By Cameron Merritt

Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, with two goals disallowed through VAR and a late penalty that led to the tying goal awarded by it and midfielder and Vice Captain James Milner, playing in a defensive position on the depleted Liverpool back line, being taken off in the 74th minute with an apparent hamstring injury, was the perfect poster child for the Reds’ struggles so this season, which through its first three and a half month has been dominated by injuries, especially among their defensive ranks, illness and often finding themselves on the wrong side of some of the more controversial VAR decisions.

Despite these challenges, however, Liverpool have found themselves at or near the top of the table, and currently sit in second even on points with first place Tottenham but trailing on goal difference, with the Spurs having a net positive of 12 compared to the Reds’ five. This, however, presents another issue for Liverpool that could become more pronounced as the title chase closes in and the Reds look to defend the Premier League title they won with a record seven games to spare last season. While Liverpool have the joint most goals in the league at 22, these defensive struggles can bring back memories of the Liverpool teams of much of the past decade that had elite attacks held back by mid-table performing defenses and goalkeeping.

Two of the biggest keys in Liverpool overcoming those struggles have been the high-profile signings of center back Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson in 2018, with the Dutch international’s insertion into the back line midway through the 2017/18 campaign seen as shoring up the once-vulnerable area along with the rise of fellow defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Joe Gomez, along with later added support from Fabinho both in the defensive midfield and center back positions, in taking Liverpool from one of England’s best to one of the world’s best, and the summer 2018 signing of the Brazilian shot stopper seen as the final step in making Liverpool the top side in Europe, solidified with a 2-0 win over Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League Final to give the Reds their sixth European title, the most of any English struggles.

Unfortunately for the Reds, all of those names are currently or have been injured already this season, with Alisson and Fabinho the only currently active players of the group that conceded only 33 goals in 38 Premier League matches last season.

While Alisson is back in the Liverpool net, he missed nearly all of October due to a shoulder injury suffered in training on Oct. 2. While conceding three goals to a club playing its first Premier League match in 16 years in Leeds United wasn’t the ideal start to the season, and was out of form for the usually solid Alisson, the Brazilian international followed it up with a clean sheet in a 2-0 win against Chelsea and gave up a single goal to Arsenal in a 3-1 win.

Then, following the injury, back up goalkeeper Adrian was called upon and, while not entirely his fault, saw Aston Villa put seven past him, a hattrick worth of which were the first three Premier League goals for Villa forward Ollie Watkins, as the Reds suffered an embarrassing 7-2 loss, the first time they had conceded that many goals in a league match since 1963. Adrian, who had already drawn the ire of some Reds supporters for his lackluster performance at Anfield in the final match played before the lockdown, in which Atlético Madrid came back in extra time for the 3-2 win to end the Reds hopes of defending their European crown in the Round of 16, conceded two to League One, the third division on the English football pyramid, side Lincoln City FC in the EFL Cup a little over a week earlier in his only other previous appearance. While Adrian had done fairly well in replacing Alisson last season during his longer knee injury last season that saw him sidelined for a couple of months, it was clear the former West Ham man couldn’t keep Liverpool a top side on his own.

In his last start before Alisson’s return, the famed Merseyside Derby against then Premier League leaders Everton, Adrian surrendered two in a controversial 2-2 draw in which Liverpool lost much more than just two points.

In the sixth minute of the match, van Dijk was going up to head in a cross from Fabinho when he faced a rough challenge Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford which would have most likely earned the England international a red card had van Dijk not been ruled offsides by a slight margin through VAR, adding insult to injury for the Reds as the big Dutch international suffered significant damage to the ligaments in his left knee, which was later ruled to require surgery which he’s since successfully undergone but could see him out for the vast majority of the season, if not the season as a whole, leaving a massive hole in the back line.

Liverpool, who already had the 1-0 lead thanks to a Sadio Mané strike in the third minute, saw the Toffees break even in the 19th minute off a strong header from Michael Keane, a score line which carried into the half. Both sides struck again in the second half, with Mohammed Salah giving the Reds the lead in the 72nd minute before Dominic Calvert-Lewis drew the hosts even again in the 81st minute.

