This is the end of an era for Liverpool. Liverpool put in their worst ever performance under Jurgen Klopp as they got humiliated by relegation fodder Wolves 3-0, proving the end of an era is coming for the Reds.
The title and Champions League winning squad of the past four years has officially come to an end…and it’s getting painful to watch.
In yet another new low for Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side, the Reds have been absolutely DEMOLISHED by a Wolves side that not only is in the Bottom-6 of the Premier League table (currently 16th), but also has been the worst goalscoring side in the league.
For Liverpool to be beaten 3-0 by a team that came into the match having scored 12 goals in 21 matches is simply inexcusable and indicative of where this current team is: in a rebuild.
The signs were there going back to the start of the season when they were beaten by an out-of-form Manchester United side 2-1 and then thrashed 4-1 by an extremely good Napoli side in the Champions League group stages, but the deficiencies in the midfield press and defense were covered by huge results against Rangers (7-1), Bournemouth (9-0), and Manchester City (1-0).
Yet, ever since late October, Liverpool have been a shell of the side that made the Champions League Final last season as this game showed.
Liverpool were simply out-hustled to every second ball and loose ball in the opening 15-30 minutes against Wolves, which ended up sealing their fate as a Joel Matip OG in the 5th minute and a Craig Dawsons’ hammer-strike in the 12th minute proved to be enough to beat them. Though, that’s not saying much.
Despite controlling 59% of the ball and racking up 22 shots, Liverpool’s defense still allowed 12 shots from Wolves (6 on target), Wolves had a little under 100 less passes than the Reds (normally, Liverpool averages double the number passes their opponents get), Wolves were able to complete 74% of those passes, and they earned 2 corners.
So, in other words, Liverpool never controlled the midfield, despite having players like Thiago, Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson, James Milner (all Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, and/or Champions League winning players) playing in their today.
In truth, this kind of result can only say one thing about Liverpool’s midfield: it needs to be blown up and rebuilt.
I’ll give Stefan Bajcetic a pass as I thought he played pretty well given his young age and the circumstances around the team, but players like Henderson, Milner, Keita, Fabinho (who didn’t feature today), and Thiago need to go. They’re simply past their best and can no longer press the opposition into oblivion, which was the key to all of Liverpool’s success in the past seven years.
If they continue to roam (more like meander) the midfield due to a lack of fresh bodies being brought in, then Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp will have to deal with even more of these humiliating defeats and drop further down the league table.
The defense and offense are slightly different cases as both have suffered from serious injuries (offense: Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino; defense: Virgil van Dijk) to their, respective, ranks, which makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly who needs to be moved on.
Still, it’s rather obvious to see players like Joe Gomez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin (who’s somehow still on this team), Harvey Elliott, and maybe even Trent Alexander-Arnold needs to get moved on as they either were never good enough or have been exposed this season.
As for Wolves, they should have enough midfield and defensive prowess to stay up in the league.
Having Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, and Mario Lemina in the midfield makes them one of the most competitive units in the Premier League, while a defense of Craig Dawson, Max Kilman, Nelson Semedo, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Jose Sa should be good enough to stop half the offenses.
Plus, Julen Lopetegui is a fantastic manager and specializes in working with mid-table/average-level clubs as his masterful work in Sevilla (he won the Europa League and earned numerous Champions League entries) over the last few seasons proved.
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