Arsene Wenger struggles to understand what’s wrong with Liverpool right now. The Reds dropped yet more points at Anfield this weekend.
Arsene Wenger is the latest to share his thoughts on a struggling Liverpool side. Jurgen Klopp saw his team draw 3-3 with Brighton on Saturday – a game in which they were all over the place.
Brighton found a 2-0 lead early on and it would have been far more if not for Alisson. Liverpool, though, were resurgent and hit back with three goals to take the lead for themselves.
Klopp, however, admitted after the game that the wasn’t entirely confident that Liverpool would hold onto that lead. They inevitably failed to, with Leandro Trossard completing an Anfield hat-trick.
This, of course, is merely the latest match in which Liverpool didn’t look right. They’ve consistently struggled to control games – a stark contrast to their peak over the last five years.
So what’s wrong? Wenger gave it a go at explaining for beIN sports this weekend. The Ex-Arsenal boss really isn’t sure, however.
It’s difficult to understand,” says Wenger. “Because they have the same core, the same type of game. They are less efficient at winning the ball back than before and they’re less vertical as well.
And certainly, Nunez at the moment hasn’t worked out for them. They made a big investment and he’s sitting on the bench. Of course, they lost [Sadio] Mané who was a top-level, big-game player.
“He had something. An aggressive attitude and determination in the big games. It’s difficult to measure how much that takes away.”
Arsene Wenger can’t figure out what’s wrong with Liverpool
We know that Wenger is a massive fan of Mané and previous comments show that well. It’s difficult to say that his exit is why Liverpool struggle, though.
To be fair, Wenger doesn’t quite agree with that and only really goes into it because John Terry suggests it’s the primary reason. Losing Mané, as good as he is, wouldn’t explain why Liverpool can’t stop counter-attacks and passes between the defensive lines, though.
Instead, the real reasons are likely found in a mix of things. Exhaustion is one, certainly, while some players just aren’t quite as good as they were a year or two ago. Age will be a factor in that.
Mix in that this is a very difficult team to learn a style in – only a handful have done it quickly – and new additions won’t have a great impact. Regardless of the reasons, though, change is necessary.
We’ll see what Klopp does over the coming weeks.
