It hasn’t been a good month for those desperate to see Liverpool end their 29-year title wait.
Six games, four draws, eight points dropped, and a lead surrendered to rivals whose form seems to be going in the opposite direction - there haven’t been many positives to take of late.
It had all looked so promising on January 30, when Leicester City visited Anfield in the aftermath of a shock Manchester City defeat at Newcastle.
In beating the Reds at the Etihad Stadium earlier that month, Pep Guardiola’s team had moved back within four points of the summit.
But a slip-up at St James’ Park offered the pretenders to the crown the chance to once again go seven clear with victory over the out-of-sorts Foxes.
Then, the snow fell on Anfield, and the sky with it, and so even an early Sadio Mane opener was not enough to inspire the hosts to three points on an admittedly difficult pitch.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Liverpool | 24 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 41 | 61 |
| 2 | Man City | 24 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 44 | 56 |
| 3 | Tottenham | 24 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 26 | 54 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 47 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 47 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 45 |
In isolation, a draw against a team with a strong recent history of overturning illustrious opposition did not represent a particularly poor result.
Unfortunately, it was quickly followed by another stalemate at West Ham in which the Reds failed to capitalise on the gift of an early offside Mane goal.
Referee Kevin Friend managed to attract Jurgen Klopp’s ire despite that decision, but an eventual £45,000 fine from the FA was perhaps the least concerning consequence of that evening as far as the German was concerned.
With just a three-point lead to show for their trip to east London, the Reds could only watch on as City retook the lead in the title race by beating Everton in a game brought forward due to their participation in the EFL Cup final.
Guardiola’s men may have owed their advantage to a fixture scheduling idiosyncrasy, but their return to top spot appeared to deal a psychological blow to Liverpool.
And, while that perhaps wasn’t evident as they brushed a famously generous Bournemouth aside three days later, it was fully on show as they stuttered to another goalless draw at Old Trafford the following weekend.
Speaking after that game, Klopp and his players argued that their rhythm had been disrupted by a flurry of injury-enforced substitutions in the first half, but this was a third draw in four games brought about by a stilted performance.
A 5-0 thrashing of Watford in midweek - the Reds’ biggest winning margin all season - suggested lessons had been learned from those missteps, and that the required cutting edge had been found at the perfect time.
But it was a familiar story at Goodison Park on Sunday as obstinate opposition, a lack of creativity, and the wind conspired to bring about a seventh league draw of the season.
In Klopp’s defence, his references to difficult conditions often go unnoticed when they follow victories; regular attendees of the German’s post-match press conferences will tell you that these aren’t ‘excuses’ thrown out only in the event of dropped points.
However, the Reds boss’ suggestion that adding a fourth attack-minded player in the closing moments of Sunday’s game would have been tantamount to ‘PlayStation football’ is less easy to justify.
For starters, Liverpool have regularly fielded Xherdan Shaqiri, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in a 4-2-3-1 formation this season.
And if the thought of introducing £50m midfielder Naby Keita equates to ‘going wild’ at this stage of his debut season, you worry for the Guinean’s future at Anfield.
Of course, debating selection and substitutions are rendered pointless by an inability to ever know how the alternatives might have panned out, but there are enough certainties to cling to.
For example: Liverpool have seen a potential seven-point lead turn into a one-point deficit during a run of four wins from 11 games in 2019, while City have won 15 of 16 outings in that period.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Man City | 29 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 56 | 71 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 29 | 21 | 7 | 1 | 49 | 70 |
| 3 | Tottenham | 29 | 20 | 1 | 8 | 26 | 61 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 29 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 58 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 29 | 17 | 6 | 6 | 22 | 57 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 28 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 56 |
Those results indicate something needs to change if the Reds are to stop the champions heading off into the distance in the coming months.
And any further draws will only serve to undermine Klopp’s argument that throwing caution to the wind is not the answer.
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