In his latest weekly column, John Aldridge assesses another disappointing Liverpool afternoon against Tottenham Hotspur and why the Premier League could come to the rescue
Anybody who wants to know how far Liverpool have fallen this season needs only watch what happened against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Almost 12 months ago, the two teams met at Anfield and we absolutely battered them to seal a Premier League title triumph that was as emphatic as it was deserved.
But at the weekend Arne Slot’s side couldn’t even beat what was in effect a Tottenham reserve team given all the injuries and suspensions the visitors had.
Since that win against Spurs last April, Liverpool have lost 15 games in all competitions. That’s not very good at all.
A fair amount has been made about the booing at full-time on Sunday. I’ve been supporting Liverpool for more than 50 years and I still hate to hear the players being jeered at full-time.
But you can understand it. It has been a culmination of what the home fans have had to put up with at Anfield for much of the season. There hasn’t been a lot of enjoyment for anyone involved.
It’s not as though the players have been chucking it in. They haven’t. The effort was very much there but what there quite clearly isn’t much of is belief.
Then there’s the question of aggression. There just isn’t enough of it from Liverpool’s players. Sure, they might win the ball in a challenge, but then they give it away instantly because they aren’t showing enough conviction. If you’re going to head it, then properly head it. Clear it. It seems at times they are thinking too much about what the next pass might be rather than dealing with the situation there and then.
As ex-players watching on, we couldn’t believe what was happening in the build-up to Tottenham’s equaliser. You could see it coming a mile off.
The team has become anxious during the closing stages of games, and that once again cost us.
But the anxiety is happening at other key points in the game. Look at the end of the first half when we gifted Tottenham some chances. That surely helped them going into the second half.
Look, you’re always going to concede late on during a season. But you shouldn’t be doing it as many times as we have been, especially given so many of them have changed the outcome of matches.
Even if you take away just half of those late goals, we’d be a lot further up the table and probably be on the tails of Manchester City. Then you’re going into games with a totally different mindset and with more confidence. Those late goals are what are basically destroying our self-belief.
The problem on Sunday is we didn’t kill the game off. We got the lead and were on top, and then we simply let the game drift away from us and back into the hands of Tottenham.
There’ll be plenty of talk about the changes made by the manager, but on form how many of those who didn’t start deserved to?
You might say Alexander Isak and possibly Conor Bradley would have been good shouts had they been fit, and I’d have perhaps started with Hugo Ekitike and, if tiredness was an issue, taken him off after an hour.
I get that Slot probably thought his line-up had enough to beat Tottenham and, in truth, it should have done easily. A 1-0 win wouldn’t have been great but it would have been three points.
And that’s all that matters at the moments – results. Liverpool need to start getting more quickly.
Premier League salvation
Let’s be honest – the standard of the Premier League is pretty poor this season. And that might end up being good news for Liverpool.
You only have to look at the performances of the English teams in the Champions League last week to realise the top flight is somewhat over-rated.
Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are already effectively out, we could easily have lost by more at Galatasaray and Arsenal scraped a draw.
Newcastle United were the only ones to gain a good result but you’d still not have them as favourites to go through at Barcelona.
What it all means is that despite so many indifferent performances, Liverpool are still very much in the hunt for Champions League qualification.
But let’s be clear – that was two massive points dropped against Tottenham Hotspur that could prove crucial.
We are going to need to turn up at Brighton on Saturday. It isn’t going to be any easier there.