Liverpool are staring at the possibility of ending their season in the worst possible way after losing to Crystal Palace on Sunday, with Arsenal following suit and suffering a defeat at home to Aston Villa.
When Jurgen Klopp announced that he was going to leave at the end of the season, many were hoping that it would spark the season into life and push the team to win multiple trophies.
You could see that energy being expressed when Liverpool won the League Cup at Chelsea’s expense at Wembley and how everyone was on the highest of highs.
But fast forward to the present, it seems to be going all wrong, with it looking likely that Klopp’s reign ends with only that Carabao Cup triumph, as Liverpool and Arsenal handed Manchester City the initiative in the Premier League title race.
Liverpool only have themselves to blame, with the players in the final third, from Mohamed Salah to Darwin Nunez coming under serious stick.
Once again, the goals should have flooded in against Palace, yet Nunez missed a chance from close-blank range, Diogo Jota saw his effort saved on the line and Curtis Jones fired his one-v-one opportunity wide.
Ian Wright was critical of Salah for not taking his chances because he is a ‘different calibre’ of player to his teammates, as he told Premier League Productions (14/04/24 at 7:20 pm).
But the former striker was left baffled by Nunez for deciding to blast the ball from five yards out when he should have placed it.
Wright was sure to mention that he ‘wasn’t digging him out’, but was still left baffled by his call and compared him to Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard, who missed a not-too-dissimilar opportunity when his team were goalless against Aston Villa, before going on to lose 2-0.
Darwin Nunez’s miss
“How can you put your finger on Mo Salah missing those chances,” said Wright.
“Yet, you look at someone like Nunez and Diaz, they are different kind of players. But Mo Salah is a different calibre of player. He misses chances and we have seen him miss chances. Then you see the rest of the team missing chances.
“What happens is that the pressure builds on the next chance and then the next chance. Like we saw with that chance from Nunez and the same with Jota. Now they are thinking about it rather than just doing it.
“You look at the Nunez one. I am not digging him out. But he is four yards out, but he has hit it as if he’s 25 yards out – all you need to do is put it to the side, the goalkeeper can’t move. He is rooted, so you put it any side of him and he won’t be able to really spring because he is on his heels. It’s the same chance we saw with Trossard in the Arsenal game. You are giving the goalkeeper a chance to save it when you should give them no chance to save it.”
Liverpool missing Diogo Jota
Even though Salah is always the main goal threat, has the big numbers and has delivered in the big moments for the team.
The general consensus is that Jota, who came off the bench against Palace, is the best finisher at the club.
Liverpool have seriously missed his quality in front of goal and the quicker he starts, the better for the club’s chances of ending the season on a high.
Yes, the Reds have put themselves on the back foot, but there is still a lot to play for and they can still take the title race to the final day, as well as still believe that they can progress in the Europa League.