There is something seriously wrong with the team and the club.
A team that almost went all the way to win everything on offer last season now looks broken and bereft of self-belief and unmotivated and only able to lift itself in matches like the one against United. Against Madrid, we look almost traumatised, waiting for the killing blow from the other side that would rob victory from our grasp. What happened to the tough, battle hardened warriors who have been at the top of the game for the last 5-6 years?
Aging of the core of the team and the \ failure to replace the midfield with world class young players are part of it, but not the whole story. They may have a down turn due to fatigue but for a team that has won every honour and knows itself capable of doing so against the very best, the downfall has been so shockingly sudden and the incredible decline this season has been so great that there must be more to this behind the scenes...
The loss of virtually the spine of the club's data and stats research brain trust en masse is a dire sign.
The inability of Klopp to rouse the team like he used to be able to do or to changer things to spark up the team this season has been another sign. There was no lack of commentators pointing out Klopp has never lasted longer than 7 years in his previous manager jobs. Has he lost the ability to motivate this team? Are they listening to him?
The failure of the club's owners to spend what is necessary during the transfer window to sign world class and younger midfielders is another. They did not seem bothered by the prospect of missing out on the CL.
For us to fall out of the CL so meekly to the old enemy in white, was all too predictable in retrospect. It was still infuriatingly supine and so unlike how we have mostly been making Europe fear us instead.
The whole club is at a cross roads now. We dont look like putting together the consistency to be able to get top 4, and so we probably wont be playing CL next season. There is a cledar need to ditch all the broken players and to replace the core of the team altogether. Can Klopp rebuild the team for next season? Will he be given the 200-300 million in funds that he will need to do so?