Arne Slot rejected the idea that Liverpool's Carabao Cup Final Loss To Newcastle was in fatigue and said that it “had nothing to do with running” in his press conference after the game. Instead, he emphasized the failure of his side to win enough duels.
However, it is in those physical fights that the signs of fatigue have become the most clearest. In the past two weeks, Liverpool has registered three of their five lowest duel reporting rates throughout the season.
The issue was most pronounced against Paris Saint-Germain, when Liverpool won only 32.5 percent of the matches of the game, the lowest success rate of the club in the Champions League. In the second stage of that draw in Anfield and against Newcastle on Wembley on Sunday, their success rate was 42.7 percent.
The dip can be further reduced in the Premier League. For the turn of the year, Liverpool won more than 50 percent of their duels in nine games of 18. They have only done this in two of the 11 since then. Slot may not admit it, but his side has lost their physical lead.
“Liverpool's legs no longer have steam,” as Sky Sports Pundit Jamie Carragher posted it on Sunday. “Set piece wise, duels in the middle of the park and Liverpool could not handle it for pace.”
Fortunately for Slot there is no useful impact on their results in the Premier League. The performance levels are fluctuating, but Liverpool remains unbeaten since the 1-0 loss for Nottingham Forest in September. Their 12-point lead on Arsenal at the top of the table should enable them to win the title with space over.
That performance alone would of course be a triumphant first season that is responsible for Slot. Few turn his Liverpool side as title winners in August. But if he wants to repeat their success in the next term and also want to go the distance in the cup competitions, he will consider their dip lessons.
With some justification, he could claim that his conservative approach to Rotatie Liverpool helped to build their commanding position at the top of the Premier League. He leaned heavily on his best players, yes. But they have delivered, usually stay fit and put Liverpool on schedule for a 90-point campaign.
However, there were always questions about the sustainability of such a policy and the recent slump emphasizes the dangers.
Liverpool's average of 1.76 line-up changes per match in the Premier League is the seventh lowest in the division this season and makes an out of a bit compared to recent title winners. The last seven games that have won the title, dating from Manchester City in 2017/18, have an average of 2.79 line-up changes per competition.
Those parties could keep freshness until the end, in most cases, but Liverpool is now with too many players who have played too many minutes. Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister have all played more than 3,000. There are others not far behind them.
With Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Luis Diaz and Ibrahima Konate also close to that threshold, Liverpool played nine players in the top 50 for minutes for minutes by Premier League players in all competitions in all competitions this season.
No other side has more than six.
Some are of course, such as Salah and Van Dijk, used to such a heavy workload. But even they are not immune to fatigue, as their recent form shows, and it is new to others.
The minutes of Gravenberch have increased by no less than 46 percent this season. With two more months of the campaign to go, Konate has played more minutes than he did in the past term. MAC Allister is on track to comfortably exceed his total for last season.
All those players, such as Van Dijk and even Salah, have recently looked understandably in the course of recent times and have difficulty retaining their consistency in the second half of the season.
It is no coincidence that those behind them in the pecking order, much fresher who have been used so sparingly in the course of the campaign, have made the biggest contributions in recent weeks.
The winning goal of Liverpool in Paris came from Darwin Nunez who set up Harvey Elliott. Replacers combined for their goal at Wembley, with Elliott de Pas playing to release Federico Chiesa.
However, Elliott played 583 minutes in all competitions this season, against 2,786 last term, while Chiesa played even less, at 387 after his arrival from Juventus in August.
It may simply be the case that Slot does not assess the majority of his squadron players. After all, they are not his players, with Chiesa the only signing since he succeeded Jurgen Klopp.
He will hope for a chance to configure his team again this summer. The transfer window is probably the key, especially in the midst of the constant uncertainty surrounding the future of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold. But lock may also have to reconsider aspects of his own approach. It is honor that Liverpool's success already looks inevitably. The next challenge will be to take on it.
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