester (2.55)18:00: (3.80) Brighton (3.60) Liverpool (2.05)18:00: (2.25) Everton (3.25) Southampton (3.60)20:30: (1.65) Brentford (3.90) Bournemouth (6.00)Sunday17:00: (1.62) Newcastle (4.00) Fulham (6.25)17:00: (1.65) Chelsea (3.80) Crystal Palace (6.25)19:30: (3.60) Tottenham (3.50) Arsenal (2.15)***odds are subject to change***———————————————
