The Great Blizzard of 2024

Liverpool suffered a second consecutive defeat at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, with the Reds struggling to convert their chances into goals.

Earlier this month, everything seemed to be going according to plan for Liverpool. The Reds had just beaten Sheffield United by three goals to one, and they held a healthy two-point lead at the summit of the Premier League.

Jürgen Klopp also had a Europa League quarter-final to navigate, with the German facing the exciting prospect of potentially securing three trophies in his final campaign at the helm.

Just three matches have been played since, but Liverpool haven’t won any of them. They have scored just two goals from a total of 67 shots, while conceding six times at the opposite end.

The Reds have seemingly crashed into an iceberg at the worst possible time, with the impact all but putting an end to Klopp’s last dance. A cold snap has descended on Merseyside, with Liverpool becoming sub-zero in front of goal.

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Before we delve into the main reason behind Liverpool’s sudden downfall — finishing — it’s worth dedicating some attention to the tactics employed to face Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.

I’m generally quick to absolve the manager of any blame when his team creates enough chances to win the match, but Klopp made a curious decision in the build-up to his clash with the Eagles.

He effectively restored his tactics of yesteryear by reverting back to last season. Liverpool started with a high-flying full-back duo in Conor Bradley and Andy Robertson, and a holding midfielder who basically can’t run.

This was the recipe that stung the Reds for so long last term, until the inversion of Trent Alexander-Arnold — as shown below — solved the problem by adding an extra body in the middle of the park.

Throughout this season, Klopp has predominantly maintained the presence of four players in the centre at all times, usually consisting of a midfield trio and an inverted full-back such as Alexander-Arnold or Joe Gomez.

Since the former has been injured, Klopp has used the latter to provide a degree of balance on the pitch. Gomez has regularly been deployed on the opposite flank to the more offensive full-back selected to play, with Robertson and Bradley rarely used together.

In terms of his profile, Wataru Endō isn’t that dissimilar to Fabinho upon inspection of his weaknesses. He’s not as young as he once was, but he wasn’t especially quick during his prime, either. His anticipation and reading of the game is great, but you need to be compact around him to make sure he’s not having to govern wide open spaces.

Gomez has assisted him over the past few weeks in that sense, but Klopp changed things up to face Palace, perhaps as a result of being unconvinced by his team’s recent showings in front of goal.

By deploying two very wide defenders who hug the touchline in Bradley and Robertson, Liverpool created width against Palace, but almost too much of it. Endō was left on his own to control a bunch of counters through the centre, and his display was so bad that he was substituted at half time.

Klopp’s assessment of his team’s performance during his post-match press conference was particularly interesting:

“We just were always too wide and the goal we conceded, [Eberechi] Eze ends up completely free in the box, that cannot happen. But we had other moments when they didn't end up in front of our goal where we were just not together. So, let me say it like this: if you press with 80 per cent you better don't [do it at all], because that makes no sense then because we had here and there.”

Liverpool ended up losing the match because of outrageous finishing issues, but they went behind in the first place because of how they played in the first 45 minutes.

Palace could have scored from any one of their numerous quick breaks, with the Reds appearing in desperate need of a capable safety net. Endō depicted shades of last season’s Fabinho, as a lone ranger getting outnumbered. His limitations were emphasised due to the lack of compactness around him.

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So it’s reasonable to suggest that Klopp perhaps got his tactics wrong at the beginning. Liverpool deserved to concede the opening goal, again. The first half was very annoying for us all, but guess what? We’ve seen that exact game a million times this season.

Your favourite major broadcaster loves reminding the world about Liverpool’s impressive record from losing positions. The Reds are experts at sparking unlikely comebacks, and this was just another one of those displays.

Klopp’s men grew into the bout, and although they never seemed to be as fluid as usual on the ball, they did create more than enough to win the contest. By the final whistle, Liverpool had generated 21 shots compared to Palace’s eight.

Their efforts were worth roughly 2.9 xG, and every one of Klopp’s forwards got on the end of his own big chance. Darwin Núñez gained a volley from six yards out, Mohamed Salah had a close-range shot cleared off the line by Tyrick Mitchell, and Diogo Jota — the ‘killer’ who everyone regards as clinical — missed an open goal, with his shot cleared off the line.

The only difference between this game and the countless others that we’ve witnessed at Anfield this season was the finishing part, the moment in which you convert your shot into a goal.

Everything else was there. The shaky start, the one-goal deficit, the attacking waves in the second half and the golden chances to wrestle back control of the game state, but this time, nobody managed to score.

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The clash effectively epitomised Liverpool’s major problem right now. For some reason, the ball just won’t go in the net, and you can put this down to anything you want, it all depends on the narrative you want to reinforce.

Liverpool’s finishing woes started when supporters stopped bringing flags into the stadium. Núñez isn’t worth £85m. Klopp’s departure announcement was made too early in the campaign. Salah is suddenly really old and definitely doesn’t deserve a new contract. The lads are shattered. Take your pick.

The takes won’t stop until Liverpool start picking up wins again, but make no mistake, the Reds would probably be just fine if they hadn’t been rocked by an unwelcome and unexpected blizzard. The Liver Building is covered in snow, and there’s a giant iceberg in the middle of the River Mersey. It’s freezing out there.

Klopp’s players are running cold right now, and that is probably an understatement. For the season as a whole, only Sheffield United, Chelsea, Brentford and Everton have been less deadly in the Premier League, and from their last 67 shots across their last three winless games, the Reds haven’t scored a single goal from open play.

Indeed, the 2.9 xG generated against Palace is Liverpool’s most on record in a Premier League match in which they did not score, and it’s the most xG without scoring by any side in the competition since Brighton and Hove Albion faced Norwich City in 2022.

Remember that miserable 3-0 loss against Atalanta just last week? That performance looked and felt pretty bad, but the Reds still managed to create shots worth 2.6 xG. They just didn’t score any of them.

The 2-2 draw against Manchester United just a few days before that followed a similar theme. Liverpool created shots worth 2.9 xG — excluding penalties — at Old Trafford, yet scored just once, and that was from a corner.

All of these numbers are nuts and completely inexplicable. Sometimes, you just go through these weird cold spells in football, and there’s no major reason behind it. It just happens, albeit not three times in the space of a week, and not when there’s a title on the line.

There’s almost nothing Klopp can do. His players are suffering from a real wobble at the moment. Some of their attempts are bad and hurried, but some are insanely unlucky, too.

When there’s a blizzard in town, you just need to stay warm and push through by not giving away much in defence and taking advantage of the odd scrappy goal in attack, but Liverpool have been far too leaky.

Klopp’s outfit have kept just two clean sheets from a possible 13 in the Premier League in 2024. You need goals if you’re going to overcome that weakness, but every player in red seems to have caught frostbite this month.

Whenever this sort of chill surfaces, it usually just disappears as quickly as it emerged in the first place. Liverpool will probably score six or more in one of their final remaining games, because that’s how finishing tends to work. You wait ages for a bus, and then Núñez scores four in half an hour.

Finishing is about as predictable as the weather. And if you’re accustomed to life in the UK, you’ll know how problematic that is.