Even the most pessimistic of Liverpool FC supporters would not have expected us to come unstuck against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Wednesday. As such, the convincing 4-0 victory barely raised an eyebrow.
“It is the first period in my life that we can win average matches,” Jurgen Klopp said immediately after Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Huddersfield on Saturday. Boy, he’s not wrong either.
The dangers of the international break to club sides have been laid bare this week as the queue for the Liverpool treatment room gets even longer. Mo Salah injured himself while scoring direct form a corner for Egypt – sometimes, the luck really isn’t with you, and the thigh strain suffered has kept him out of training until Thursday, when he is rumoured to be returning to the fray.
You would have to go back months – years even – to find the last time that Liverpool failed to register a single shot on target in a football match. But that’s exactly what happened in Naples on Tuesday, when the Reds toiled to a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Napoli in the Champions League.
Two games in the space of three days against Chelsea have served up frustration and food for thought in equal measure for Jurgen Klopp. While defeat in the Carabao Cup perhaps isn’t the end of the world – we have bigger fish to fry this season, the absorbing 1-1 draw against the Blues on Saturday in the league highlighted that we may still have another step up in class to make if we want to genuinely challenge for the title.