Having taken their hunt for silverware all the way to the wire in all four competitions in 2021-22, Liverpool suffered the famine after the feast during an underwhelming and underachieving 2022-23 campaign.
Fancied by many to challenge Manchester City's domestic dominance once again, in addition to competing on all other fronts, Liverpool instead suffered their lowest finish in any of Jurgen Klopp's seven full seasons at the helm and were forced to settle for the Community Shield as their only trophy.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look back at a 2022-23 campaign which the red half of Merseyside will hope to consign to history as quickly as possible.
SEASON OVERVIEW
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Final league position: 5th
FA Cup: Fourth round
EFL Cup: Fourth round
Champions League: Last 16
Community Shield: Winners
Top scorer: Mohamed Salah (30)
Most assists: Mohamed Salah (16)
The dust had barely settled on a traumatic end to an otherwise successful 2021-22 season when Liverpool fans were rocked by the news that club legend Sadio Mane wanted to leave for a new challenge in the summer, eventually joining Bayern Munich.
In response, the Reds splashed the cash on Benfica forward Darwin Nunez in an £86m deal which raised eyebrows, particularly with question marks being raised regarding whether such money would be better used on an ageing midfield unit, many of whom were entering the final year of their contracts.
Nonetheless, after a mixed pre-season things started brightly when Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-1 in the Community Shield at Leicester City's King Power Stadium, which hosted the game due to the Women's Euro 2022 taking place at Wembley.
That trophy completed the set for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, but it proved to be something of a false dawn as Liverpool showed early signs of a hangover from their push for a quadruple the previous campaign.
Come-from-behind draws against newly-promoted Fulham and Crystal Palace in their opening two games, the latter of which included an ill-disciplined red card for new boy Nunez early in his Reds career, made for a very underwhelming start which only got worse when they were beaten 2-1 at Old Trafford by a Manchester United side that had themselves suffered a horrendous start to the campaign.
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Klopp's men bounced back from that disappointment in emphatic fashion, equalling the biggest-ever Premier League win with a 9-0 obliteration of Bournemouth for their first league triumph of the campaign, and following that up with a 98th-minute Fabio Carvalho winner against Newcastle United - a result which looked more impressive as the weeks went by and the Magpies established themselves as top-four contenders.
Consistency was something Liverpool would struggle with throughout the campaign, though, and it would be a month-and-a-half before they next won in the league.
That wait was in part prolonged by postponements caused by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, meaning a goalless derby draw with Everton at Goodison Park was Liverpool's only league game of September, but their defensive frailties were exposed in a 3-3 home draw with Brighton & Hove Albion - Leandro Trossard helping himself to an Anfield hat-trick - and a 3-2 defeat to emerging title hopefuls Arsenal in October, which also saw Luis Diaz pick up a serious knee injury.
The Reds did at least taste victories in the Champions League during that time, overcoming an opening 4-1 defeat to Scudetto-bound Napoli to beat Ajax and Rangers twice, with their trip to Ibrox seeing them hammer seven past the Scottish outfit in Glasgow.
That 7-1 win was followed by a 1-0 triumph over defending champions Man City as Liverpool once again showed their capacity to beat the best, although they lost Diogo Jota to a long-term injury in that match, while Klopp overstepped the mark while berating an official, earning him a red card, an eventual touchline ban and sparking a debate over the behaviour of managers on touchlines.
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Klopp's players were doing little to calm him down, and after a midweek win over West Ham United they then displayed the infuriating nature of their 2022-23 form by losing at Nottingham Forest just six days after toppling Man City.
Victories over Ajax and Napoli ensured their progress to the Champions League knockout rounds, but an 89th-minute loss to Leeds United at Anfield condemned them to back-to-back league defeats for the first time since March 2021.
Things did finally look to be on the up again heading into the mid-season World Cup break as victory over Napoli sparked a run of four successive triumphs in three different competitions, beating Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton in the league while also progressing in the EFL Cup.
The mid-season break saw Diaz suffer a setback in his recovery from his knee injury and Liverpool were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Manchester City in their first game back, but they picked up where they left off in terms of league form with victories over Aston Villa and Leicester City after Christmas.
The turn of the year brought with it a turn in fortunes, though, and Liverpool suffered a dismal start to 2023 which saw them win just one of six games, being knocked out of the FA Cup and suffering chastening league defeats to Brentford, Brighton and Wolverhampton Wanderers in succession too, the latter leaving them 10th in the table.
