Sadio Mane, Harry Maguire Score as Liverpool Draw 1-1 with Leicester

Liverpool failed to take full advantage of Manchester City's slip-up in the Premier League, as Leicester City held them to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday.

Sadio Mane gave the Reds an early lead, but similar to City on Tuesday, the hosts appeared to lose focus. Harry Maguire tied things up just before half-time after a defensive mistake.

The difficult playing conditions played to the Foxes' advantage in the second half, as they stood firm on a snowy Anfield pitch.

The Reds had the opportunity to increase their lead in the title race to seven points after City's shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United on Tuesday. Instead, the gap is now five points.

Poor Showing Against Leicester Highlights Reds' January Mistakes

Liverpool had a quiet January transfer window, with no major arrivals deemed necessary and a few players leaving the club. Given the team's form for most of the season, such an approach seemed fine, but Wednesday's poor outing highlighted mistakes were made.

The loan of Nathaniel Clyne is the obvious one. With Trent Alexander-Arnold out because of an injury, manager Jurgen Klopp had to use Jordan Henderson as an emergency right-back, and while he performed admirably, he was not comfortable in the position.

Alexander-Arnold's injury is part of a real wave of defensive absences:

That defence has―unsurprisingly―not played up to par of late:

Even with all those injuries, Liverpool failed to bring in short-term cover. The loan deal for Clyne was short-sighted, but at the very least Klopp could have added one or two veteran players as insurance.

Take the example of Juventus, who sold disgruntled Medhi Benatia and had an experienced replacement ready in Martin Caceres.

With Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini picking up knocks even more depth is needed. According to the latest reports, the Bianconeri reached out to Parma to add Bruno Alves, picking up the phone before the contest against Atalanta―in which Chiellini suffered his injury―had even ended:

It's that kind of approach Liverpool should have used as well once injuries started mounting. Sending Clyne away was a mistake, and not addressing their latest issues could have dire consequences for the Reds.

What's Next?

Liverpool visit West Ham on Monday, while Leicester host Manchester United on Sunday.