With inconsistent results accompanying a clear lack of identity this season have Liverpool become an unlikeable football team?…
WATCHING that first seven minutes unfold on Tuesday night was indicative of the rollercoaster we’ve been on with Liverpool this season.
Another thought also crossed my mind, which was that a Jürgen Klopp team from 2017-2022 would have been in its element with so many high turnover and counterpressing opportunities.
Sure, there were times in Klopp’s early tenure when games like Seville could happen and early chaos played out in a 3-3 draw or similar.
But identity was everywhere. We knew what it was or was becoming. We knew the risks and rewards. The buy-in was overwhelming on the pitch and off.
My nostalgic revisionism doesn’t serve anyone, really. It does however remind us that since we embarked on the German’s first full season in the summer of 2016, we’ve never really had a Liverpool team we disliked.
The 2020 Liverpool side drew more apathy than rage. Sure, it could drive you to heartbreak, but we were locked behind a glass cage. We were Walter White screaming from inside the car.
Klopp’s gap year in 2022-23 was the closest we ever came to asking serious questions about them. Those defeats away to Brighton, Wolves and Brentford were so abject in desire and legs that people were right to demand more.
But we never turned. Why? Because the raw materials were always there. Also because the problem was so obvious to see. It was a defensive injury crisis or a midfield legs crisis. Players needed to return or be moved on.
Most importantly, it was Klopp’s ability to string together 10 and 11 game unbeaten runs at the end of both seasons which reinstated belief that things would get better the following season.
Liverpool currently don’t look like any such momentum can be attained. Denting Champions League results and a pig of an FA Cup draw has poured cold water on adventurous cup hopes.
Liverpool are unpredictable and unreliable. Their last four results read win, lose, win, lose.
I was at Anfield for the first of those wins against West Ham and it’s the most unpleasant I’ve heard in over 10 years.
This wasn’t nerves or pensiveness entering the atmosphere. It was anger and frustration.
Disliking your own team is far more commonplace than we’ve been exposed to. The thought of booing anyone other than the opposition has rightly been mocked in Anfield quarters.
But now we’re faced with the dilemma of a football team some supporters seem genuinely pissed off with.
They look lethargic and lacking concentration. They’re not horrible or smart enough in every sense. There’s a vulnerability about them that manifests everywhere.
It feels like supporters have stopped trusting them and stopped seeing the plan. When that happens, pandemonium usually ensues.
Do they get a pass? Absolutely yes. The club was plunged into grief in the summer. It undoubtedly disrupted everything. It zapped hearts and legs.
Diogo Jota’s death was a tragedy which is still being processed. But football still happens. With it comes a watching world with divvies like me highlighting your flaws.
For Arne Slot, the only answer is winning. It’s the greatest mute button he has at his disposal.
Yet winning requires focus and steel. Liverpool currently have none for longer than odd flashes.
On Sunday, football’s greatest Shakespearean tragedy comes to Anfield.
Tottenham are the ultimate crisis club right now. They’ll be a reminder that things can always be worse.
Liverpool have to win well. But they must also make this part of something bigger. Time is running out to give this season purpose.
Supporters need to see something they can get behind. They also need to help the team when it’s struggling. Finding the right balance to this is far harder than we ever remember.
