Myself and
@number4. had a discussion a while back about this period. I appreciate some think he's a red- I have no idea and in honesty I really don't care either way- he is always a thoughtful and interesting contributor (and don't think he's a red FWIW).
We spoke about this being the period Liverpool (and by proxy Chelsea, Leicester, Spurs and to a degree City) would start to pull away with European games winding up. I didn't think they would, but he felt that all 4 would go on a run of 10 wins in 12 games. Liverpool to my numbers have won 3 from 8 (and oneof those wins was a last minute goal). I don't think there's any doubt as to who was proven correct.
However that wasn't the point of the post. In fairness to him, I actually think his thought processes were sound. IF Liverpool were likely to pull away, it was logical it would be through the December-January period while European competition wound up. This was the window they had, if they wanted to put distance between themselves and the chasing pack, as once European games and to a degree Cup games kick in, fatigue and travel starts to set in again.
As has been noted, that Christmas schedule couldn't have been kinder. No cup games, the longest rest of any side and 2 real gimme games. West Brom they could have stuck their reserves out and won. Newcastle should have been wrappedup at 60 to give a rest. Southampton are decent but at the end of a long and tiring road for them. 2 points and goal from 9 is really damaging, and it can't just be put down to the short term fatigue associated with Xmas.
It would seem to me (as I did highlight in the discussions) that there is a longer term fatigue built into those players. I know the easy answers are that they're allegedly not doping- which I simply don't believe are credible as rumours. More likely is a mixture of little-no pre season mixed in with age concerns of the squad (one of the oldest in the league) and the mileage in the legs they've gone through now finally catching up with them. The difficulty for them, is they get 1 of those 3 resolved for next season at best (there's no guarentees, with a Euro's and Olympics the way things are that we automatically get a proper pre-season). The other 2 points- they only get older and the players who are left standing are having to put unbelievabe mileage on their legs as Klopp simply won't rotate.
That would be my concern if I watched them. Sure they will get a mini break of 10-11 days going into United, but they had a similar break going into West Brom and in honesty it's had the adverse affect. Quite a few red mates I have have said that acually having a 7+ day break has rarely done them good in the 1st fixture back but they tend to catch it up from fixture 2-3 onwards. Thats them playing at peak though. With them running on empty, lacking confidence etc,what if that 1 game to recover becomes 2-3 poor games and the average games before htting top speed becomes 2-3. That would be 5-6 games before they really hit their stride again (assuming a simple 10 day break will be enough- which given whats happened it may not be). But 5-6 more games at this level means they are out of the title race, no doubt about it. They probabaly drop 10+ points in suh a period given those games.
So essentially- some will try to write it off as just the xmas schedule. I think there's something a bit more serious going on. I'd also state, expect more injuries. Those players will continue to start breaking down given the reckless way they have been managed by Klopp.
