What a week for Liverpool, and I mean that in the most derogatory way possible. In retrospect, going down 1-0 to bottom-dwelling Southampton last Saturday should have been a warning sign, even if the Reds came back to win 3-1. The two matches since that mildly annoying Premier League showdown have cost Liverpool chances at two trophies—and even more concerningly, they've raised real doubts about the club's ability to hang on to first place and earn the one that's most important.
It started with the Champions League, a competition that Liverpool had romped through in the league stage. Its only loss was a 3-2 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in a match that didn't seem to matter at the time. However, that loss made it so Liverpool would face the winner of Brest against Paris Saint-Germain, which was (unsurprisingly) PSG. The reward for its dominant first stage was to meet the second-hardest possible opponent in the round of 16.
PSG delivered on whatever dread Pool Boys fans might have felt. Across both legs of their tie, PSG controlled the flow and cadence of the matches, and though Liverpool was able to perform a heist to win the first leg, the Ligue 1 leaders came back to win the second leg and the subsequent penalty shootout.
With only a few days to recover from that defeat and elimination, Liverpool took on Newcastle United in the League Cup final on Sunday, and it was really more of the same. Recent losers to Liverpool by a 2-0 scoreline, Newcastle had a much different gameplan than PSG, but the end result was similar. The Magpies controlled the chances, blocked off Liverpool's vaunted attack from doing much of anything, and then scored when it needed to in order to pick up a 2-1 win and its first major trophy—I joke that the League Cup is a tinpot trophy, but it is a major trophy—since the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup title in 1969. (What is the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, you ask? Fuck if I know.)
Liverpool played hesitant attacking soccer, but its opponents did no such thing, even if it took until the final minute of the first half for the breakthrough to come. Off a corner kick, 6-foot-7 academy-product-turned-journeyman-turned-returning-local-boy Dan Burn got on the end of a cross by Kieran Trippier and managed to nod it into the bottom corner of the goal, giving Newcastle a crucial lead.
On the other side of halftime, with Liverpool still believing that it could come back to win, Newcastle's best player rebuffed those hopes. Alexander Isak has been a true menace this season, and he had some more fun thanks to a rare mistake from Virgil van Dijk. The imperious Dutch center back somehow left Isak, one of English soccer's most dangerous attackers, open in the middle of the box, and the Swede latched onto a knock-on header to double Newcastle's lead.
Even after that goal, with a 2-0 deficit, Liverpool felt like it was just out for a meaningless match rather than a cup final. Attack after attack floundered with limp crosses into the box or poorly timed dribbles into defenders rather than open space. Credit here for Newcastle, which defended stoutly in the face of a lackadaisical attack, and which deserved every bit of this long-awaited trophy. Even when Liverpool finally scored—thanks to summer signing and bit player Federico Chiesa's first goal in a Liverpool shirt, a breakaway that was checked endlessly by VAR for offside before being confirmed—there was little indication that an equalizer would show up.
While Newcastle will rightfully and proudly celebrate its trophy, Liverpool must now figure out what has gone wrong after such a thrilling start to its season. Where once there were hopes of the club's first-ever treble, now there is only pressure. As it stands, Liverpool should still win the Premier League. The Reds have a 12-point lead over injury-ravaged Arsenal with only nine matches to play, and it would be an all-time collapse to lose out on its 20th first division title. If, however, Liverpool were to throw it all away in the last quarter of the season, then it's likely that everyone will look at the eight days between Mar. 8 and Mar. 16 as the beginning of that swoon. No pressure, Liverpool, but eight days have rarely been so foreboding.
