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Out of the title race, out of the EFL cup, out of the FA Cup. If Liverpool lose against Chelsea and Manchester City can beat West Ham, they will head into February out of the top four. It has, by any measure, been a disastrous run to end two very bad months for Liverpool Football Club.
About the only silver lining to be found in it might be the club signing Philippe Coutinho to a new contract that runs through 2022. In a season suddenly more about the future than the present, that is the bright spot in recent weeks, and Coutinho insists it is a bright future he committed to.
"I signed a new contract and there was a message," Coutinho insisted. "I am happy to sign, and I would like to say it is not about one week, no matter how bad that is, it is about the future with this squad. The club is very ambitious, the players and the manager are all focused.
“Everyone believes in that, and everyone wants to bounce back at this moment. I have signed because the manager is a winner, and everyone believes in him. I believe in what he does, and everyone inside the dressing room believes he will take this team to titles—that is why I signed a new contract.”
Liverpool fans had best hope Coutinho is right, because if it turns out that Jürgen Klopp, with a more supportive set of owners than the club have had at any other point in the Premier League era, can’t turn Liverpool into the side they want them to be, it is difficult to imagine a better alternative.
That, however, is a question for the longer term. For now, the bigger concern is whether the club and players can get back on track against in-form Chelsea on Tuesday in a game that could either help to pull Liverpool out of their slump or send them deeper into crisis.
"We have to lift ourselves for Chelsea, that is very important,” Coutinho added. "We have another opportunity straight away to bounce back, and it is a good opportunity, a big game. We have a few days to prepare everything and to go again—that is what we must do now."