John Aldridge: The one big reason why Jurgen Klopp’s fairytale farewell is falling flat

Only two weeks have passed since Liverpool headed into a game against Manchester United with glory there for the taking – but all that optimism has now evaporated.

My independent.ie column on April 7 previewing that United game was loaded with optimism for Liverpool, as they went into the match at Old Trafford knowing they would be Premier League champions if they won their remaining games.

They were also strong favourites to get through to the Europa League final in Dublin and Jurgen Klopp’s great farewell show was heading towards a glorious conclusion.

Now, the mood has changed dramatically.

Manchester City are strong favourites to win the Premier League title, Liverpool’s Europa League dream is over and what could have been an incredible end to the season looks set to end with a whimper.

A top-three finish and Carabao Cup success may have been a decent outcome from this season when you consider where Liverpool were a year ago, but this is not how we thought things would work out just four games ago.

When you throw in the grim reality that Klopp is leaving next month and there is so much uncertainty about what comes after him, it’s hard not to feel very flat as a Liverpool fan.

Where has it all gone wrong?

This may not be the moment for post-mortems, but a lot of the problems that have undermined Liverpool over the last fortnight have not come as a surprise to me.

A lack of a killer touch in front of goal has been the biggest problem in recent weeks, but Klopp is not blameless in this untimely run of bad form and I’d say the first leg of the Atalanta game will be the biggest regret for him.

I’m not saying the manager took that match for granted, but there was a feeling that Liverpool would be too good for a team that is a long way off the pace in the Italian title race and the players gave off that vibe at Anfield.

The manager made a few changes and it was almost as if we were all looking forward to the trip to Dublin next month for the final.

A lot of fans had booked flights and hotels for what we thought would be the farewell party for Klopp, but Atlanta didn’t get the memo about that.

Then you look at the Crystal Palace game last Sunday. Once again, Liverpool contributed to their own downfall in the shock 1-0 defeat.

The atmosphere at Anfield last Sunday was good and there was a real sense that the fans wanted to push the team over the winning line, but a familiar problem came back to haunt them.

Liverpool had five massive chances to seal a comfortable win against Palace, but the composure that has been lacking in front of goal was in evidence again.

You have to take one, two or three of those sitters if you want to win Premier League titles. When you don’t take any of them, you’ll be in massive trouble.

Liverpool have averaged a little over nine shots on target for each goal scored in the Premier League this season, and that is not a good ratio.

When you look back at the two recent matches against Manchester United, it gives you a snapshot of what this team could have achieved this season and what they will end up with.

Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez have missed way too many chances – and the same can be said of Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.

There is not a killer goalscorer among those four and as I have said many times in my column, that is what Liverpool are lacking.

Those warnings have come back to haunt them in the last few weeks and I look back to the moment when Jota got injured in mid-February as a turning point.

When Klopp has four forwards to pick from, the competition was there between them to fight for a place, yet that has been lost in recent weeks.

Salah, Nunez and Diaz knew they would play if they were fit and that may have taken a slight edge off their competitiveness to be greedy in front of goal and take those clear-cut chances.

Don’t get me wrong, all three of them are great players, but I remember the likes of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, even myself, and we wouldn’t have missed anywhere near the number of chances Salah, Nunez and Diaz have of late.

That’s because they are not natural goalscorers. All someone like Nunez can do is stay behind at training and practice, practice, practice until he gets better.

When you get in those positions to score, you need to have that composure, but Liverpool hit the opposition’s ’keeper time and again from point-blank range – and they don’t seem to find a solution to that problem.

When you throw in the fact that Liverpool have not been defending well either, then you don’t have a recipe to win trophies.

I’ve always felt Manchester City would end up winning the Premier League once again because they have the experience of getting over the finishing line at this stage of the season, and everything is in their hands now.

Can you see them dropping points in games against Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham?

I can’t, and while the away game against Spurs will be a test, Pep Guardiola and his players don’t let things slip when they get in a position like this.

They went out of the Champions League against Real Madrid on Wednesday, but they should beat the six teams they have left to play in the Premier League.

Also, a lot of teams are looking towards their holidays and at least four of the sides City have left to play are in that position.

All Liverpool and Arsenal can do is win their remaining matches and hope City slip up, but I don’t see that happening.

Liverpool have away matches at Fulham, Everton and West Ham over the next week and it would be a massive achievement to pick up nine points, as the last two weeks has knocked the wind out of their sails.

City will end up winning the Premier League by four or five points in the final analysis, with Klopp’s hopes of a fairytale ending all but over.

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