The Kopite View

It’s not been a good start to 2017 for Liverpool, with only one win so far this month. Wednesday brought more misery for the legions of Reds supporters as Southampton knocked Liverpool out of the two-legged Capital One Cup semi-final.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have also dropped down to fourth position in the Premier League after failing to win any of their last three games, and after such a good start to the season it looks like the wheels could be coming off.

Failure to reach Wembley last Wednesday night was a big disappointment for the supporters, especially after losing to Swansea City last Saturday.

Liverpool now have a tricky FA Cup-tie against Wolves tomorrow before facing league leaders Chelsea on Tuesday night, with both games being at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his team can record a couple of much needed wins to end this difficult month.

Many people believe that opposing teams have worked out how to play against Liverpool, by sitting deep and counter-attacking, but Liverpool were scoring against teams deploying those tactics earlier in the season, but injuries to Lallana, Coutinho, Henderson, Matip and the absence of Sadio Mane have affected the team’s form badly.

Even Mr. Reliable a.k.a. Nathaniel Clyne is struggling with injury and some players don’t look 100% fit at the moment.

Klopp’s high intensity style of play needs players to be fully fit and the energy and high-tempo hasn’t been there in recent weeks resulting in Liverpool struggling for form.

Liverpool do need a confidence boosting win quickly because it is obvious that the team’s morale has taken a knock.

But all teams go through difficult times during a season and Liverpool are going through one just now.

Amazingly some supporters were calling for Klopp’s head after Wednesday night’s defeat, supporters have to be patient because Liverpool are very lucky to have one of the best coaches in the world working at the club.

Klopp is a coach that likes to build for the future, he is not a Mourinho or Guardiola that will spend millions to bring instant success, he wants to build a successful side through developing young players and gelling a team that will grow successfully together, and although we all want instant success at Liverpool, we need to trust his philosophy and methods, and give him time to work his magic.

Liverpool have been struggling for form since the start of the year, but the news that Philippe Coutinho has signed a new long-term contract is encouraging news ahead of tonight’s Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg against Southampton at Anfield.

Coutinho has developed into arguably Liverpool’s most important player and it is good to see the club move swiftly to reward one of their top performers with a new improved contract.

Liverpool supporters have not had much to cheer about this year with only a 1-0 win over Plymouth in the FA Cup to celebrate, but although their form has dipped recently, they still have much to play for and Coutinho’s news could be the perfect boost to help them overturn Southampton’s 1-0 first-leg advantage in tonight’s semi-final.

Jurgen Klopp is building something at Liverpool, and although Liverpool supporters are impatient for success, it is vital that they keep their key players happy and the news about Coutinho signing a new contract is a big statement by the club.

Coutinho’s new contract is believed to be a 5-yeat contract and worth around £150,000 a week, making him the highest paid player at Anfield.

The Brazilian playmaker has been attracting interest from abroad, with the likes of Barcelona mentioned, but Liverpool believe that Coutinho’s new deal has been signed by a player that will be at the club for the long haul.

I was lucky enough to catch Liverpool under-23’s match against Ipswich on Sunday on LFCTV, it helped me recover from Saturday’s disappointment against Swansea City.

The youngsters put on quite a show resulting in a convincing 3-0 win, it was good to see so many players that have featured in Jurgen Klopp’s first team.

Ben Woodburn, Harry Wilson, Sheyi Ojo, Kevin Stewart, Joe Gomez lined up alongside first team regular Joel Matip for Michael Garrity’s side.

But the star of the show was young Rhian Brewster who was making his debut for the under-23’s.

The teenager only turned 17 earlier this month but his performance against Ipswich caught the eye.

Brewster started in attack, scored a goal and put in a very impressive performance on his debut.

He has bags of ability with a maturity beyond his years and he is very quick.

Brewster’s ability to bring others into play was particularly eye-catching, because many strikers can be wasteful with only a selfish eye for goal, but the 17-year-old wasn’t afraid to shoot either as he showed by producing a couple of long-range, powerful first-time shots.

It is very easy to get carried away when you see a youngster have such a good game because it is so difficult to break into the first team at Liverpool, and even more difficult to become a regular, but first impressions of Rhian Brewster are very encouraging, so remember the name.

Virtually everyone that attended Anfield on Saturday expected Liverpool to win against Swansea City, the only question was by how many?

Unfortunately for Liverpool supporters was the Swansea players hadn’t read the script and stunned Anfield with a 3-2 win.

The result is a massive setback to Liverpool’s title hopes and it now looks like they will have a battle to remain in the top four.

Although the defeat was unexpected, it was a hardly a surprise because Liverpool supporters have suffered so many disappointing results like these in the past and these sort of results have scuppered their chances of winning the title for too many years.

Other than some disappointing results this season like the defeats at Burnley and Bournemouth before Saturday’s loss, Liverpool have some concerns that could cost them dear in the remainder of the season.

Liverpool have two tough cup-ties this week and the worst case scenario could see them with only the league to focus on this time next week because Klopp will look to rotate his players to deal with the fixture congestion with one eye on the massive league fixture against Chelsea next week.

Injuries to key players in the last few weeks have seen Liverpool’s form dip and it proves that Klopp’s squad isn’t strong enough just yet and certainly not as strong as other title contenders like Manchester City, Manchester United, Spurs, Arsenal or Chelsea.

Another worry is that teams are seemingly working out how to play against Liverpool by sitting deep and defending narrowly against them and making it difficult to play against because Liverpool lack width in the team especially with Sadio Mane unavailable at the moment.

The Reds have been struggling to create as many chances in recent weeks and are suddenly struggling to find the back of the net compared to earlier in the season.

Defensively, Liverpool have looked solid some weeks like they did away to Manchester United and the home win against Manchester City but too often they have been poor like they were in Saturday’s defeat.

