This season, it has become fairly unusual to see Jurgen Klopp's signature toothy grin in the Premier League.
More often than not, he wore the expression of a man with serious worries, possibly as a result of the devastating knowledge that even his unique abilities are limited.
But he deserves credit for making the Premier League exciting, fiercely competitive, and fair.
Without him, Manchester City's domination over the past four years would have been much more evident, despite Liverpool defying expectations and spending power to almost keep up with the squad coached by Pep Guardiola and supported by the royal family of Abu Dhabi.
Liverpool, nevertheless, is far from poor. Alisson the goalkeeper and Virgil van Dijk the center back both received record transfer fees. Even in the summer, $71 million was spent to replace the departing Sadio Mane with center forward Darwin Nunez.
But the glimmer is gone—at least for the time being. For a squad that, with two games remaining in the previous season, was just two victories away from an unprecedented quadruple of trophies, everything feels that much more difficult.
This season, even the always upbeat Klopp has become agitated when questioned by the media. His team's defense has appeared fragmented and frail. An already elderly midfield has been decimated by injuries, and Mane's absence has been felt in attack.
Liverpool is 13 points behind the defending champions and 14 points behind leader Arsenal going into Sunday's match against Man City at Anfield, but it has played one fewer game than both teams.
Because of this, the 7-1 annihilation of Rangers in the Champions League on Wednesday, which featured Mo Salah's fastest-ever hat trick in the competition's history, was a welcome respite.
At Ibrox, Klopp's wide grin was clearly visible, but the outcome does not provide much evidence that Liverpool can turn around its early-season troubles.
Last week's 2-0 victory over Rangers was followed by a defeat to Arsenal, highlighting the remarkable progress achieved by Mikel Arteta, manager of the Gunners, and his qualifications to be Pep Guardiola's major rival this year.
The fact that Liverpool has only won two league games out of eight this season is proof of their precipitous slide.
Additionally, there have been wildly inconsistent outcomes in all competitions, including a Premier League record-tying 9-0 victory over Bournemouth and seven goals scored at Rangers, as well as a humiliating 4-1 loss to Napoli and a 3-3 home draw with Brighton.
The slump has real causes, like as the several key players' injuries, which have forced Klopp to fill up the gaps and struggle to field a stable team.
The offense that helped the team win the Premier League title, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and three Champions League finals (one of which they won) under Klopp, who is under contract through 2026, has been significantly diminished by the loss of Mane to Bayern Munich.
Despite Liverpool's confidence in Nunez, it was never going to be simple to replace one of the most lethal strikers in the world.
There is a feeling of change at Anfield as Luis Diaz also joined in January. What about the less obvious elements, such as the mental stress of attempting to stay up with a competitor as persistent as City?
It is impossible to stress how mentally draining it must be to play against a team with almost limitless resources and the genius of one of the greatest managers in sports in Guardiola.
After finishing one point behind City last season, Klopp is dealing with the loss of Mane, but Guardiola has signed Erling Haaland, who is perhaps the most terrifying forward in the world.
Liverpool has had to carefully consider almost every acquisition, whereas City simply keeps adding to what is perhaps the greatest gifted group of players in club soccer.
Even though it must be exhausting, Klopp has persisted in sparring with his Catalan opponent.
Over the last four completed seasons, there has only been one point between the teams, but City has won.
Despite having numbers that would rank Liverpool as one of the most dominant teams in English soccer history, they have only had a small amount of success to show for it. That "failure" will undoubtedly have an impact.
Liverpool has long defied expectations; has it now run out of gas?
More specifically, the question is whether Klopp has the stamina to try it all over again.
After winning the championship in 2020, his club experienced a similar downturn, defending the prize with a razor-thin margin that put them 17 points behind City.
Liverpool came close to completing a clean sweep last season after returning.
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