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With their top-four hopes seemingly in tatters, Liverpool embarked on a five-game unbeaten and clean sheet run in the league, beginning with 2-0 victories over Merseyside rivals Everton and 10-man Newcastle, and culminating in a 7-0 humiliation of their greatest rivals Manchester United.
That win at Anfield - which saw the two sides still level just a few minutes before half time - was the type of result that Liverpool fans will talk about for years to come and provided the undoubted highlight of their season, especially with Roberto Firmino capping off the scoring just a couple of days after confirming that he would leave the club at the end of the campaign.
However, in true Liverpool 2022-23 fashion, the pride generated from that result was swiftly followed by a fall, losing 1-0 away against Bournemouth - the team they had beaten 9-0 earlier in the season - in their very next match.
Champions League elimination followed, with Real Madrid having ruthlessly run out 5-2 winners in the first leg at Anfield - despite Liverpool making a dream start - and then triumphing 1-0 in the return leg to once again get the better of the Reds in a repeat of last season's final.
That result condemned Liverpool to a season without a major trophy, and a convincing 4-1 defeat at Man City on April 1 made it three losses on the bounce in all competitions while also shining the spotlight on the gap which had opened up between the two sides who had gone toe to toe for English supremacy in recent years.
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However, the additional time on the training pitch afforded by their Champions League exit saw Klopp trial a new formation which included a hybrid position for Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose defensive capabilities had come under serious scrutiny throughout the season.
The benefits were almost immediate; Liverpool ended the season with an 11-match unbeaten run which included a seven-game winning streak - comfortably their best of the campaign.
During that unbeaten run, the Reds came from two goals down to draw with Arsenal, hit Leeds for six and edged a topsy-turvy thriller with Nottingham Forest, while also seemingly solving the away woes which had dogged them for so much of the season.
The standout result from that run was an incredible 4-3 victory over Tottenham on April 30 which saw Liverpool race into a 3-0 lead inside 15 minutes, only to throw that away when Richarlison seemingly earned a point for Spurs with a 93rd-minute equaliser.
However, a defensive error allowed Jota to steal in and score again just a minute later, sending Anfield into raptures and leaving Spurs to once again lick their wounds.
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A draw with Aston Villa in Liverpool's penultimate game of the campaign ended their winning streak and effectively ended any lingering top-four hopes too, although it did give the Anfield crowd the opportunity to bid farewell to departing quartet James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Firmino, the latter marking the occasion with the equalising goal.
A season which flitted between historic highs and lamentable lows was then neatly encapsulated in the final game of the season against already-relegated Southampton, which saw Liverpool go 2-0 up inside 14 minutes - including one final goal for Firmino - back level at 2-2 before the half-hour mark, 4-2 down by the 64th minute and then level again at 4-4 by minute 73.
It was a fittingly chaotic end to what had been a chaotic campaign which, despite containing some moments that will live long in the memory, will overall be looked back on as a hugely disappointing one for a team so used to challenging at the top end of the table under Klopp.
PREMIER LEAGUE STATS
Wins: 19 (=4th)
Draws: 10 (9th)
Losses: 9 (=17th)
Goals scored: 75 (3rd)
Goals conceded: 47 (=13th)
Yellow cards: 57 (16th)
Red cards: 1 (=10th)
Passes: 22,401 (2nd)
Shots: 605 (2nd)
Big chances missed: 78 (1st)
Saves: 114 (11th)
Tackles: 590 (17th)
Own goals: 2 (=9th)
Hit woodwork: 16 (=6th)
Clearances: 540 (18th)
HOW DID IT COMPARE TO LAST SEASON?
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In short - not very well at all.
Liverpool enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in their history last term, winning the FA Cup and EFL Cup, reaching the final of the Champions League and finishing just a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Coming so close to an unprecedented quadruple, and playing in every available match, may have had some toll on this season, but Liverpool's inconsistency in 2022-23 lasted well into the new year, and so a hangover from their previous exertions certainly cannot be held up as a sole excuse for their subsequent underperformance.
Remarkably, Liverpool only spent one gameweek outside of the top four in the Premier League last season, with their lowest position at the end of a gameweek coming when they dropped to fifth after their third game of the campaign.
This time around, the Reds did not spend a single gameweek inside the top four and were even as low as 16th place after their defeat to Manchester United on matchday three.
