By the time Liverpool run out onto the pitch at Anfield on Saturday, it will have been a full 18 days since they last engaged in competitive football. Is that a good thing? Only time will tell, although you suspect Jurgen Klopp will have been happy to hand a rest to some of his injury-ravaged stars.
With Saturday’s game against Wolves postponed, it has given the Liverpool players and coaching staff time to reflect on what has been a below-par start to the campaign.
Points have been dropped liberally in the Premier League, and while it would be foolhardy to suggest that the Reds’ race is run already as far as the title is concerned, it will take a fantastic effort to reel in the Erling Haaland-powered Manchester City.
It’s a game that Liverpool fans present will forever remember as the nightmare in Naples. Be under no illusions, the 1-4 scoreline did not flatter Napoli as they laid siege to the Reds’ goal in their Champions League clash on Wednesday evening, and it would not be unjust to suggest that the Italians could and perhaps should have scored more.
Liverpool’s chances of recapturing the Premier League crown took another hit on Saturday with more dropped points. The goalless draw at Goodison Park was an entertaining affair, but Jurgen Klopp will be left ruing the fact that his players hit the Everton woodwork on three separate occasions through Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Luis Dias, while effervescent substitute Bobby Firmino forced Jordan Pickford to make a catalogue of good saves.
The cheer that greeted Fabio Carvalho’s 98th minute winner against Newcastle United on Wednesday was as loud as anything witnessed at Anfield in some time. That’s perhaps testament to how far the Magpies have come since they welcomed the Saudi blood money, sorry, investment into the club, but also there was a sense of relief for Liverpool fans that their team’s dominance was finally rewarded with practically the last kick of the game.
Well, to say that was unexpected is something of an understatement. Liverpool went from on the ropes to equalling the record Premier League win in a matter of days, with the rampant Reds slamming nine goals past a hapless Bournemouth side.
Liverpool’s slump continued on Monday evening when a 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford condemned them to a third straight game without a win in the Premier League. Although the panic button is yet to be pressed, there are definitely fingers lingering poised after the Reds tasted defeat against a Manchester United side that had been trounced by Brentford just days earlier.
The average football season is kind of like that old fable about the hare and the tortoise – it’s not how you start that’s important, but how you finish. Mind you, even the sluggish tortoise got some momentum up in the end, and Jurgen Klopp will be mildly concerned that his Liverpool side are yet to win a Premier League game in 2022/23 – especially as champions Man City have blitzed their way to a perfect start and six goals into the bargain.
Well, that didn’t pan out as expected.
Liverpool would have been sensing a comfortable victory against Fulham to open their Premier League account last week, but Jurgen Klopp’s men twice had to come from behind to salvage a point.
We’re barely into August and Liverpool already have their first trophy of the season in the cabinet!
Call it a glorified friendly if you want, but the intensity that the Reds and Manchester City showed in the Community Shield game on Saturday tells you everything you need to know about these sides – both were desperate to get one over on the other, as much as getting their hands on the trophy.