Liverpool fans were bouncing into the Transfer Tavern throughout the Autumn months and crying aloud that this was going to be the season their long wait for a first ever Premier League title comes to an end.
Fast-forward to February and Kopites are pretty glum, with the EFL Cup and FA Cup both gone and their side now battling for a top four finish – which will be tough given that only three of the five teams immediately below Chelsea will be pulling up a chair for a spot at Europe’s top table in 2017/18.
However, Liverpool’s season has not been all doom and gloom and they indeed can be optimistic about the remaining matches of the season, with no continental football leaving them in a decent position to keep their best players fresh and ready, which is essential for the high-octane football they play. The likes of Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson have really shone this term, but who has let Klopp down?
Here are TWO players out landlord believes will be looked back on as the villains of the campaign at Anfield…
Emre Can
We’ve seen milk turn quicker than German midfielder Can. When the ex-Bayer Leverkusen man gets up to speed he’s a formidable runner, but it often takes the 23-year-old what feels like an eternity to get going, which is far from ideal in a team that relies on quick transitions and neat passes around the final third to feed the forwards and create chances.
Can is certainly not a poor footballer, but he really hasn’t been up to scratch for Klopp this season in his new 4-3-3 set-up, which has come as a shock given that he was among the first names on the team-sheet under the ex-Dortmund boss at the back end of 2015/16, as evidenced when he was rushed back from injury for the second leg of the Europa League semi-final win over Villarreal.
Perhaps the most worrying performance from Can came in the early January draw at Sunderland when he filled Jordan Henderson’s No.6 role and was often harassed and hounded out of possession by the Black Cats’ midfielders in a deflating 2-2 draw.
Daniel Sturridge
‘But he’s not had any opportunities!’ a rowdy Liverpudlian cries on his way out from the toilets, but the fact Sturridge has only scored twice in the Premier League this season is a massive cause for concern. The England striker has been out of the XI under Klopp for much of the campaign, but he failed to step up when the club needed him most through January when Philippe Coutinho was struggling to come back early from his injury lay-off and Sadio Mane was away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Although there are signs Sturridge has been trying to adapt to his manager’s unique style of play, it looks like he hasn’t really tried hard enough, and when he missed a glorious chance in the EFL Cup semi-final vs. Southampton at Anfield, it became clear that he’s just not the striker the club need now.
