Klopp and Liverpool want ‘beautiful farewell’…poor goal-scoring form an obstacle
‘Beautiful finishing’ is not easy.
“Liverpool have gone more than six hours without scoring in open play,” the UK’s Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.
This season has been special for Liverpool. For the fans, too. It is the final season for Jürgen Klopp, who has been in charge since the 2015-2016 season.
Klopp began his managerial career in 2001 after finishing his playing career at FSV Mainz 05, where he immediately took over the reins. He then took charge of Borussia Dortmund in 2008, winning two Bundesliga titles and a UEFA Champions League runner-up finish.
Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015 and has been in charge of the club ever since.
He has won seven trophies with Liverpool, including one Premier League title (2019-2020), the FA Cup (2021-2022), the EFL Cup (2021-2022) and the UEFA Champions League (2018-2019).
Klopp has talked about taking a break at the end of this season. In January, he said: “I know this will come as a shock to many people when they hear it for the first time. But I can explain it clearly,” he said in January.
“I love everything about this club, I love everything about the city of Liverpool, I love everything about the supporters, I love the team, I love the staff, I love everyone, but I have to make this decision. I love everybody, but I’ve made this decision because I’m convinced it’s the right thing to do.”
Klopp said: “I don’t know how to say it…I’m running out of energy. Obviously I have no problem. I knew for a long time that I would have to make an announcement at some point, but now I’m really fine. I know I can’t do this over and over and over and over again,” he said.
He added: “I already informed the club in November and there are no problems now. There will be a goodbye at the end of this season. I am grateful to Liverpool.”
“We want to have a challenging final season,” he added.
Klopp and his players had hoped to win the Premier League and the UEFA Europa League in a bid to end the season on a high note.
It’s a season that didn’t quite go as planned. Wins have been hard to come by, with a noticeable drop-off in scoring in the second half of the season. In the league, they are in third place with 71 points. They are two points behind first-place Manchester City (73 points). Liverpool hosted Crystal Palace on October 14 in search of three points, but lost 0-1.
Their Europa League journey has come to an end. They lost the first leg of the quarterfinals 0-3 at home to Atalanta BC on Dec. 12 and won the second leg 1-0, but were eliminated on aggregate.
“Liverpool put in a tremendous effort to deliver a meaningful finish for Jurgen Klopp, but they fell behind in the league title race and crashed out of the 안전놀이터 Europa League after a performance that fell short of expectations,” said the Daily Mail.
“The most worrying thing about Liverpool is that they struggle to put the ball in the back of the net,” it added.
“It’s shocking, but Liverpool have now gone six hours without an open-play goal in all competitions. It must be a worry for the fans. The interesting thing is that it’s not that they’re not creating chances, it’s that they’re not capitalizing on them.”
The Daily Mail asks, “Fatigue, pressure, or just plain bad luck? Mohamed Salah has struggled in front of goal since his injury. He was the center of controversy after the game and Klopp defended him, saying he was ‘not particularly worried’. “The title race isn’t over yet, but they lost their decisiveness at a crucial moment,” he said.
“According to ‘Opta’, Liverpool have had 43 touches in the opposition box in their last four official games. This is higher than their season average of 36, and indicates that Liverpool are possessing the ball in threatening areas. The expected goals (xG) value is also higher than the season average. The xG over the last four games is 2.27, compared to a season average of 2.07.”
“Liverpool are not being cautious enough. According to Opta, they have taken 19.5 shots per game in four games. Only 3.8% of those have been on goal. That’s well below their season average of 12.3%.”