Liverpool FC 2023-2024 Season Review

We Are Liverpool

Although we now know exactly how the 2023-2024 season ended, complete with the departure of the manager, at the start of the campaign we didn’t really have any sense of how it was going to go. There was a sense of hope from many, believing that Jürgen Klopp had got a second wind and a renewed sense of energy from the players that had been brought in and the youth ones that had been promoted to the first time.

The idea that he was tired was far from the minds of many, but in his own head the manager was aware that he didn’t have it in him to keep with the demands of being Liverpool boss going any longer.

Ultimately, Liverpool fell short in every department except one. Winning the League Cup felt like the start of something special, but it proved to be the only silverware that the club won in a campaign when the Reds flattered to deceive in many departments.

In the end, we missed out on the big prizes but did incredibly well to even be a part of the conversation for them when you consider how many injuries we suffered throughout the season.  See all the Liverpool live results. The players did what they could to give the manager the ultimate sendoff, but when the dust settled we have to be grateful for what we had rather than sad because it’s over.

A League Campaign That Just Fell Short

klopp embraces elliott after nil nil draw with palace

During pre-season, most Liverpool fans were concerned about whether we’d even be able to make it into the top four. The takeover of Newcastle United by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia meant that another state-owned club had entered the conversation and finished in the Champions League places the year before.

Manchester United were also there, with some believing that Erik Ten Hag had cracked the code to enjoy success at Old Trafford. Tottenham Hotspur had brought in Ange Postecoglu and the mood around North London was positive, whilst Manchester City and Arsenal weren’t going anywhere.

When Liverpool missed out on the high-profile signing of Moisés Caicedo, offering Brighton & Hove Albion a world record fee for their midfield bruiser, it seemed as though we couldn’t catch a break. Not only did Chelsea sign him but they also took our other target for the same position, Roméo Lavia.

Instead, the Reds had to settle for a little known 30-year-old Japanese player named Wataru Endō; albeit having also brought in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominic Szobszlai and Ryan Gravenberch to refresh the midfield department. With departures including club captain Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Fabinho Tavares and Roberto Firmino, amongst others, we’d lost a hell of a lot of experience.

A 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge seemed alright without any context around it, but looked worse when the Londoners appeared to be on a mission to lose as many games as possible in the weeks that followed. Similar dropped points to Brighton and newly promoted Luton Town were the only moments of worry in a season that otherwise started quite well.

The win over Newcastle United at St James’ Park in the wake of Virgil van Dijk being sent off appeared to show a Liverpool team ready to do battle with Manchester City once more. There was a loss to Tottenham Hotspur dripping in context, but otherwise things were ok.

Two draws around Christmas time put a slight dent in proceedings, largely because they were against a genuinely dreadful Manchester United and an Arsenal side that were clearly going to be part of the title conversation again. The club’s second loss of the season came against the Gunners at the Emirates, with the Reds having actually wrestled control of the game from them only for van Dijk and Alisson Becker to make a massive mistake and hand them the lead.

Two more draws as the season wore on, against Manchester City firstly and then their counterparts in United, had a shockingly detrimental effect on the club’s mentality.

From there, things all but fell apart. A defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace essentially ended Liverpool’s feint title hopes, but a first loss to Everton in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park for the manager sealed our demise. Even though we were mathematically still in it, two draws in our last four games took care of that.

In the end, the Premier League campaign became about saying goodbye to the finest manager of the modern era, with a final day win over Wolverhampton Wanderers allowing those inside Anfield to have a party in his honour, singing his name and enjoying themselves as Jürgen Klopp’s time at the club came to a conclusion.

Refereeing Issues

It is always important to note when discussing referees that every team feels as though they have bad luck with them. That might well be true, but Liverpool are the only side in the Premier League that had a goal looked at by the Video Assistant Referee, confirmed to be a goal but not given by the on-field referee because of a ‘failure to communicate’.

Rather than acknowledge their error and award the goal, the VAR team instead decided to sit on their hands and do nothing. In the wake of the full-time whistle, Howard Webb was rolled out to speak to Michael Owen on the PGMOL’s publicity show to hand-wringingly tell us lessons would be learned.

Quite what lessons referees have learned this season remains to be seen, given the fact that Alexis Mac Allister had been sent off for a yellow card offence in just our second game of the season, only for the red card to be overturned, with similar such instances happening throughout the campaign.

At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Curtis Jones was sent off for winning the ball, only for his foot to then roll over it and catch Yves Bissouma on the ankle. Simon Hooper was sent to the monitor and upgraded a yellow card to a red. Liverpool later appealed but that was thrown out. It must’ve been a red card offence, then, right?

Not if all of the others that happened during the season but weren’t shown red cards are anything to go by. In the game against Spurs, meanwhile, Diogo Jota was shown two yellow cards for not touching anyone. A red card that an independent panel said shouldn’t have been given. Lessons were learned, no doubt. In the Arsenal game at Anfield, Martin Ødegaard played basketball inside the penalty area but no spot-kick was awarded to the Reds.

