Liverpool have been in scintillating form for the vast majority of this season, and yet there is already a sense that the Premier League title is slowly slipping away from them.
Manchester City have been so relentless in their pursuit of a fourth title in five seasons that a couple of poor results, as suffered by Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, can look like fatal blows in the title race.
Jurgen Klopp has done a remarkable job at Anfield, but the trophies have not followed in the manner that they perhaps would have in other eras. While they have won the Premier League and Champions League (as well as a UEFA Super Cup and World Club Cup title), a side of their quality perhaps should expect a heftier haul of honours. They largely have Manchester City to thank for that.
As a result, Jamie Carragher believes his former club need to put more emphasis on picking up winners medals in other competitions.
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, the former Liverpool defender said Jurgen Klopp's side need to take the FA Cup and Carabao Cup more seriously in order to win more more trophies.
Jurgen Klopp is heading towards his seventh year as Liverpool manager amid a sobering reality. His team have not won enough.
Out of context, that sounds extremely unfair. A better way of putting it is that they have not won as much as their performances have deserved.
Winning the biggest prize of all — the 2019 Champions League — and ending the 30-year wait to become English champions in 2020 secured Klopp’s legend. The subsequent Uefa Super Cup and Club World Cup victories made for a memorable 12 months. But if Klopp leaves Liverpool in 2024 without adding to them, there will be regret when considering all the other seasons where scintillating football went without silverware...
There is a broader lesson to learn, for Liverpool especially, when the margin for error in a title bid is so small. The club have to maximise their chances of winning all four competitions they enter every season, recognising the League Cup and the FA Cup as worthy prizes.
To put it simply, Liverpool need to become more like Chelsea...
What they have done so well during the Roman Abramovich era is to become serial trophy collectors: five FA Cups, three league cups, two Europa League titles. That’s in addition to being Champions League winners twice...
That is an area where Liverpool can and must improve. Since winning the FA Cup in 2006, Liverpool have won only one domestic cup competition: the 2012 League Cup. That’s a poor return for a club of such stature.
The team Klopp inherited was close in the "lesser" competitions, losing the Europa League final and League Cup final in his first season in 2016. Since then there has been a sense of the League Cup and FA Cup being distractions, the main focus being on finishing in the top four or, more recently, saving the energy of star players for the Premier League and European Cup bids...
Given the state of the title race, the upcoming two-legged tie with Arsenal in the Carabao Cup is as important as any game this January...
Liverpool need to get on board that Wembley bus to ensure the promise of another campaign packed with brilliant collective and individual performances does not go unfulfilled.
Liverpool's record in the two domestic cup competitions are poor under Klopp. While they would reach the League Cup final in 2016 after the German arrived mid-season, they have since only reached the last four of a domestic cup competition on one occasion.
This is largely down to their policy to rotate their squad in such competitions. Perhaps this will change in the months ahead if Manchester City continue on their current run of form in the league.
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