Strange Liverpool!

LUCK HAS REVERSED

Liverpool started the season with 7 absolute wins in all 3 competitions: Premier League, Champions League and League Cup. The decisive goal leading to victory in 6/7 matches was always scored in the last 7 minutes, including extra time. Only the opening match, the 4-2 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League, had a margin of more than 1 goal, and both goals that made the difference in that victory were late goals (scored in the 88th and 90+4 minutes).

Lạ lùng Liverpool!- Ảnh 1. — Liverpool unexpectedly lost 3 consecutive matches

Lucky? If so, Liverpool's luck has now changed. Immediately after the aforementioned 7-game winning streak, Liverpool have now lost 3 consecutive matches in the Premier League and Champions League. This is the first time since Arne Slot became Liverpool's head coach that he has known the feeling of losing 3 consecutive matches. Two of them were lost in injury time: 1-2 against Crystal Palace (deciding goal in the 90+7 minute) and 1-2 against Chelsea (90+5 minute). Between those 2 matches, Liverpool lost 0-1 to Galatasaray in the Champions League. Coach Slot reassured that those were very fragile margins. In fact, Liverpool's wins earlier in the season were just as fragile!

Perhaps the most comforting detail for Liverpool fans right now is that the club arena has been temporarily suspended, to make way for the World Cup qualifying round of the national teams. At least coach Slot and his assistants will have 2 free weeks to review the problems, in order to end the mini-crisis for the team that was considered the strongest in Europe at the beginning of the season.

Depending on your point of view, you could argue that late goals are a matter of luck, because football is inherently random. But that is hard to accept when saying that about Liverpool. A top European team cannot leave their fate to chance. The question is why Liverpool's matches always have late goals.

THEY CAN BOTH SCORE

"They" here includes both Liverpool and their opponents. In total, in the team's 10 matches this season (7 in the Premier League, 2 in the Champions League, 1 in the League Cup), late goals (after the 80th minute) appeared in 8 matches. Of those, Liverpool won 6, lost 2. There were 10 late goals in those 8 matches: 8 for Liverpool and 2 against them.

Both late goals conceded cost Liverpool the game, and of the eight late goals scored, six were decisive victories for Slot's side. Liverpool needed two late goals to beat Bournemouth. When they scored late against Palace, Liverpool conceded a goal right after, and lost!

Liverpool's problem this season is that the "blockbuster" contracts signed in the summer of 2025 are all focused on the attack, but both new players, who just set transfer records, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, have barely contributed anything significant. Only striker Hugo Ekitike is quite good, but sometimes he is suspended, sometimes injured.

On the other hand, coach Slot finds it difficult to use both strikers Ekitike and Isak at the same time. The problem in midfield is the same, when Liverpool has Wirtz. In short, Slot is still struggling to find an attacking formula.

Of course, Liverpool are always a team that plays to win, and is in the tournament to compete for the championship. They have to attack when the game is getting closer to the final minute and the score is tied. As mentioned, Liverpool is always under pressure to find a way to score goals while they do not have an effective attacking formula.

Liverpool's already shaky defense was exposed even more in such circumstances, and their opponents saw it clearly. In theory, both Liverpool and their opponents want, and are capable of, scoring against each other late in the game. If they can hold out until midway through the second half against Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester City, then it is likely that any team will retreat to defend. But against Liverpool, they will boldly play "attack against attack"!

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/la-lung-liverpool-18525100518371162.htm