David James has made an observation on Liverpool’s tendency to drop points in back to back games and so I used looked at the games in which the Reds have slipped up this season.
Jurgen Klopp’s side drew 2-2 with Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday, wasting a precious opportunity to leapfrog them in the Premier League title race. It was the second 2-2 stalemate between the two this season.
Instead, they remain behind Pep Guardiola’s men which might explain why the Spaniard seemed happier after full-time as he bearhugged Klopp.
Liverpool have turned their attention to the Champions League before another clash with Manchester City will follow on Saturday.
The Reds will face the Blues in the FA Cup as they do battle to see which team reaches the final of the famous cup competition but the Premier League is still at the forefront of many fans’ minds.
David James believes Liverpool need to be careful of dropping points in back to back games with their next game at home to Manchester United.
“With Liverpool, the one thing that I was concerned about is that when Liverpool drop points in the Premier League this season, they regularly drop points in the following game,” said James on Sky Sports.
“Now, if that was to happen then the gap would open. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, it’s just an interesting observation.”
Liverpool drew 3-3 with Brentford in September before drawing 2-2 with Manchester City in their next Premier League game although that should hardly be looked at in the same way as other examples given the quality of Pep Guardiola’s men.
A 2-2 draw with Brighton was followed by a 3-2 defeat to West Ham which is a much better example. The Reds were battling to find control at the London Stadium and the Hammers, well, hammered them.
Another poor example, I would say, is the 2-2 draw against Spurs, which was a game fraught with refereeing mistakes not to mention Liverpool’s squad was decimated by COVID-19 and injury.
That was followed by a 1-0 defeat to Leicester City and another 2-2 draw with Chelsea during one of the poorest spells of the season for the Reds.
This time around, however, Liverpool are in great form and are simply bouncing back from a poor game against the Premier League leaders and the team best-equipped to counter them.
To suggest, the Reds will go on a similar run of dropping points lacks analysis especially when, leading up to the draw at the Etihad, Liverpool had conceded just 2 goals in 8 Premier League matches.