Forget Jurgen Klopp leaving - there is one major issue Liverpool must solve next season

Liverpool’s blistering final season under Jurgen Klopp is now at serious risk of ending with a flicker rather than the blaze many expected.

The Reds storming their way to lifting the Carabao Cup looked like a glimpse into the future of the club. Fans got excited about rising stars like Jayden Danns and Bobby Clark, while Virgil van Dijk scored the winning goal in the final and lifted his first trophy as Liverpool captain. The struggles of last season seemed so far away and the Reds were hunting down every trophy available to them this season.

However, over the last few weeks, Liverpool have watched their dream of a quadruple fairytale farewell for Klopp slip between their fingers. The collapse started when bitter rivals Manchester United knocked them out of the FA Cup after a turbulent 120 minutes in the quarter-final at Old Trafford. Klopp and co left enemy territory dejected and exhausted after two late goals from Marcus Rashford and Amad Diallo unraveled their efforts to reach Wembley.

United wounded Liverpool again when they denied them an important win in the Premier League just weeks later. Once again, the Reds struggled at Old Trafford and were able to snag a point, but only thanks to a late penalty after going 2-1 down.

With a trophy out of the question, Liverpool went on to drop out of the Europa League after an uncharacteristic struggle across two legs against Atalanta. The Reds entered the second leg at 3-0 down, with history backing their ability to turn around such a deficit. However, the fairytale comeback wasn’t to be as the memories of AC Milan and Barcelona couldn’t spark more than a consolation penalty.

With two trophy opportunities now out the window, the only avenue left to power down is the Premier League title race. After their 2-2 draw to United and a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace, Liverpool have lost their lead in their battle and have now fallen two points behind reigning champions Manchester City. The chances are fading and while ending the season with just the Carabao Cup will still be a positive, the fans and players will undoubtedly see it as more silverware lost.

While the team’s injury-stricken defence has been the main concern for the majority of the season, worries have now surfaced over their attack as well. Liverpool’s presence in front of goal during recent weeks has been a shadow of what they are capable of and has cost them crucial results that could see them throw away the Premier League title as well as the FA Cup and Europa League.

According to official Premier League stats, no club has missed more big chances this season than Liverpool, with a wounding 66 opportunities squandered. On the player list, £85 million signing Darwin Núñez is up there with 25 big chances skewed in front of goal — only Erling Haaland (30) has missed more.

In their 3-0 loss to Atalanta at Anfield, Liverpool recorded 19 shots and five on target but they failed to find the back of the net in front of their home fans. In their exit from the FA Cup against Man United, despite netting three goals, the Reds threw away a further eight shots on target. Agonisingly, they failed to come away with a single goal against Crystal Palace, despite having 21 shots and six on target.

Liverpool have not been shy of scoring goals this season but it’s difficult to celebrate the high-scoring occasions when points have been dropped and cups have been exited due to wastefulness in front of goal. With Salah also linked to an exit this summer, fans could be seeing a new winger added to the ranks to replace the iconic Egyptian, and he will require a grace period to fill such big boots. Whoever comes in to succeed Klopp has a lot of work to do in the lead up to the 2024/25 season, and unless Liverpool’s world-class forward line can shake off this dip, the new boss will have a lot of unpicking to do to figure out what the problem is.