It is and it’s largely down to the result but there’s still a whopping 39 points to play for and this is the most important stretch of the season. It’s not inconceivable that the wheels come off here, football is about momentum and I’m concerned that result killed ours and handed Liverpool a massive boost.
Momentum is not some mystic force. Its based on hard factors. I mentioned this in another post, but while momentum is important it's usually boiled down to fatigue, certain tactics being exposed, and the loss of mental sharpness by players (and at times management). I have a family member in the NHL who I talk to about this often...
- Fatigue is surely a factor...so we can tick that box. We need to do something about this given our recent amount of games played...the only true suggestion is to have more of a rotation (and the obvious future bolstering of the roster for next season).
- Tactics being exposed is a game to game type of issue largely for anyone thats ever played organized sports...so we can half tick it. It think we ran into a buzzsaw of a highly motivated team that is also very well managed. Klopp found some holes and the players correctly exploited them. Whether others have "figured us out" has yet to be seen. I also feel we (finally) have a manager that can adapt their tactics. So I'm actually not too concerned here. This issue is usually the manager that plays one way and can't change, who is then "figured out"..cough cough Ole...
- Mental sharpness. I think it was clearly lacking in the last game, but overall I feel it mad to think we "lack" mental sharpness in general given our rather large sample size of results. But, it's admittedly something we are going to find out quickly if we actually can sustain it. This is sort of an incomplete for me, but I instinctually would not tick this box.
Back to my family member in NHL...he often finds the fans and pundits logic behind poor results hilariously dramatic and overcomplicated. It's often much simpler than most here think...i.e. they just all had a bad game in a tough environment. Players also seem, from my experience through him...to move on much quicker mentally than fans and the media.
All this is to make the point that the issues that led to the last game are all very fixable, and its more likely a logical correction (I never felt we were a league champion level team as yet) than some sort of endemic emergency. ETH will make adjustments, players will refocus, and I think we have a comfortable position to make the top 4 and perhaps win one more trophy...that feels realistic and miles off of the wheels falling off. Maybe I'm wrong...but I feel the actual evidence shown this season (bouncing back after the first few games, Ronaldo fiasco, form after WC) all point to ETH being able to handle the coming few months with relative success.
The main issue is a fan base that probably lifted expectations higher than the clubs quality...it's not either a quadruple or total failure. We can still have a great season and at the same time be beaten by the scousers 7-0....