Can Liverpool stop their slide?

Virgil Van Dijk’s injury deepened the crisis at Liverpool who host Wolves in the FA Cup, a competition they won last season, on Saturday. Liverpool are sixth in the Premier League, seven points off a Champions League berth and 16 points behind leaders Arsenal. And they have been knocked out of the EFL Cup which they won in 2021-22.

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Van Dijk’s hamstring injury during Monday’s 1-3 defeat at Brentford could take a month, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said on Friday. He joined Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Arthur, Roberto Firmino, James Milner and Jordan Henderson on the list of unavailable players.

But that is only part of the problem. Liverpool’s midfield needs reinforcement. Lacking the depth of Manchester City, the squad could also be feeling the aftereffects of a 63-game season in 2021-22 where Liverpool finished second in the Premier League and in the Champions League. It could be why Liverpool haven’t pressed as well as they, and Klopp’s teams in general, are known for. That in turn has led to the high defensive line being under pressure. To this, add Darwin Nunez’s lack of goals and Mohamed Salah often being a peripheral figure. New signing Cody Gakpo could have to hit Anfield running on Saturday.

After the World Cup, Liverpool lost to 2-3 to Manchester City in the EFL Cup and though they beat Aston Villa and Leicester City in the league, the performance was not convincing.

They collapsed against Brentford who notched up their first win against Liverpool since 1938 making the most of the visitors’ lack of intensity on all areas of the pitch.

“We have to be first to the ball in the box, we have to be more aggressive in our box,” said left-back Andy Robertson.

Robertson said Liverpool’s 2-1 win against Leicester “should have been a kick up the backside” going into Monday’s match. “Three days later we put in another bad performance.”

From two defeats in the league in 2021-22, Liverpool have already lost five times. They have won only two of the eight away games and have trailed in 10 league games. Liverpool had 10 clean sheets in 17 games last season, this time they have four.

Ahead of a busy seven weeks with games against Brighton, Chelsea, Wolves, Everton, Newcastle and a Champions League round of 16 first-leg against Real Madrid, Liverpool don’t know whether van Dijk will be at his best once he recovers from his injury.

Liverpool are better placed with replacements than in 2020 when Van Dijk needed surgery. But in five years since he moved from Southampton, Liverpool have won 72% of games he has played. The number drops to 57% when he has not.

Van Dijk is 31. Liverpool used six players over 30 against Fulham, a first in the league since 1994. Along with Chelsea, they had the oldest teams in the league at the start of 2022-23, an average age of 28.7 according to FBref.com. When they played Manchester City in the Community Shield, the average age of the starting 11 was 29 years, 315 days. It was their oldest team since 1953. From when Klopp joined in 2015-16, Liverpool’s average age has increased from 25.2 to 27.7 last season.

In the era of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and James Milner, who turned 37 on Wednesday, that may not be a problem but having young players yet to peak and some past their best years could be. Liverpool need to find an immediate solution to that in the midfield where Curtis Jones is 21, Harvey Elliott 19, Fabio Carvalho 20, Stefan Bajcetic 18 and Milner is 37, Thiago 31 and Jordan Henderson 32.

Milner, Naby Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain are out of contract in summer and loanee Arthur due to return to Juventus. Jude Bellingham is a a target for summer as is Matheus Nunes.

Off the pitch too things are fluid. Klopp signed a new deal last year but owners Fenway Sports Group said they were looking to sell. Liverpool will have three sporting directors in two seasons after Julian Ward leaves in May. It would be one year after Micheal Edwards, who between 2016 and 2022 helped build the squad that conquered Europe and England, left.

At Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, Klopp has shown he can get the team to have a good second half of the season. A lot is riding on whether he can do it once more.

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