Tensions, which had been running high all match, came to a boil in the 88th minute when Richarlisson flew into Liverpool’s marque signing of the summer, Thiago, with a cleat first challenge that earned him a red card. Thiago, playing in only his second Premier League match and making his first appearance in nearly a month after battling COVID-19, played the remaining minutes but has been out since with a knee injury, with Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp telling reporters Monday at the pre-Ajax press conference that the Spanish international is most likely out until 2021.

“On that day when Thiago got injured in that challenge in the Everton game, there was another bad injury (to van Dijk) and after the scans it was like one was really bad news and the other one was really good news because nothing was broken, nothing was ruptured and stuff like this,” Klopp said. “It is not massive and he trains from time to time, not in the moment because we just have to realise that we have to go a few further steps. I can’t say exactly when he will be fine, but it will take a few weeks still with Thiago.”

Despite the major losses in personnel, the Reds thought they’d at least salvaged a point in dramatic fashion as midfielder and captain Jordan Henderson smashed a pass from Mané, who like Thiago also missed time due to a bout of COVID-19, across the face of goal past Pickford in the third minute of added time, but VAR struck again as the Senegalese international, who was cognizant to ensuring he was staying onsides, was controversially rules offsides by merely a couple centimeters and the goal disallowed, robbing Liverpool both of two points and another late Merseyside Derby winner.

From there, Liverpool’s struggles with both injuries and VAR have only been exacerbated. In their next Premier League match against Sheffield United, Liverpool saw another goal taken back off the board when Salah’s 62nd minute strike off a pass from Alexander-Arnold that never touched the pitch was deemed to have the Egyptian international in an offside position, denying them the 2-1 lead, though only for two minutes as Diogo Jota put a cross from Mané past the keeper and the Reds walked away with the three points. Jota himself would have a goal disallowed the next week at West Ham, but once again the Portuguese international was able to rebound and score another goal that stood to secure a 2-1 win.

The next Premier League match on Nov. 8, a 1-1 draw against Manchester City, saw Alexander-Arnold suffer a hamstring injury against Manchester City on Nov. 8 and the Scouser star was subbed off in the 63rd minute for Milner.

Then, the infamous international break came, and with it, the injuries really started piling on.

During training with England, both Gomez and Henderson suffered injuries, with the former requiring surgery on his left knee and his status for the remainder of the season still in question, while the latter was sent home early by manager Gareth Southgate after coming off during the half against Belgium complaining of tightness in his leg, though he has since returned to training and played the second half for the Reds against Brighton. In Egypt, Salah contracted COVID-19 and while never really experiencing symptoms had to quarantine and missed Liverpool’s 2-0 loss in the Champions League group stage to Serie A side Atalanta on Nov. 25. In Switzerland, Xherdan Shaqiri, who after being an afterthought for much of last season and after nearly being sold over the summer had found a way back into more first team action with the injuries and illnesses along with the increased frequency of matches, picked up a muscle injury but should be nearing his return along with Alexander-Arnold, who Klopp said shouldn’t be “that long” from featuring for the Reds again.

Then, in the first Premier League match after the international break, Liverpool suffered another injury blow as Naby Keïta came off in the 54th minute of the 3-0 win over Leicester City with a hamstring injury

Joel Matip, another member of the Reds defense who has been dealing with nagging muscle injuries, returned to training Monday. Meanwhile, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has yet to play this season due to an injury suffered in the brief pre-season training period, is also looking more likely to return according to Klopp, and could also feature in one of the upcoming fixtures.

While a lot of the players who have been injured seem to be on the mend, the sheer amount of injuries has raised concerns around both Anfield and the league as a whole and Klopp has put much of the blame on the condensed scheduling put in place this year to try and fit in a full Premier League season during the COVID-19 pandemic while also playing in the Champions League and both the EFL and FA Cups, with the normally jovial German having a tense exchange with BT Sport reporter Des Kelly, blaming his organization, which broadcasts much of the Premier League’s matches in the UK, for scheduling matches and times in a way that provides more matches for television at the expense of player health, as well as the Premier League itself for not deciding to keep the five substitute rule it instituted last season after the restart due to the constraints put on by COVID, a complaint that’s been shared by several managers including Tottenham’s Jose Mourinho and Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Milner, who’s injury Saturday was specifically mentioned by both Klopp and Kelly, has been ruled out of Tuesday’s Champions League match against Ajax as confirmed by Klopp Monday.