Howard Webb spoke to Michael Owen once more. Lessons were learned more often than by a sixth-form student. The fact that was a match between two title-challengers made it an unforgivable error.

Worse was to come in Liverpool’s match against Manchester City at Anfield, however. With the scores level and the game into stoppage time, Jeremy Doku did a kung fu kick into the chest of Alexis Mac Allister after the midfielder had won the ball entering the opposition’s area. It’s about as nailed on a penalty kick as you’re likely to see, but none was given.

The Video Assistant Referee inexplicably told Michael Oliver, the match referee, that Doku had won the ball even though he hadn’t. When Webb spoke to Owen, he repeated the lie about Doku winning the ball, gaslighting us all on national TV. This time, no lessons were learned.

Winning the Carabao Cup

jayden danns celebrates efl cup win with teammates

In the League Cup, Liverpool beat Leicester City and Bournemouth before trouncing West Ham United 5-1 at home. That set up a semi-final clash with Fulham, with the Reds winning the first-leg 2-1 and drawing the second-leg 1-1 to make it through to the final. Who else were were to face there other than the team we’d played in the last two domestic cup finals we’d made in Chelsea.

It was a tense affair, albeit it with Virgil van Dijk scoring a goal that was disallowed by the Video Assistant Referee because Wataru Endō had blocked a Chelsea player when he was in an onside position and the VAR, Minority Report-style, decided the defender would’ve stopped the goal.

As you might well be able to predict, future such incidents involving other clubs were not disallowed. For Liverpool, the nature of the manager’s substitutions should’ve seen us lose the cup final. Connor Bradley was replaced by Bobby Clark, Ibrahima Konaté moved aside for Jarell Quansah and Andy Robertson left the field for Kostas Tsimikas.

With Alexis Mac Allister substituted for James McConnell and Cody Gakpo making way for Jayden Danns, Ryan Gravenberch having already gone off injured for Joe Gomez, every change should’ve made us weaker given the age and experience of the lads coming on for first-teamers.

Instead, Liverpool seemed to grow in confidence as Chelsea retreated, seemingly aware of exactly what was coming. What was coming was almost a carbon copy of his first goal from Virgil van Dijk, this time without any fouls to let the Londoners off the hook. It was just two minutes plus stoppage time from the end of extra-time, with the Reds having won the League Cup for a record-extending tenth time.

It felt like it was the start of something genuinely magical, with many believing that we would win the quadruple in the manager’s final season at the club. In the end that wasn’t to be, but it was at least some silverware to send him off with.

FA Cup & Europa League Heart-Break

The Emirates FA Cup

In the FA Cup, Liverpool were going great guns. A 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates got us underway before victories over Norwich City and Southampton set up a quarter-final against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

It is entirely fair to say that the Reds battered them, in spite of the fact that the home side went ahead after ten minutes. Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mo Salah put us 2-1 up and in truth we should’ve scored numerous more before the full-time whistle. Instead, Antony equalised and sent the game to extra-time. It looked like Harvey Elliott had won it for us before Marcus Rashford and a Diallo double sent us out.

If there is one game that derailed our season then that one might well be it. It saw all of Liverpool’s flaws exposed, with both the defensive frailties and the inability to be deadly in attack writ large. That came back to haunt the Reds in the final few games of the season, dominating but failing to score whilst conceding several times.

The Europa League is the perfect example, having made it out of the group and defeated Sparta Prague, Liverpool lost 3-0 at home to Atalanta and a 1-0 away win wasn’t enough to see us progress. Instead, it was another competition that the Reds failed to win in Jürgen Klopp’s last season in charge.

Goodbye to a Legend

klopp waves to fans

The word ‘legend‘ tends to be used too much nowadays. That is not the case when it comes to Jürgen Norbert Klopp, however. The German arrived at Anfield and told us all to turn from ‘doubters to believers’. Not only did he tell us to do that, he helped us on the journey. He was mocked by many when he got the players to ‘celebrate a draw with West Bromwich Albion’ early on in his tenure, but he was just re-establishing the connection between players and supporters.

It transpired that it was a genius move, with Liverpool under Klopp going on to win the Champions League and the Premier League, amongst others.

We became the best team in the world and during one spell won 106 points from a possible 108. It was absolutely outrageous what he helped us to achieve. He just the second person after Nelson Mandela to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool, such was his impact on the local area. There will always be supporters of other clubs who prefer ‘banter’ over reality, but the sensible ones show an appreciation for him that goes far beyond rivalry.

He is the sort of person who used his own official goodbye to encourage supporters to get behind his replacement. If Arne Slot is even half as good as Jürgen then we’re in for a great time.

Big Red

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