Is it the injuries, or the schedule – or have this Liverpool team peaked?

Van Dijk, Gomez and Matip have started only 22 games between them this season but Liverpool have not been at their very best for over a year

Is it just the injuries? Is it just the schedule? Is it enough simply to say that, given the way they play, given the fact they have been without their three first-choice central defenders for large parts of the season, that Liverpool have been up against it and that, given more normal conditions, they will rise again? Or, after their 4-1 defeat against Manchester City on Sunday, is there something more serious going on?

First, what Roy Keane would dismiss as the excuses. They have been unlucky with injuries, less in their number than in their concentration at the heart of the defence: Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joël Matip have begun just 22 league games between them this season. Liverpool, as a result, have had 12 starting centre-back pairings and, given that has frequently involved Fabinho or Jordan Henderson dropping into the back four, that has had a knock-on impact in midfield.

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