We bottled it similar to what happened to Arsenal last year. Arsenal will bottle it this year as well when they lose to spurs. It’s citehs again this season.
We didn't bottle anything. Ultimately our leaky defensive set up with a porous midfield caught up with us.
We've gone behind in 16 PL games, 23 games total for the season, the joint--most (equalling last season). We kept pulling rabbits out of the bag to rescue it, but when it got to the business end when the pressure ramps up it's natural those rescue acts would fade.
This goes back to summer '22 when we didn't address the midfield collapse when there was no longer any legs in there. All the Klopp characteristics about intensity, the press, heavy metal football, all went out the window, and the midfield offered the least resistance to opponents. That season was a write off from that summer window. A year on we only partially addressed this area by bringing in quality 8s, but there is only so much they can do. It's still very disjointed, so much so we've put Mac in the 6 (if it was done as we had an injury crisis fair enough but we don't). It was very easy for opponents to open us up by waltzing through midfield in 22-23, and its only marginally improved this season. We still cough up easy chances as the DM is bottom half standard.
Virgil has had a great season, as has Quansah, but there is fuck all protection in front of them. Trailing behind opposing runners is the theme from the DM. That Atalanta game was a massacre, and they targeted him (both full backs, Tsimikas and Gomez, were also dreadful). What was extraordinary is that less than 72 hour later, the boss selects the same unathletic 31 year old DM who got rinsed in that game to play against Palace, the same opponent who targeted him at their place, and shock horror they exploited him again as we gave up the first half. I've never questioned Klopp before in eight and a half years until I seen the team selection at 1:10pm 50 minutes prior to kick-off as it went against everything he professed..."freshness, energy" and yet less than 72 hours after getting run ragged he picks a player who was goosed to start against another opponent who would go after him. That was the game where I thought he is leaving at the right time for him as he never would have made such an error before. He hooked him at half time, leaving us another game to turn it around in a half of football, but it was one comeback too many and that is the game when it was no longer in our hands. It really seemed to end with that game. But that selection was dreadful. I didn't (couldn't) watch the game after seeing the teamsheet. Watched a film and checked the result, and there was an inevitability about it: shit first half, player gets hauled off, team does everything to turn it around but just falls short this time with the pressure too much given the stakes.
The frustration really is that we are so close to being a top side. And it would have been a great way for Jurgen to go. But you cannot try and wing it by playing such a substandard player in a pivotal position.
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