Raw reflections on Liverpool's 2021/22 Premier League season

The quadruple dream died a painful death on Sunday, but Liverpool can still make this one of their greatest ever seasons.

As the dust settles following Sunday’s conclusion to the 2021/22 Premier League season, it all still feels rather raw from a Liverpool perspective given the manner in which events unfolded. 

Personally, going into the weekend, I’d already made peace with the idea that Liverpool wouldn’t win the title. Of course, while it remained a mathematical possibility, there remained a tiny slither of hope, but deep down I knew something seriously bizarre would have to happen in order for Manchester City to mess things up against Aston Villa at the Etihad. 

Even when Sadio Mané equalised against Wolves, I still had very little confidence that Villa would be able to hold up their end of the bargain. When the news filtered through that Philippe Coutinho had doubled Villa’s lead, however, it became pretty much impossible not to believe that it might actually be on.

All of a sudden, the horror scenario which I hadn’t even contemplated was at risk of happening: City failing to beat Villa, and Liverpool not being able to get the job done against Wolves. It seemed too dystopian to be true. While unbearably nerve shredding in one sense, the prospect of Liverpool kicking towards the Kop, needing to score just one goal with 20 minutes plus stoppage time to play in order to win the league in front of a fully packed Anfield, was the stuff of dreams. 

And so, the fact that when Mohamed Salah did eventually succeed in piercing Wolves’ stubborn resistance by scrambling the ball over the line in the 84th minute, it was no longer the moment of bedlam we’d all been teased into anticipating, made it feel extremely deflating. More than anything, you had to feel for the players themselves. Judging by the sheer exuberance of their celebrations, they clearly thought that was the moment which would secure them the title, only to discover, via the relatively muted reaction of the Anfield crowd, that City had pulled off a miraculous comeback. It must have been gut-wrenching in the extreme to go from such a euphoric high to such a crushing low in a matter of seconds. 

The closer you come, the heavier the blow when you miss out. It’s a brutal sport at times.

It hurt even more than the final day of 2018/19, as there was only a very brief window on that occasion when Liverpool winning the league felt plausible. Here, the prospect was dangled in front of us for the best part of an hour. The proper, communal title celebration that this team had been so cruelly denied in 2019/20, was at one point very much on the cards. It was hard not to envisage the scenes that would have unfolded at full-time had that scenario come to pass. 

In the cold light of day, while still a horribly bitter pill to swallow, the overwhelming feeling is one of immense pride at what Liverpool achieved. Back when they found themselves 14 points adrift of City in January, albeit with two games in hand, the idea that they’d claw such a deficit back to resurrect the title race and take it right down to the final few minutes of the final game of the season, would have seemed the stuff of fantasy. The more likely scenario, given City’s relentlessness, was that they’d run away with the title and eventually end up winning it by a double-figure margin.

That Liverpool refused to give in and accept defeat right up until the very end is something to be applauded in and of itself, even if, ultimately, it still wasn’t quite enough. This was Liverpool’s third 90+ point league campaign under Jürgen Klopp, a tally which has guaranteed the title in every other era in English top flight history except this one, and although it’s hard to take that it has only yielded one title so far, it’s simply a reflection of the way in which City, with their state-funded, seemingly bottomless pit of resources, have warped the competition so drastically. 

Despite the vast disparity in expenditure between the two clubs, only one point separates Liverpool (357) and City (358) over the past four seasons, which further underlines just how phenomenal a job Klopp has done to keep pace with such a juggernaut. Unfortunately, from Liverpool’s perspective, the finest of margins have fallen in City’s favour in both 2018/2019 and this season. 

Supporters of Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton and other English clubs may choose to laugh and point the finger at Liverpool’s misfortune, because it’s easy for them to accept City winning the league every season. It’s just the logical, entirely expected, default outcome for the most expensively assembled squad in the history of the sport. But the plain and simple reality is, without Klopp and this group of players doing what they’ve done in recent years to keep City honest, the Premier League would be devoid of competition at the top, with City winning five titles in succession by a monstrous margin every time. 

Besides Liverpool, no other side has managed to get within more than 12 points of City over the past five seasons. To have racked up 92 points, taking 51 of the last 57 on offer, while simultaneously winning both domestic cups and getting all the way to the final of the Champions League, is all the more remarkable. Had Villa not capitulated so spectacularly, Liverpool might well have been on the precipice of an unprecedented quadruple right now. 

Despite the excruciating ending, there have been so many joyous moments and great storylines over the course of this league season. Obliterating Manchester United by an aggregate scoreline of 9-0, and beating Everton 6-1 across the two Merseyside derbies, is something to be celebrated (despite the dismal performances of both sides). We’ve seen Ibrahima Konaté come in and look every inch a centre-back with the ability to become a pillar of the Liverpool defence for many years to come. The emergence of Kostas Tsimikas as a genuinely brilliant deputy for Andy Robertson has been fantastic to watch. 

Thiago, unsurprisingly, has made a fool of all those who laughably labeled him a flop last season, consistently putting in the kind of majestic performances which have earned him his reputation as one of the finest midfielders on the planet over the past decade. Naby Keita, meanwhile, has produced his best (and least injury-hit) season for Liverpool yet, arguably putting himself in the frame for a contract extension. 

Over the past few months, we’ve seen Mané find a whole new lease of life playing through the middle, a role in which he’s been almost unplayable at times – buoyed, too, by becoming an AFCON champion and securing Senegal’s place in the upcoming World Cup. Perhaps most encouraging of all has been the scintillating impact of Luis Diaz since his January arrival from Porto, bringing a flamboyant blend of searing speed, silky dribbling and tigerish tenacity to the left-hand side of Liverpool’s attack. 

Next season, the task for Liverpool will be to pick up where they left off as they did at the start of 2019/20 after falling narrowly short to City at the back end of 2018/19. Improving on a 92-point campaign is an almighty challenge, but Klopp will look to the fact that Liverpool didn’t beat any of City, Chelsea or Tottenham this season, and also the sloppy manner in which they squandered leads against Brentford and Brighton, as evidence that this team is capable of becoming even better. There is, you feel, at least another gear for them to find.

The disappointment of falling short of the title in such agonising fashion this time round will surely fuel Liverpool’s fierce determination to go one better and do everything within their power to regain their crown next season. 

In the meantime, there’s the small matter of a seventh European Cup to be won, and a cup treble to be completed. 

All eyes on Paris.