Predictably, then, all of the individual stats also show a sharp decline; Liverpool won 28 league games last season compared to 19 this term, while they were only beaten twice in 2021-22 - a tally they surpassed before the end of October this time around.
Even the big wins over Bournemouth and Man United failed to prevent them scoring 19 goals fewer, also posting significantly fewer shots and more big chances missed, while at the other end they conceded 21 goals more than in 2021-22.
The headline figure, of course, is the final league position and points tally, with Liverpool suffering their lowest-ever finish in a full season under Klopp - three places and a whopping 25 points worse off than last term; only Chelsea had a bigger drop-off in points between last season and this.
It was a similar story in the cup competitions too, although it was always going to be difficult to match the 2021-22 glory on that front.
Even so, having won both the EFL Cup and FA Cup at Wembley last term, they were knocked out in the fourth round of both this time around, while Real Madrid again dumped them out of the Champions League - this time in the last 16.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON: MOHAMED SALAH
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With Mane leaving last summer and Firmino leaving this, Mohamed Salah stands alone as the last remaining member of the famous front three that fired Liverpool back to the top of English and European football.
The 'Egyptian King' shows no sign of slowing down, though, still managing to reach the 30-goal mark in all competitions - not to mention a further 15 assists - despite an overall poor season for the team.
Salah finished the season in particularly prolific form, chalking up a number of eye-catching accolades along the way, including surpassing Robbie Fowler's record of most Premier League goals for Liverpool and most left-footed goals in the competition's history, as well as Michael Owen's record for most away Premier League goals for the club.
In terms of Liverpool's overall scoring charts, Salah soared above bona-fide club legends Owen, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Fowler and Steven Gerrard into fifth on the all-time list, with only Billy Liddell, Gordon Hodgson, Roger Hunt and Ian Rush having now scored more times for the club.
Remarkably, Salah has now finished as Liverpool's leading scorer in each of the six seasons he has been at the club; in the entire history of Liverpool, only Owen (seven seasons from 1997-98 to 2003-04) and Hunt (eight seasons from 1961-62 to 1968-69) have had a longer run of being top scorer every year.
Admittedly, the 30-year-old fell below his very high standards at some points throughout the season, particularly towards the start when the whole team were struggling, but to post such impressive numbers despite that makes his achievements even more impressive - only Erling Braut Haaland and Kylian Mbappe directly contributed to more goals across the whole of Europe.
A big honourable mention should also go to Alisson Becker, without whom Liverpool would have been in even worse shape given the regularity with which he bailed his side out during the first two-thirds of the season.
STANDOUT RESULT: LIVERPOOL 7-0 MANCHESTER UNITED
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Despite the overall campaign being a disappointing one, there were a number of notable highlights for Liverpool as they offered occasional glimpses of the ruthless quality that has made them one of European football's powerhouses in recent years.
The campaign began with victory over Manchester City in the Community Shield, while their first Premier League win of the season saw them equal the record for the biggest victory in the competition's history with a 9-0 obliteration of Bournemouth at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp's side also hit seven past Rangers away in the Champions League and six away to Leeds United in the Premier League to showcase their Jekyll and Hyde form on the road, while their 4-3 win over Spurs surely ranks highest in terms of pure drama.
However, while any one of those results might have challenged for this award in another season, there was only one winner in 2022-23 - a historic humiliation of their biggest rivals as Liverpool beat Erik ten Hag's Manchester United 7-0 at Anfield in March.
Liverpool had finally begun to find some consistency in the league heading into the match, but Man United were unbeaten in 11 games, had won the EFL Cup just seven days earlier, had recently beaten Barcelona over two legs, were 10 points above Liverpool in the table and still had outside hopes of challenging for a first Premier League title in a decade, so were regarded by many as favourites ahead of the trip over to Merseyside.
Indeed, the majority of the first half was a fiercely-contested affair with both sides giving as good as they got before Cody Gakpo gave Liverpool the lead shortly before the interval.
From there, Liverpool were merciless; an astonishing six further unanswered goals followed in the second half as Liverpool ran riot in front of a delirious Anfield crowd.
Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all helped themselves to braces, with the latter surpassing Robbie Fowler as Liverpool's all-time leading Premier League goalscorer in the process, netting his 128th and 129th for the club.
Roberto Firmino then capped off the scoring in the week it was confirmed that he will leave the club in the summer, sealing the biggest-ever win in English football's most famous fixture, surpassing a 7-1 triumph which had held that title for 128 years.
