Liverpool are having a really difficult season. With Sadio Mane gone and injuries plaguing Jurgen Klopp’s side, the Reds have fallen way behind in the Premier League title race this season and seem nowhere close to competing for the trophy.
Having drawn 4 and lost 2 of their first 8 league games, they only have 10 points from a possible 24. They’re 14 points behind league leaders Arsenal (who have played one game extra than them) as well as 13 behind rivals Manchester City.
Neither are Liverpool the defensive giants they were in the last few campaigns, nor are they firing on all cylinders in the attack. New signing Darwin Nunez only has a few league goals and Mo Salah has two goals from 8 games – having fallen way behind in the Golden Boot race as well.
The poor start to the season have seen the Reds fall all the way down to 11th place. They’re not even in the top half of the team.
Nothing screams a ‘crisis’ more than this. Even so, it seems like the media are treating them like their situation isn’t really that bad either and almost giving them moral support.
Over the years, Klopp’s side have been accused of being the ‘media darlings’ in England by fans of other teams. When they barely stuttered to a top-4 finish in the 2020/21 season, the media seemingly treated that as a heroic miracle – despite them having won the league title in the season just before that.
The injury of Virgil van Dijk was considered as something that shattered the form of the team and denied them the opportunity to compete for the title with City – who themselves struggled with key injuries throughout the campaign.
The latest example of them being the media darlings is thanks to an illustration by Sky Sports. In their latest program after the Saturday Premier League games, the famous channel showed the Premier League table with the teams in the top half.
Normally, the top half of any football league table strictly considers only the top 10 teams. But it seems like Sky Sports decided to tweak the rules a little bit just to accommodate Klopp’s side. The ‘top-10’ was turned into a ‘top-11’ in an attempt at depicting Liverpool to be part of the top half of the table.
Now, they’re highly doubtful to do the same for the other major English sides. The likes of Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane has lambasted Manchester United at every chance they’ve gotten for their turmoil in recent campaigns.
Man City, despite their seeming perfection, are criticized the smallest things and the London giants are also equally criticized.
It’s not that Liverpool’s bad performances aren’t criticized by Sky Sports or other media outlets, they are, but they’re also given a special preference to other clubs.
That is proven in this tweaked table itself, as it is a one-of-a-kind thing that will not be done for any other side going forward.
Of course, opposition fans are infuriated at Sky Sports for seemingly showing bias towards Livepool.