Saturday’s performance also looked like some Liverpool players were not 100% fit, Clyne certainly didn’t and Coutinho and Henderson didn’t look as sharp as usual.

Hopefully this is just a mini-slump of form at the moment for Liverpool and they can bounce back quickly with two wins in the cup this week.

Liverpool produced arguably their worst performance of the season last night as they lost 1-0 to a determined Southampton side in the first leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final.

The margin of the defeat could have been greater with the home side spurning a host of chances that could’ve put the tie to bed.

The game was actually similar to the 0-0 Premier League match played earlier in the season between the two sides, apart from Southampton posing a greater threat on the counter-attack on this occasion.

Although Liverpool lost, they still have a great chance to reach Wembley with the second leg being played at Anfield.

The game produced a familiar spectacle for Liverpool supporters in recent weeks with their favourites dominating possession for long periods without creating many goalscoring opportunities.

Although Liverpool scored on two occasions in the disappointing 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the beginning of 2017, they didn’t do enough on the day to win the game, and although manager Jurgen Klopp rang the changes in a very youthful line-up against Plymouth in the FA Cup at the weekend, they failed to score, or produce any clean cut scoring chances.

The lack of experience was put as an excuse to why Liverpool couldn’t beat Plymouth but Klopp fielded a strong team against Southampton and once again struggled to create chances against another team deploying the old ‘parking the bus’ tactics.

There is a number of factors contributing to Liverpool’s recent slump in form –

1. Injuries – injuries to key players like Matip and Henderson have been a big loss and although Liverpool were still recording good results without Coutinho, they need him back to his best and last night’s highlight was the Brazilian’s return to action when he was introduced in the second half.
2. Mane- although he played and scored in the 2-2 draw against Sunderland, his absence in the last two games was sorely missed with Liverpool lacking someone with lightning pace to frighten defences.
3. Loss of Form- Too many players are struggling for form at the moment, Firmino and Can are two of the obvious players struggling but Sturridge doesn’t look the player he was a couple of seasons ago and last night many others lost their form too.
4. Toxic Thunder- Liverpool need to bin their third kit, it’s horrible and the team have lost their three games this season whilst wearing it.

Liverpool are still in every competition but this month could be pivotal regarding the rest of their season, a tricky away trip to Plymouth in the FA Cup follows a massive fixture in the league against Manchester United this Sunday.

The second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final come at the end of the month so Liverpool must find their form quickly or see their season collapse after such good work up to now this season.

Is it just a blip? Time will tell.

Sadio Mane left Liverpool after scoring in his team’s 2-2 draw at Sunderland, the former Southampton player left to join up with his Senegal team-mates ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Mane has played a big part in Liverpool’s success this season after making his big-money move last summer from Southampton, his pace has given the Reds’ attack a new dimension and many supporters fear that his absence could see Liverpool’s attack struggle.

Mane is probably the only attacking player with lightning pace at Anfield, but manager Jurgen Klopp has other attacking options at his disposal, with Firmino, Origi, Coutinho, Lallana and Sturridge all available.

But I think Mane’s absence is just the chance Daniel Sturridge needs to get a run of games in Klopp’s team.

The England striker has endured a frustrating time this season, with only a few cameo appearances to show for his efforts so far this season.

Sturridge has shown his ability and value to Liverpool’s squad in the last few weeks, for example, he came off the bench at Goodison to play a major role in Mane’s derby winner before scoring in the 4-1 win over Stoke City, Sturridge also found the net in last Monday’s 2-2 draw away to Sunderland and his recent form could see him play a major role in Mane’s absence.

There is no doubting Sturridge’s ability but he has found himself struggling to get into Klopp’s side this season and this could be just be the opportunity he needs to show Klopp that he should be playing more regularly.

Although Sturridge has struggled for games this season, and possibly doesn’t suit Klopp’s style of play, I’ve felt all season that he has a vital role to play this season for Liverpool, and I really think this is his time.

Sunday’s draw at Sunderland was a massive disappointment for Liverpool supporters, especially after beating Manchester City a couple of days earlier, the win put the Reds in a strong position in second place, and only 6 points behind leaders Chelsea.

A victory against Sunderland would have put Liverpool only 3 points behind Chelsea and put pressure on the London club ahead of their clash against Tottenham Hotspur.

Unfortunately Liverpool couldn’t hold onto the lead against Davie Moyes’ team, they squandered the lead twice by conceding two penalties, and left the Reds’ supporters extremely frustrated.

Liverpool supporters are so frustratingly used to seeing their team build their hopes up after earning a good result and putting themselves in a challenging position, only to see them drop points against struggling sides.

Most supporters feared another Chelsea win on Wednesday night but Spurs ended the Premier League leaders’ superb winning run and gave the rest of the chasing pack including Liverpool encouragement by inflicting a 2-0 defeat on the men from Stamford Bridge.

Yes, Liverpool could have been only 3 points behind Chelsea, but they are still second in the league and in a strong position to challenge for the title, and instead of Chelsea extending their lead at the top of the league, the Reds have actually closed the gap to 5 points after the recent set of fixtures.

The Sunderland result was disappointing but it can’t be changed and Liverpool are still in a great position.

Mane is going to be a miss for the next few games but Liverpool’s injury list is clearing up and it is expected that Matip, Henderson and Coutinho should return to action soon, and Milner and Sturridge should be okay after picking up knocks at the weekend.

We have a tremendous manager at the moment and he has improved Liverpool’s team in such a short space of time and I’m expecting an exciting second half of the season.

When Klopp arrived at Anfield he told Liverpool supporters to become “believers”, I think they are far too many non-believers still around Anfield at the moment.

Come on let’s all believe.