It was also Man United's joint-heaviest defeat of all time and the first time they had been beaten 7-0 since 1931, leaving them to lick their wounds following a brutal reality check in an otherwise encouraging campaign.
For Liverpool fans, it was the type of result that will be spoken about for decades to come and one which stands out as one of the most memorable in their entire history, yet alone just this season.
> Click here for a full list of Liverpool's results from the 2022-23 season
BEST MOMENT
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The dazzling, departing smile of Firmino provided some more memorable moments as he embarked on his farewell tour towards the tail end of the season, with his goal - and Liverpool's seventh - against Manchester United just two days after he confirmed he would be leaving the club standing out particularly clearly.
The Brazilian's Anfield swansong was also a special moment, although his goal in that game was overshadowed by the need for another to get the win, while his final goal in the red of Liverpool - against Southampton on the final day - was a trademark one but was ultimately meaningless.
Firmino has to instead cede this award to the remarkable events in the dying stages of Liverpool's game against Tottenham on April 30, which served as a microcosm of Liverpool's entire season.
Spurs had conceded five goals in the opening 21 minutes en route to a 6-1 defeat at Newcastle just one week earlier, and looked to be on course for a similarly chastening afternoon at Anfield when Curtis Jones, Luis Diaz and Salah all scored inside the opening 15 minutes.
However, Harry Kane pulled a goal back five minutes before half time, and a Son Heung-min strike after 77 minutes raised hope of a magnificent comeback from the visitors at Anfield.
Sure enough, pantomime villain Richarlison then seemingly completed the turnaround by bundling a 93rd-minute strike past Alisson - a goal which led the former Everton man to taunt the stunned Anfield crowd and take his shirt off, having finally netted in the Premier League for the first time since his summer switch from Goodison Park.
Having been booked for the same celebration twice already that season - only to see both of those goals chalked off by VAR - Richarlison was once again left with egg on his face when Jota produced an incredible winner just 99 seconds later, latching on to a loose pass from Lucas Moura and firing across goal into the bottom corner to spark scenes of bedlam inside Anfield.
Klopp's celebrations were so energetic that they saw him pull a hamstring as Liverpool rescued a victory which, at the time, kept their top-four hopes alive.
TOP PRIORITY FOR SUMMER
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It is no secret that Liverpool need to enter the transfer market this summer, with a couple of new midfielders at least being the priority.
Many of the team's problems this season stemmed from a drop-off in midfield, with Fabinho far below his previous level and the likes of Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara beginning to show signs of their age.
Considering James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all leaving at the end of their contracts too, midfield is likely to need a fairly major overhaul, even accounting for the new hybrid role of Alexander-Arnold towards the end of the season.
Jude Bellingham, long tipped as the top target, is no longer on the agenda, but there have been a number of names linked with a move to Anfield, including the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Mason Mount, Declan Rice, Nicolo Barella, Bruno Guimaraes, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Romeo Lavia.
The Reds are also understood to be in the market for a new right-back and centre-back, while a back-up goalkeeper could be needed should Caoimhin Kelleher leave.
The good news for Liverpool is that they have rarely got things wrong when signing players during the Klopp era - those they do sign usually prove to be positive acquisitions.
It is when they have not strengthened where they needed to - such as in midfield last summer - that they have fallen short, but incomings are assured in that area of the field this time around and Liverpool's track record suggests that they will bring in the right men for the job too.
Whether their lack of Champions League football affects their ability to get their top targets - be it for financial or footballing reasons - remains to be seen, but it is likely to be a busy summer on Merseyside.
It could also be a busy time on the training pitch, with Klopp no doubt looking forward to having time to perfect the end-of-season tactical switch, including Alexander-Arnold's new role, in pre-season.
FINAL VERDICT
While it was always going to be difficult to emulate the quadruple bid of 2021-22, there is no getting away from the fact that the 2022-23 campaign was Liverpool's worst of any of Klopp's seven full seasons at the club.
Aside from the glorified friendly that is the Community Shield, Liverpool never got close to any silverware, while it took a seven-game winning run towards the end of the season for them to even get close to Champions League qualification.
Klopp and co will be desperate to move on from this term as quickly as possible, and the challenge now is to prove that it was merely a blip, rather than a prolonged waning of their powers.
Barney Corkhill
