Nah I think it’s a lot worse than that. United under Ferguson would often have mini-slumps and then shake it off like Taylor Swift.
When Liverpool slump, they slump for real. It’s been hardwired into the club’s DNA by the events of the last 35 years.
You can see when a team is about to slump for real. Abu Dhabi’s slump from around this time last year was very foreseeable. This time last year I was already openly talking about Liverpool putting un uncatchable gap between ourselves and Abu Dhabi by the start of December. So too Liverpool’s slump this year was very foreseeable.
I don’t watch football but Liverpool were dogshit while racking up the 15 points from 15 at the start of this season, they somehow got those points almost from muscle memory, but it was obvious that when the inevitable defeat came the wheels would come off.
You can’t just dismiss that one of the greatest players in the club’s history now feels a marginalised presence. You can’t dismiss that of the five major summer signings only Ekitike has shown anything and even his goals feel a long time ago now. You can’t just dismiss that the defence has fallen asunder. You can’t just dismiss that it was a horrific mistake to get rid of Luis Diaz. You can’t just dismiss that a stalwart player was killed in a car crash less than four months ago.
There’s a hint of Len Bias off the events of the last four months.