05 Feb 2023 17:10:39
Liverpool currently sit the same number of points from 4th as they do from 18th, where Everton currently sit. If this team does not have a fight for top 4 in them then they certainly will not have a fight to stay up in them. Relegation can happen. I love this club but cannot blindly support players who seem to have simply given up. Its easy to put effort in when you are winning titles and cups, but doing it when you are in a 10 month long slump is another matter. Forget reputations and what you have won in previous seasons, fight! Fight for the club and fight for the fans. Most of all fight for your own personal pride. They need to start doing that as if Everton turn us over next Monday, which they could do with thier new found fight and spirit, and Madrid give us a hiding the week after our season is over and we will just free fall. There seems to be no urgency about the players, they just drift around the pitch expecting it to happen. Its starting to look like they simply do not care if they win and are just picking up a pay check.

1.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 17:38:08
King, our top scorer since the World Cup is Wout Faes of Leicester with his 2 own Goals.

2.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 18:10:02
I don’t think that the players have given up myself. I think that in general, it is something that gets thrown about far more than is warranted. Even if that were true, I also don’t really believe in the individual responsibility of players. If they aren’t playing for the manager, then I immediately have to ask myself why the manager can’t command their respect.

In this instance, I don’t know if it is full on downed tools. We might be getting worse, but we were doing all the same things at the start of the season as well, and to me, it isn’t necessarily a lack of outright effort. It seems to more be along the lines of confusion and a total lack of confidence or belief in the way they are being told to play, which damages their ability to concentrate or react swiftly, something that can be mistaken for laziness.

The players looked lost at sea at the start of the season, and even more so now. Not much has changed at all. I get the sense that there are bad vibes behind the scenes, not bad vibes because of the bad form, but that bad vibes that have led to bad form. There have been murmurs of fractures between the backroom staff, but I don’t get the impression that this is the case with the squad.

To me they look like a load of helpless children, completely checked out, dejected and even scared whenever they take to the field. When the manager continues to shrug his shoulders after every game, unable to understand why things are going so wrong, I would be fed up too. I’ve even seen rumours that many of them really don’t get on with some of the backroom staff, who seem to have run amok with their influence these days. All the while the manager just stands back and accepts defeat.

There is no leadership at any level of the club, from the ownership down to the players. The only man who can get a grip of the situation is Klopp. Not the owners, the ‘transfer committee’, not the staff, not the players, it’s Klopp. He needs to show a bit of self awareness and fire in his belly, and I’m not seeing either of those things. Where he was once the driving force, he now seems to be the most passive person at the club. I don’t know if he has it in him, and if that is the case, he should step aside in the summer.

One things for sure though, something stinks behind the scenes, and badly. It doesn’t feel right to me, but I don’t think it translates to the players downing tools. Not yet at least.

3.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 18:32:01
That’s a fair assessment Anonymous Woolback.

4.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 18:53:41
AW you could be right that the players may not have downed tools BUT if that team had a manager NOT named Jurgen Klopp, we would all b saying that said manager should be gone in the morning cos the players have clearly stopped playing for him and have completely tuned him out.

That is what struck me immediately after watching just MOTD, not even the game as a whole. Heaven knows what I would have thought had I watched the full 90 mins. Like you I don’t know what is happening BUT it deep and it stinks so much.

5.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 19:06:09
We need 11 to hit 40 which we’ll get but i don’t think we get more than 20 from the last 18 games. Bit the bullet come 14th or so then give Klopp similar backing Potter got.

6.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 19:34:51
Only two managers in history have won every trophy available sir Alex and Klopp let’s believe.

7.) 05 Feb 2023
05 Feb 2023 20:02:00
Really good post Woolback, I agree with a lot of what you say. Players not playing for a manager is a cliche that the media throw out and it gets parroted everywhere. For me it's ultimately a manager not doing his job well enough.

I also can't see Klopp stepping aside, he'll want to fix this. Alhough personally I don't believe he has it in him to be ruthless with this group of players. If he could tune into his inner Fergie this summer that would be great, it would also mean half the squad would be gone!

8.) 06 Feb 2023
06 Feb 2023 02:27:00
The players haven't given up but what is transparent from recent games is we have lost aggression, motivation and tenacity. We are second to every loose ball and are not dominating our individual opponents. I can only think the reason for this must be psychological or tactical. Remember when teams put 2 defenders on Salah and he still scored a brace? Remember when Allison would spend the match dunking teabags because long balls and high balls were easily dealt with by VVD and co? We’re making the likes of Brighton and Wolves look better than they are by our lack of competitiveness as much as our poor tactics and injuries.