While many pundits have long since written Liverpool off in terms of the Premier League title race, Graeme Souness continues to keep the faith.
From being five points clear at the summit just a couple of months ago, Arne Slot’s side have now plunged to 11th in the table, with an 11-point chasm developing between them and current leaders Arsenal.
Martin Keown said in the immediate aftermath of the 3-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday that the champions are ‘going backwards‘, and few would disagree with that assertion, but one former Reds captain still thinks the Merseysiders can fight their way back into the title reckoning.
Souness still isn’t ruling Liverpool out of the title race
Speaking on talkSPORT on Monday, Souness pointed to the constant backing of match-going fans at Anfield as a factor which could yet propel Liverpool back into contention to retain the Premier League trophy despite their atrocious form during the autumn.
The 72-year-old said: “Anything can happen in our league. I have worked in big leagues abroad, and I tell you, our league is by far the most demanding league anywhere. Big clubs don’t get a rest.
“It’s still very much on for three or four teams, and I have to include Liverpool, because I know the way the crowd react there. They won’t give up on the team.”
Title race seems gone but top 4 still well within Liverpool’s reach
While Souness’ optimistic outlook is a welcome antidote to the widespread negativity surrounding his former club at the moment, even the most glass-half-full Liverpool fans would find it hard to genuinely believe that the Reds can still win the Premier League this season.
Even with two-thirds of the campaign still to play, 11 points feels like an insurmountable gap to bridge if we’re to catch Arsenal. Not only would Slot’s team need to be at a level of perfection akin to LFC in 2019/20, they’d also have to hope that the Gunners endure a major collapse.
Neither of those scenarios seems likely at the moment, although one beacon of positivity for Kopites is that Aston Villa in fourth are still only three points ahead of us, so Champions League qualification is more than attainable despite losing six of our last seven top-flight games.
If Liverpool were to snap out of their ongoing slump and recover to finish in the top four with a degree of comfort, it’d still represent a disappointment on pre-season expectations but would be a satisfactory outcome given where we are at the moment.
Souness is right about one thing, though – as bad as things are right now, it’d have to get a lot worse for the Anfield faithful to boo their team off the pitch or call for Slot to be ‘sacked in the morning’, with Gary Neville continuing to give his firm backing to the head coach.
Many other match-going fanbases might have let rip after Saturday’s horror show, but thankfully it hasn’t yet reached that stage in L4.
For me, after this season’s games, Konate appears to be the major culprit – slow in possession, he dithers and then almost always passes it sideways to Van Dijk, allowing the opposition to regroup. Gomez should play at centre-back or right-back as he’s a lot quicker in his decision making. Szoboszlai should never be played as a full back; he’s probably the most dynamic of the glut of midfielders that we appear to have at present. Against Forest, Slot’s decision to play Isak (because he needs to get fit) instead of Ekitike (our leading goalscorer) was baffling. The writing was on the wall throught the first half, so why changes weren’t made at half-time is beyond me.
What a man Souness is. Greatest respect. I would’ve to be in his company. Great man. May God give him health. Man’s man with intelligence. Great hero of mine, from irish fan
Roy was hard man but he respects souness and would be no completion. Roy knows it.
Robson was fantastic at Man U and I hope he is well but souney was animal that bryan, late Roy W ,moses Whitefield etc. Atkinson said don’t come in saying sound did this and that
England and Eurpoe feared him for good reason.
Graeme Souness certainly didn’t and doesn’t suffer fools Brendan, and his recent charity work shows what a real bloke is.
He’s was never a player with psychopathic tendencies, who learned that frightening opposition by showing how far he’s willing to go to win, is a fair way to play the game and be a role model to children
We need Guehi and the sporting player Inacio an d the attacker, with these signings we will be on the road to wining ways
It’s likely Marc will come to Anfield, whether that’s in January or the summer.
I’m sure Richard and the team will have checked out the other player you mention and will have decided if he slots into the team.
Once we’re back to winning ways, we can all have a drop of better wining ways😃😃🍷
Top four is the minimum for slot, he must get top four. The premier league is long gone, even though one, on here still thinks we’ll win it. It’s all about opinions, even though some are totally clueless. At the moment there are so many weaknesses in this Liverpool team it’s going to take a massive turnaround to make the top four. We can’t defend set pieces, we are vulnerable on the counter, most of the new signings have been poor, our best player Salah who won us the league on his own is out of sorts, the midfield can’t handle the physical side, or the duels and second balls. There could be some improvement in the champions league, but in the premier league I only see more defeats. Buying marc guehi in January won’t improve anything. West ham, Leeds United, sunnderland , keep losing these kind of games and slot will be gone. Shame we haven’t got midfield player like souness, because that’s what we need. We are crying out for a leader who can control and boss the midfield. Until we do we’ll continue to sink.