"Calamitous meltdown" - Jurgen Klopp blamed for Liverpool's disastrous 2022-23 season

Richard Keys has taken a swipe at Jurgen Klopp for his failure to refresh the Liverpool squad as the Reds continue to endure an underwhelming 2022-23 campaign.

Having come close to completing an unprecedented quadruple last season, Liverpool find themselves ninth in the Premier League after 19 matches, ten points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, although the Red Devils have played one more game.

Writing on his blog, as cited by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, Keys said Liverpool have had a 'calamitous meltdown' this season and blamed Klopp for not adding fresh blood to his squad after a grueling 2021-22 campaign across all competitions.

"What on earth has happened at Anfield? Nobody expected such a calamitous meltdown, but Andy Robertson is right - it’s only getting worse.

"I’m not going to suggest that Klopp should go - but this all falls at his door. He should’ve seen it coming. That’s what the best do. It’s what made Fergie great.

"He’d dismantle teams at the peak of their powers. He knew exactly when to do surgery. And that’s why I’ve always been convinced he knew he was leaving a bang ordinary team behind when he retired."

ANFIELD WATCH VERDICT

While it could be argued that FSG have hung Jurgen Klopp out to dry by not adequately backing him in the transfer market, the German needs to shoulder some amount of blame for our struggles this season. We've been hampered by injuries to Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk, among others, but it goes without saying that we could do a lot better with the players we currently have at our disposal.

Klopp's loyalty to his players has also been a big talking point, with fans and pundits questioning his decision to keep faith in the likes of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho despite their underwhelming performances this season. The latter has been dropped in favor of Stefan Bajcetic in recent weeks, but it took nearly half a season for the gaffer to realize that one of his key players over the years does not deserve a spot in the starting XI.

Liverpool's season reached a new low last weekend as they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium. The Reds still have the UEFA Champions League and 19 Premier League games to look forward to and need to string together a run of wins in the coming weeks to save what has been a disastrous campaign thus far.