A month and a half ago, we all thought that this new Premier League edition would be an extension of the battle for the title from last year between Manchester City and Liverpool. It is true that the ‘Skyblue’ squad have responded the right way except for two draws on the road and we can’t really criticize them on their start into the new season.
However, and against all odds, the team coached by Jürgen Klopp have not started the season at their best both in the Premier League and in the Champions League. The ‘Reds’, who strengthened themselves decently in this summer transfer market by adding some new top players such as Darwin Núñez, have not began the new campaign the right way and they have already lost half of the points they could have so far.
Liverpool have only won two out of their first seven games in the Premier League, which makes them to be the most irregular team within the ‘Big Six’ group. Furthermore, their poor start contrasts with the outstanding start from other chasers such as Arsenal or Tottenham, which right now seem to be more worked than Klopp’s.
But the fact that Liverpool have only won 28% of their games in the Premier League is not a coincidence. This negative streak is due to several key aspects that have ended up bringing multiple doubts to Anfield. The defensive passivity is one of them. Furthermore, Trent Alexander-Arnold is being very criticized in the first few games into the competition.
In the ‘Reds’ debut in the Champions League against Napoli, the Englishman right back showed an evident passivity on defense, but also in the next game against Ajax, we saw him clearly ahead of the Dutchman’s left back in multiple plays, which created several breakdowns in the English defense. Furthermore, we must also add that he has not given a single assist yet so far, which is one of his biggest qualities and the one that hid his poor performing backwards.
Salah is another player that has not started at his best level yet, even though his numbers are not that bad. Two goals and three assists in seven games are decent numbers. But the Egyptian has used us to make the difference for the last four seasons, and it is true that this year he is missing too many scoring chances.
And if we talk about missing scoring chances, we must also name Darwin Núñez. The Uruguayan striker has the same red cards and goals and right now is too far away from who should be his main competitor for the Golden Boot, Erling Haaland. Darwin will certainly have to improve a lot to get closer to the Norwegians’s numbers.
All in all, Liverpool have not started their best way into the new season. We all know the huge potential of their roster, which is built to battle for the Premier League title against Manchester City, but it is obvious that, either for a series of individualities or for the team itself, Kopp’s squad is now eleven points away from the top and have a lot to work on. Let’s see if they are able to change the course of their doubtful start.
Translated by Guillermo Bermejo.
Main image: @LFC.
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