Every single Premier League club is 90 minutes away from crisis at any given point in the season.
It doesn’t matter how many trophies you’ve won in recent memory, how many teams you’ve battered in previous weeks, how many brilliant players you have at your disposal, one bad defeat can send a fanbase into meltdown.
This week, that one bad defeat belongs to Liverpool.
The Reds suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to a Manchester United side that were beaten 4-0 by Brentford during gameweek two, leaving them without a win in their first three league games of the season.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Premier League’s ‘crisis club of the week’.
What’s the crisis?
Despite being widely expected to challenge on four fronts – as they did during the 2021/22 campaign – Liverpool have endured a rather disastrous start to the season.
Having disappointingly drawn with Crystal Palace and newly-promoted Fulham, the Reds really hit a nadir with their defeat to arch rivals Man Utd on Monday.
Liverpool now sit in 16th place and are a whopping seven points off of the pace at the top of the table already.
It’s not good.
Why are they in crisis?
Selling Sadio Mane, considering he’s scored four goals in four games for Bayern Munich and his replacement Darwin Nunez was sent off in his first start for the Reds, is arguably a contributing factor.
However, the main reasons are injuries and a lack of midfield recruitment.
Liverpool are currently without nine first-team players due to a wide range of ailments, with their three absentees in midfield being the real kicker for Jurgen Klopp.
Due to Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being injured, Klopp was forced to start Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Harvey Elliott in the middle of the park against Manchester United – a midfield which was thoroughly outfought on the night.
What can they do to rectify it?
Well the obvious short term fix is winning their next Premier League game at home to Bournemouth.
If you’ve been anywhere near Liverpool Twitter since the defeat to Man Utd, the long term fix really has to be signing a new midfielder before the transfer window closes.
That midfielder really needs to be:
A) Not injury prone.
B) Able to play a box-to-box role.
C) Really, really good.
Liverpool lack an athletic presence in the middle of the park who can drive the team forward with one quick jaunt up the field. There’s a few options to choose from for this role, and it’s clear that they need to pick and sign one ASAP.
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