Premier League powerhouse Liverpool has been in dire straits recently. In this Sunday's (30th) match, the "Reds" suffered their second consecutive league loss at home with a 1-2 defeat against Leeds United. This defeat has shattered Liverpool's 19-month unbeaten streak at Anfield Road. With this loss, Liverpool slipped to ninth place in the league, 13 points adrift of top-ranked Manchester City, and 8 points adrift of fourth-ranked Newcastle, making the outlook for this season not optimistic.
It's worth noting that Liverpool, who lost to bottom-placed Nottingham Forest in their last league outing, took on 19th-placed Leeds United but were dealt a blow early in the game. Just four minutes into the game, Zukomis made a suicide back pass from the right side, leading to an easy goal for Lodigo to take a 1-0 lead. However, Liverpool equalized in the 14th minute with a flash equalizer from Mohamed Sana and then took control of the game for a while. However, LJU goalkeeper Mesilla made nine saves and a clever shot from inside the box by Sammawi in the closing stages of the match helped his side to a 2-1 comeback victory.
Since their home defeat to Fulham in March 2021, Liverpool have maintained a 19-month, 29-game unbeaten home record in the league, and this is the first time since March 2012 that they have lost two consecutive games to teams in the relegation zone. In addition, a statistic shows that Liverpool's form has dropped significantly this season. They lost only 4 of their 63 matches in all competitions last season, while they have lost 5 of their 18 matches so far this season.
After the match, head coach Gopp expressed his disappointment, "This was a very big blow, a very strange goal was conceded in the opening half and the players looked very tired and completely out of control of the game. Perhaps some of the players played too much, such as the strikers, as the team only has three strikers available at the moment." Gopp is also concerned that the team could lose their place in the UEFA Europa League next season: "I'm not a fool, I'm aware of the gap and the strength of the teams in front of us. With Liverpool's current unstable performance, it's hard to get the UEFA qualification and we have to find a way to save ourselves."
