What’s the opposite of a flat track bully?

In the same week that Liverpool had surrendered so meekly to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium, Jürgen Klopp’s side dispatched Arsenal with a style and energy that was as familiar as it was welcome against one of the big beasts of the Premier League.

In the league within a league, counting only the results between the established ‘Big Six’, Liverpool are streaking ahead. But the real title is decided over 38, not 10 games, and against the lesser teams they have been found sorely wanting.

In their nine games against their fellow top six members, Liverpool have won five and drawn four, getting the better of Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal, twice.

It is the form of champions, yet Klopp’s men sit 11 points back from Chelsea, having played a game more, and are still hanging on for a top four finish and Champions League qualification.

The reason for the disparity is simple. Those thrilling successes have been countered by defeats to Burnley, Bournemouth, West Ham, Sunderland, Swansea, Leicester City and Hull City. Four of those defeats occurred against sides who were in the bottom three at kick off. Had they been won, Liverpool would be top.

If the problem is easy to diagnose, however, the explanation, and so possible cure, is less clear.

The greatest currency is given to a deficiency in tactical adaptability, a high pressing, hard running game that is only effective when the opposition comes on to them. Teams who are fighting for their lives with limited resources naturally resort to pragmatism. Packing the defence and letting Liverpool have the ball, waiting for opportunities to counter-attack seems to be worryingly effective against them. Championship side Wolves, struggling at the bottom of their own division, even pulled it off at Anfield.

At their effervescent best, Liverpool are a joy to watch. A whirligig of energy and, to borrow a phrase from Klopp himself, ‘heavy metal football’, at the start of the campaign simply blew sides away. An injury to their creator in chief, Philippe Coutinho, and the absence of Sadio Mane on African Cup of Nations duty robbed them of some momentum, and Jordan Henderson’s steady presence in the middle has been sorely missed of late.

But a club of Liverpool’s size should not have been so easily derailed by such routine mid-season handicaps. That they appear to have done so speaks of a serious deficiency in the depth of the squad.

Since beating Manchester City on New Year’s Eve, 13 games have yielded just three wins in all competitions. It is an abject run of form, especially when three of those matches were played against sides outside the Premier League. And yet, two of those wins have come against Tottenham and Arsenal. Even as they have struggled they have been able to raise themselves for the big ones.

That anomaly has raised a further theory as to the roots of the problem, that Klopp himself, aside from his tactics, may be at fault. A gregarious, emotional man — and beloved even beyond Merseyside for it — there is a suspicion that he is best suited to rousing his troops for the big occasion, less so for the bread and butter fixtures.

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A team carved in his image leaving them less able to find a level consistency despite the glorious highs.

In the two seasons when his exceptional Dortmund side won back-to-back Bundesliga titles, he suffered eight losses — six to teams that finished in the bottom half. It is a small sample size but a pattern can be gleaned nonetheless.

There is little doubt that Klopp’s impact at Anfield has been a vastly positive one. Cup finals at home and abroad have been achieved, thrilling victories over some of the best teams in Europe have decorated his stewardship, and a playing style that pays due respect to Liverpool’s history and standing in the game are no small beer. And it is worth remembering that this is only his first full season in charge.

The squad is in a process of building and a better gauge of his effectiveness should be reserved for after this summer’s transfer activity. Top of the shopping list ought to be a traditional No. 9, a player who can be relied upon to bully inferior defences and offer an effective plan B when the counter punching style is negated by containment and the contracting of space. Daniel Sturridge’s continued injury problems and tailing of form have robbed the German of such an option this season.

More depth and a stronger bench is required, also, with an over reliance on Coutinho and Adam Lallana’s guile hampering the team when they have been missing or off the pace.

Klopp’s ability to attract players of the calibre needed to improve the side will depend massively on whether or not he can offer prospective recruits Champions League football. Despite no trophies now available, Liverpool’s season is accordingly by no means over. The race for fourth may be an unpalatable fallback after dreams of a first league title in a generation were raised back in the autumn, but their immediate future depends on them winning it.

With 11 games to go, however, there is only one meeting with a member of the ‘Big Six’ — away at Manchester City at the end of this month. To give themselves a fighting chance of truly competing next season and beyond, Liverpool must find a way to get over their inferiority complex against those inferior to them.

The proverbial wet afternoon at Stoke and elsewhere looks set to shape the club and Klopp’s future more than he might care to admit.

Originally published as What’s the opposite of a flat track bully?

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