“It’s not a perfect situation but obviously not enough people want to offer us any kind of help, not only for us but for (all) football people,” Klopp said, expressing his frustrations over the injuries. “We just have to deal with it. I said it always: as long as we can line up with 11 players, we will fight with all we have, and that’s still the case.”

Then of course, there’s the issue of VAR. According to ESPN UK, no other club in the Premier League has been more negatively affected by the replay system than the Reds, who have seen five of their goals disallowed while having two penalties scored against them awarded by VAR for a net total of -7, with the next closely affected club being West Brom at -3.

Though many rival supporters bantered the Reds as “LiVARpool” last season for a perception of being the most benefited by the technology, ESPN UK’s stats show the club only had a net gain of two goals, placing them seventh on the list of club’s most benefited, with their next closest title rivals Manchester City receiving no net change while third place finishers Manchester United were the second most benefited with a net gain of seven, topped only by 15th place finishers Brighton with eight.

In last year’s campaign, Liverpool saw themselves disallowed three goals while their opponents had four of their goals disallowed, something that has yet to happen for the Reds this season.

Once again, it’s Brighton who so far have benefitted most from VAR, with a net gain of three goals. All three VAR decisions in their Saturday draw with Liverpool came in the Gulls favor, including goals by Salah and Mané both being taken back, the former’s because his foot was just slightly offsides, and then receiving a penalty kick for a foul by Robertson in which the Scottish international made brief boot-to-boot contact with Welbeck, which allowed Pascal Groß to put one past Alisson and secure the draw at Anfield, in a match Liverpool could have potentially won 3-0.

“We got a soft penalty but it’s one we will take,” Welbeck said during a post-match interview. “We got the point and we’ll move on now to next week.”

Milner, despite his injury, seemed more frustrated post match with VAR than anything else.

“It’s ‘clear and obvious’ we need a serious discussion about VAR,” Milner tweeted Saturday post-match. “Sure I’m not alone in feeling like they are falling out of love with the game in its current state.”

As previously stated, Liverpool’s goal differential problem, while not helped by conceding three to Leeds United and seven to Aston Villa (especially while only scoring two in return), has been added onto by this discrepancy, and a tight title race could see it become a major factor in deciding whether or not Liverpool retains the Premier League trophy at season’s end, as third place Chelsea, while having two less points, has a net positive of 12 goals in the differential to Liverpool’s five, a total also bested by fifth place West Ham (six) and even tenth place Aston Villa (seven).

However, one area where the Reds have not struggled this season, and why they’ve remained at or near the top of the table, is their goal scoring abilities. Liverpool have a joint league best 22 goals, tied with Chelsea, with Salah having the third most Premier League goals scored at eight, and 10 across all competitions.

Right behind Salah has been Jota, whose £45 million signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers this summer came as rather a quick surprise after the long, drawn out saga of bringing in Thiago from Bayern Munich. The Portuguese international quickly has established himself as a major goal scoring threat for the Reds and is on a incredible run of form with eight goals in his past eight matches in all competitions and has a total of nine goals so far this year for his new club and has been a welcome option for Klopp in such a condensed season.

Overall, Liverpool are still one of the best clubs in both England and Europe, as well as the world. While this season certainly isn’t the cake walk that the 19/20 campaign was for the Reds, and the loss of van Dijk both as a player and leader leaves a massive hole that can’t be understated, Liverpool remain in a good position to retain their crown while also attempting to make another run in the Champions League after last year’s disappointing Round of 16 exit, a cause which will certainly be helped if van Dijk is healthy enough to return to action later this season, and other players improving and returning before will help solidify Liverpool as long as other major players don’t miss significant time.

As they say, at end of the storm, there‘s a golden sky.