What has gone wrong at Liverpool as they concede league title race ground, exit Europa League

Liverpool’s attempt to give their outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp a mutliple title-laden farewell took another hit following their exit from the UEFA Europa League in the quarter-finals. The Reds won 1-0 in the second leg against Atalanta but lost 3-1 on aggregate, with the Italians taking a sizeable lead at Anfield last week .

Their Europa League exit comes just days after dropping points against Crystal Palace in a 1-0 defeat in the Premier League. That defeat leaves Liverpool in a situation where they cannot afford any more slip ups. Although, even if they do win all of their remaining games, it may not be enough with Manchester City and Arsenal also in the fray.

Liverpool face a tricky run-in as far as the title race is concerned, including a marquee clash against Tottenham Hotspur that could define the fate of their Premier League title hopes.

But, what has gone wrong for Jurgen Klopp’s men towards the fag end of the season ?

Mohammed Salah struggles

Ever since he returned from the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, Mohamed Salah has struggled to find consistency. That has been a major cause for concern for Liverpool heading into the business end of the season and if Salah does not rediscover his old touch, it does not look good for the Reds.

While Salah did convert a penalty in the seventh minute to give the side a 1-0 lead over Atalanta, he still wasn’t at his best for the rest of the game. He had a glorious opportunity to double the advantage but his attempted lob in one-v-one situation went over Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso and wide.

Since returning from a hamstring injury in February, Salah has managed six goals and four assists and has completed the full 90 minutes only four times.

Klopp, however, does not feel it’s time to press the panic button just yet. “I am not particularly concerned. That’s what strikers do, that’s what happens to strikers, that’s how it is. We have to go through this, he has to go through that. He is one of the most experienced players we have in the squad.”

“We will go through that but that’s pretty much all. It’s not that Mo didn’t miss chances before in his life, that’s a part of the game. The penalty was super-convincing, a super penalty, then the next chance, that was obviously unlucky but it is not the first time he missed a chance like that,” Klopp said after the Atalanta tie.

Poor finishing and wasted chances

Prior to this, Liverpool had endured a run of nine matches without a clean sheet. Their last clean sheet was in a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in March and fast forward to their defeat to Crystal Palace, it was poor finishing that was a major reason for the loss. Overall, Liverpool had 21 shots against Crystal Palace but only six of them were on target.

Darwin Nunez, Salah and Curtis Jones were all guilty of squandering chances against Palace at Anfield.

Nunez has often been influential for Liverpool this season but just one goal in the last seven games does not make good reading.

Prior to their game against Palace, Liverpool had only scored nine goals from 149 shots at a conversion rate of six per cent. Now that’s not something Liverpool would be happy about, and their goalscoring woes have also been compounded by the struggles of Nunez, Luis Diaz and Salah.

According to The Athletic, Salah has managed to convert 53.37 per cent of his big chances into goals. Jota is the only other attacker with good numbers, with a 62.5 per cent conversion rate. The worst among Salah, Jota, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz is the Uruguayan, with a 19.35 per cent big chance conversion rate.

Despite getting a majority of those big chances (31), Nunez has failed to convert them and that is where he needs to improve.

Liverpool’s shot conversion rate has also been poor this season. That rate is 11 per cent, which has further decreased to 9.6 per cent since Klopp announced his departure on 26 January. Their shot conversion rate was 14 per cent when Liverpool last won the title in 2019-20.

Fatigue

Fatigue has become a recurring concern for Liverpool this season. The League Cup success was built on young, fresh faces stepping up in the absence of injured stars. But the pressure is different in a league situation.

Liverpool have played 52 games across competitions so far this season and now with just Premier League to play for, six games remain. Even though goalkeeper Alisson Becker and Trent Alexander-Arnold have returned from injuries, players like Endo and Alexis Mac Allister seem to be struggling.

Earlier this season, Andrew Robertson had been on the sidelines and much recently, it was Curtis Jones who was out with injury for a considerable while.

Not to forget Diogo Jota too had sustained a leg injury in February that kept him out of action until earlier this month.

Fatigue and sometimes even lack of match fitness, have added extra pressure on Liverpool this season which is a reflection of their mixed results in the second half of the season.

Conceding first

Liverpool led Brentford 1-0 at half time in February and went onto win that  comfortably (4-1). That was the last time Jurgen Klopp’s side were ahead at half time and ended with a win.

Liverpool have kept just nine clean sheets in 32 Premier League games and have conceded first in 14 of those. That’s the joint-worst record for any team in the current top six, alongside Aston Villa.

Liverpool have scored just twice in the first 15 minutes of games this season, but at the same time, they have let in seven. Only relegation threatened Sheffield United have scored lesser and endured a worse goal difference (-10) this season.

The Reds, however, have picked up 27 points from losing positions. That’s the best tally by any team in such a situation in the English top-flight this season. But safe to say, that bit of luck and push until the final minute has started to wear off with games piling up.