Jurgen Klopp says last season’s 64-game campaign has impacted Liverpool this time around

Throwback to last year. In March 2022, after enduring the problematic injury-laid campaign a season prior, Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp were soaring high in all competitions and just a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League points table.

Klopp’s side had just won the Carabao Cup and were on their way to the Quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. It is a shame that last season ended with only two domestic titles, but pushing Manchester City to the last day of the league, and playing very well in the UEFA Champions League final was a worthy enough achievement.

The Reds played all possible games last season and were potentially two results away from cementing themselves in footballing folklore. Despite falling just short, it is fair to say that the herculean effort has had an effect on the players.

This season though is a completely different story. Liverpool sits seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester United and sixteen points behind leaders Arsenal in the table. The performances of the team are alarming, to say the least and have lacked the control shown last season.

Fatigue is real in football and it could have had its effect on the players, and that is what manager Jurgen Klopp spoke about. Here is what he said via The Independent:

“It must have. Must have. We can say that now.

“There was no book written about it, there was no data about it, there was nothing about it because nobody played that many games ever before – maybe they played that many games but for other reasons – but we were in finals so we really were high flying.”

Is Fatigue actually the issue?

So many injury issues piling up adding to the already problematic inconsistencies in the performance of certain players and all of that has caused the Reds’ campaign to take a toll. However, that is no excuse as the Reds have not reinforced their squad when the need arose and there has not been enough support from the owners in terms of investments as well.

Even though we see ourselves through to the next round of the UCL this time, domestic performances have not been at the level desired, and something certainly needs to change, starting with a midfield overhaul. Fatigue could stand avoided very well by having enough good quality backup for the players and that is something the Reds do not have.

Liverpool’s midfield stands plagued by inconsistent performances and the age issue, with many of the current players approaching the latter stages of their careers. It is imperative that the club looks to bring in a number of midfielders in order to address these issues and bolster the squad as it seems like the team is losing the identity of “the pressing players” and “mentality monsters”.

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This is absolutely essential in the club’s bid to maintain its position at the summit of the footballing world as we have seen Liverpool do in the past five-six seasons and nobody better than Klopp to manage the issue we have at hand.