“The absolute limit”- Former English international outlines major issues behind Liverpool’s struggles

Daniel Sturridge lists out the things going wrong at Liverpool this season

Speaking after the Chelsea game, former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has claimed that the Reds’ lack of identity and cohesion has led to them having an underwhelming season.

Liverpool played out an uninspiring goalless draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. If we hadn’t known by now, that game showed how far Jurgen Klopp’s men have fallen compared to the last few seasons.

The manager made a host of changes, with rests to key players Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson, while Virgil van Dijk was ill and unavailable. While there were new faces on the field, the performance level remained the same.

Here’s what Sturridge said when asked about the things that have gone wrong at Liverpool this season (h/t Liverpool Echo):

“I think it’s the life of a footballer and of a team who have been pushing themselves to the absolute limit for a very long time.

“They’ve put a lot of great results together over the past many years and won a lot of trophies but now they’re in a bit of a blip, I would like to say, a little bit in the sense that they’ve lost a lot of confidence, mental fatigue I would say is involved as well.

It is not difficult to analyse Liverpool at the moment. Hence, whatever Sturridge has said is mostly spot on. The Reds are underwhelming in every facet of their game and the coaching has not been great throughout this season.

Did playing 63 games last season and missing out on immortality by two games drain them mentally? Or did they become complacent after such a dominant season last time around and struggled to retain the focus and intensity?

To eradicate this, the club might have signed some new players when things were good. Instead, they allowed things to slowly erode and make it difficult for themselves in the coming summer.

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To get back to where they want to be next season, Klopp and his staff have to do a lot of work in the transfer market. It is not about tweaking a few pieces here and there now. There is a major surgery that needs to be done, especially in the midfield department. Let’s hope it happens irrespective of playing Champions League football next season.