So many Liverpool players are underperforming right now, from their big summer signing to their star centre-back.
A temporary blip or something altogether more concerning? That is the question being asked of Liverpool right now, after what could best be described as a ‘mixed’ start to the new campaign.
Eight games in, Jurgen Klopp’s side have won only three, two of them courtesy of late goals, and the manner of their two defeats – a meek surrender at Old Trafford and a Champions League thrashing in Naples – mean that the optimism which followed July’s rousing Community Shield win over Manchester City has swiftly evaporated.
Indeed, there is a school of thought that the postponement of games against Wolves and Chelsea prior to the international break may actually have helped the Reds’ cause, sparing them further disappointment and enabling them, they hope, to nudge key players back towards fitness.
Klopp certainly hasn’t been amused by what he’s seen so far, speaking after the 4-1 loss at Napoli of the need for “reinvention” at Anfield. Victory over Ajax a week later, at least, represented a step in the right direction in that regard.
So how do you assess the opening weeks of the season? Who are the standout performers, the ones who need to lift it, and what does the rest of the campaign hold for the men from Merseyside?
GOAL takes a look below…
gettyBest player
It has to be Luis Diaz. The Colombian has been an all-too-rare shining light in a struggling side, providing four goals and tons of endeavour from the left of Liverpool’s attack.
It was Diaz who stepped up to rescue a point against Crystal Palace in August after Darwin Nunez’s red card, and it was he who set the Reds on their way to their first win of the campaign with an early goal in the rout of Bournemouth. Amid the Naples debacle, he was the one who kept plugging away, albeit too late to impact the result.
AdvertisementGettyBest performance
Only one winner here, the record-equalling 9-0 battering of Bournemouth at the end of August.
It was Liverpool’s biggest-ever Premier League win, and the first time they had scored nine in a competitive game since 1989.
The Cherries may have been willing opposition – they sacked their manager, Scott Parker, soon after – but they were taken apart, with Diaz scoring twice, Roberto Firmino sparkling and Fabio Carvalho emerging from the bench to score his first Reds goal.
And hey, it must have been a good display if Mohamed Salah didn’t manage to score or assist!
Getty ImagesBest goal
Diaz again, for this one. His solo strike against Crystal Palace had the Kop on its feet and dragged 10-man Liverpool back into the game.
He does have a tendency to cut inside from the left flank, but when he gets it right the results can be spectacular. Vicente Guaita had no chance.
Getty ImagesBest new signing
Not much to go on here, but Fabio Carvalho’s early-season cameos suggest he will have a lot to offer in the coming months and years.
The former Fulham man emerged from the bench to open his Anfield account in the Bournemouth riot, and then four days later he blew the roof off the place with a late, late winner over Newcastle.
With Darwin Nunez’s start disrupted by that red card against Palace, and with Calvin Ramsay yet to feature at all due to injury, Carvalho is the only newboy in credit, for now.