Why Liverpool are no longer f***ing mentality monsters

Carlo Garganese

• 4 Apr 2023 12:50 BST
• 5 min read

“F***ing mentality monsters.”

The words of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp back in 2019 when the Reds completed a historic comeback in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.

He’s said it a few times since, mentioning it after the Champions League semi-final victory over Villarreal last season. Liverpool found themselves 2-0 down at half-time in Spain and the hosts were threatening a shock result until a second-half turnaround saw the Reds run out 3-2 winners on the night and 5-2 on aggregate.

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The Merseysiders didn’t seem to ever know when they were beaten. They had this unquantifiable trait that aided them in winning everything under the German tactician.

That seems to be lacking at the minute. Liverpool lack confidence right now. As soon as they concede a goal, you can see the doubt creep into their game. The Reds took the lead against both Real Madrid and Manchester City before imploding. The LaLiga giants ran out 5-2 victors while the reigning Premier League champions claimed a 4-1 win. In truth, it could’ve been much worse in both of those matches and Klopp said as much after the City game.

“We were lucky that City weren't in a greedy mood. They could do whatever they wanted. I can't explain it.”

In previous campaigns, the Reds built their success on solid foundations. They regularly had the best defensive record in the English top flight and it was rare for them to concede multiple goals in a match. In fact, across 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, the Reds conceded three or more goals in just 10 Premier League matches.

Of those, two occurred after Liverpool won the title during the 2019/20 season and four arrived during the campaign they were without senior centre-backs from October onwards. These aren’t excuses but they are possible reasons for it. On average, the Reds would concede 3 or more in a single Premier League game 2.5 times per season.

Klopp’s men were resilient. They weren’t brittle.

The same can’t be said now. The 4-1 loss to City was the sixth time the Reds have conceded three or more already this season and there are still 11 matches remaining. An alarming stat is that in 66% of the matches in which Liverpool have conceded two this season, they have gone on to concede more goals.

While Klopp has had to deal with a number of injury issues this season, he has had key defensive players available to him for the majority of the time. It isn’t as though the former BVB boss is having to paper over cracks in the short-term while he waits for the reinforcements to arrive. He named a fairly strong, experienced XI against Man City and they crumbled.

What really highlights the lack of desire and fight in this current team right now is the number of times Liverpool have been beaten by three or more goals.

Up until last season - a period of 383 matches - the Reds were beaten by three or more goals on just 10 occasions. This season, the record is played 41, beaten by three or more in five games.

Prior to this campaign, it happened every 43 matches. This season it is happening every eight games.

Liverpool haven’t beaten Man City at the Etihad in the Premier League since November 2015 and they have suffered some heavy losses there over the years but there’s always been a reason for it. Sadio Mane was sent off in the 5-0 loss and that was a time the Reds had Alberto Moreno, Ragnar Klavan and Simon Mignolet starting for them. The 4-0 loss in 2020 was the first game after Liverpool had been crowned champions and you could tell those in red seemed a little distracted.

This was different. Klopp’s men needed a reaction following losses to Bournemouth and Real Madrid. They took the lead and then got completely dominated by the hosts in one of the most one-sided clashes between these two sides. Watching the game, you wouldn’t know the Reds still had an outside chance of finishing in the top four due to the inconsistency of everybody else. They played like a team who had already checked out for the season.

Klopp needs to figure out a way to restore this group to mentality monsters. The easiest way to do that would be to shore things up defensively. If they aren’t conceding, they aren’t losing.