Liverpool played nine matches in January and failed to win eight of them.
The latest dropped points came last night against Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Anfield. While it was a much-improved performance from recent showings, that cutting edge still wasn’t there and the Reds are still ten points adrift of the Blues at the top of the table.
After David Luiz fired Antonio Conte’s men ahead with a rocket of a free-kick, Liverpool did well to get back into the game through a Georginio Wijnaldum equaliser. But in the end, it required a strong penalty stop from Simon Mignolet to avoid defeat.
While not a poor result in isolation, added to their recent dire form it’s left Liverpool fans scratching their heads about the future under Jurgen Klopp. They badly need to get back to winning ways.
A great chance to do that awaits on Saturday when they visit bottom-placed Hull City.
What does Klopp need to do to get back to winning ways?
Here are FOUR steps we think the Liverpool manager should take…
Commit to a goalkeeper
Klopp has been rotating his goalkeepers as the side have switched between league football and cup football throughout January but it’s arguably been counter-productive.
That kind of rotation works well when you have one goalie dominating between the sticks and you have a player needing game time from the bench, but the fact is neither ‘keeper has made the position their own.
They need a settled No.1 from this point on. Both have made high-profile errors this season so switching back and forth isn’t doing either’s confidence any good. Commit to a goalkeeper and back him to succeed and the errors may dry up.
There were question marks around Mignolet’s position for Luiz’s free-kick on Tuesday night but he redeemed himself with a strong stop from Diego Costa’s penalty. Is that enough to give him the boost he needs going forward?
Put Sadio Mane straight back in
Sadio Mane has to start on Saturday.
The Senegal international arrived just too late to be in contention for a start against Chelsea, but his entrance into proceedings will have been a massively welcome sight to Liverpool supporters everywhere.
With nine goals and four assists this season, he’s been a real threat in the final third for Klopp and his side sorely missed him throughout January.
If he starts against Hull you’d expect his pace and trickery to be the catalyst for Liverpool picking up their first Premier League win since December.
Give Daniel Sturridge a chance
Daniel Sturridge hasn’t started a Premier League game since 2 January, when he scored in a 2-2 draw away to Sunderland.
Yes, Liverpool have struggled in the cups since then, with Sturridge one of the guilty parties, but he deserves a chance to show what he can do through the middle in the Premier League.
Roberto Firmino missed a number of golden chances against Chelsea that you’d have backed Sturridge to stick away. He has an instinctive goal threat that others in the Reds team just don’t have.
The trip to Hull represents a great chance to get him back into the team and back to scoring ways. It’s clear that the blend in the final third just isn’t quite working for Klopp right now and he needs to find an answer soon or their season will sink without trace.
Solve the Coutinho problem
We’re not sure what’s going on with Philippe Coutinho but he hasn’t looked like himself since coming back from injury. That’s understandable after a six-week lay-off but he’s featured in seven matches since returning and has only contributed one assist, against Plymouth.
Klopp needs to figure out how to get the Brazilian back to the form of earlier in the season when he scored six and created five in a period of just a couple of months.
Everyone knows there’s a top quality player in there somewhere and it’s on the Liverpool manager to create the conditions to enable that ability, or this run of games without a win will continue into February.
