Catalysts of their own downfall: How Liverpool created their own problems in shaky Premier League opener

The opening day of a Premier League season is a time for all hopeful football fans to look ahead to the new campaign with excitement and nerves in equal measure.

Coming off the back of a successful season that just finished in disappointment, Liverpool fans will have gone into Saturday’s curtain raiser with hope in their hearts and high expectations for the new season.

Playing against newly promoted Fulham at an atmospheric Craven Cottage, Jurgen Klopp’s side started the game very slowly as the home side were first to every second ball and were allowing no space for the Red’s midfield to breathe.

Liverpool always look to play wide and stretch the opposition as much as possible, however, Marco Silva’s men were set up to make an already tight pitch into an even tighter one.

Being set up to attack in a 4-2-3-1 system, his side dropped into a narrow 4-5-1 when out of possession.

As brilliant as the hosts were in executing their game plan, this was a very poor performance from Liverpool as there were mistakes being made all over the pitch.

Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip were struggling to find passing options from the back as they usually do expertly well.

Full-backs Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold really struggled to get into the game in the attacking third of the pitch as they were being constantly pinned back and narrow by Fulham’s wide players and Andreas Pereira, who was tasked with providing support on each flank.

A massive part of how Klopp likes his side to dominate a game and force the opposition into dropping deeper and deeper is the flanks.

Alexander-Arnold is the main creative spark in the side and he really struggled to get involved in the game as he was not afforded the width and space to create anything from deep.

As well as being limited by the tactics of Fulham, Alexander-Arnold was having an off day when he did get time on the ball as some of his passing was wayward and appeared to be far too relaxed.

He was also beaten far too easily at the back post for the opening goal of the game by the towering Aleksandar Mitrovic.

On the opposite side of the field, Scotland international Robertson was causing a few problems when he was able to get forward but he was unable to find space to make the overlapping runs he so often does and this forced him into making a lot of simple passes inside to Fabinho or even backwards to van Dijk.

The home side also made it extremely difficult for Robertson to find forward passes into left winger Luis Diaz and as a result, the wide-man began to move inside to try and find the joy he was unable to obtain on the touch line.

This was the main cause of Liverpool’s issues and it was somewhat self-inflicted. The manager decided to pick Diaz, Salah and Roberto Firmino as his front three with new signing Darwin Nunez limited to a substitute role.

Liverpool fans will be very familiar with Firmino’s play style and how he operates as the central figure in the Liverpool attack.

The Brazilian likes to drop deep and get on the ball as well as winning it back from opposing midfielders.

Playing into Fulham’s hands, Firmino dropped into an already congested midfield where Diaz was also trying to find space in the middle.

The Cottagers’ defence will have been overjoyed at the fact they were left with very little to do as their midfield were sorting all the problems for them as there was no threat in behind.

As well as getting in each other’s way on many occasions, Firmino and Diaz were positioned too far to the left and this left Salah isolated on the right hand side.

The Reds were far too predictable as they played everything in front of the Fulham back line rather than trying to make them turn and have something to think about.

Sending his team out early for the second half, it was clear to see Klopp was not happy at all with his side and wanted them to get out on the pitch and put things right.

The second half started very similarly to the first as the home team was in the ascendancy with their high pressing and congested system causing real problems.

Seeing there was no real change in performance or attitude from his team, Klopp looked to the bench and made two attacking substitutions as he withdrew an injured Thiago and the underwhelming Firmino.

Introducing Nunez and youngster Harvey Elliott, Liverpool certainly improved going forward as Nunez took up much higher positions on the pitch which forced Fulham to defend deeper.

He was also looking for balls to be played in behind the centre-halves in order to use his pace and power and test them.

This gave them no option but to drop back and play on the counterattack more.

Nunez caused lots of problems as he forced a fine save from Rodak before then finishing from a similar position to get the Reds level.

Despite the improvement in the attacking phase of the game, sloppy defending and a lack of hunger to track back caused van Dijk to foul Mitrovic and concede a penalty which the Serbian slotted home for his second of the game.

Finding themselves on the back foot once again, Liverpool were able to get Mohamed Salah into the game more as Harvey Elliott and Nunez got a lot closer to the Egyptian talisman.

As Salah’s involvement in the game grew, as did the threat of his team toward the Fulham net.

Eventually, a line-breaking run from Nunez was enough to set up Salah to equalise and continue his impressive scoring record on the opening day of the season.

It was all too little too late for the Merseysiders as they were forced to settle for a draw and on the balance of the game were probably fortunate to have gained the point.

Elliott and particularly Nunez definitely staked their claim to start next week vs Crystal Palace.

Will Klopp change his team or trust his regular starters to provide a reaction next week?