Sports
LIVERPOOL’S defeated body language at the final whistle and the mood of resignation in manager Jurgen Klopp’s exchange with his triumphant Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola on Sunday were symbolic of what may prove the defining day in the Premier League title race.
Klopp and Liverpool’s players will not say it, the towel will certainly not be coming in – but to all intents and purposes the game is up for the reigning champions when it comes to defending their crown.
Manchester City’s loud celebrations at the final whistle, indeed every time they scored in this comprehensive 4-1 demolition, spoke eloquently of a side relishing giving Liverpool a taste of their own medicine after years of suffering for Guardiola’s team here at Anfield.
Liverpool have climbed mountains under Klopp before but they now stand 10 points behind a team which has reeled off 14 successive wins in all competitions. They have also played one game more than City.
This one is surely insurmountable given Manchester City’s current mastery, brutally inflicted on Liverpool here.
Liverpool, in their current condition, are trailing badly in Manchester City’s wake and Klopp may now have to adjust his sights to the more realistic league target of making sure Liverpool finish in the top four.
At the start of the season, I struggled to see who would seriously challenge Liverpool in the defence of their title. Manchester City were always the most obvious contenders but Klopp’s side had an aura of invincibility.
Not only have Liverpool currently mislaid that aura, along with several injured key personnel such as Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Diogo Jota, but City have quietly grown into the season before hitting full stride.
Liverpool ended this game here in the same state City have finished so many of these Anfield encounters in the Premier League and Champions League.
Bedraggled, beaten and waiting for the final whistle to put them out of their misery.
No-one could argue Manchester City fully deserved their first Anfield win since 2003. No-one could deny Guardiola fully merited his first Anfield win since his appointment as manager.
But where do Liverpool currently stand? Blip? Inevitable drop off after years of high standards? Paying the price for serious injuries?
It is a combination of all of those things but it still does not make this any less worrying for Klopp as he tries to arrest a run of three home defeats, almost unthinkable on previous form.
Irrespective of who is or is not available for selection, Liverpool should be performing better and poor results are the reflection.
Liverpool have looked flat and short of ideas at home in recent times, starting with the draw against struggling West Bromwich Albion and with that 68-game unbeaten league run finally ending against Burnley, opponents are now emboldened, not simply turning up at Anfield armed only with a damage limitation exercise, as has been the case in recent years.
Klopp’s side are vulnerable and those injuries have had a dual effect of not only removing the likes of Van Dijk, Gomez and Matip from central defence but forcing influential midfield pair Fabinho and Jordan Henderson back into the holes they have vacated. Liverpool are now reduced in defence and midfield.
Liverpool lost Jota, who made a superb start following his £45m arrival from Wolves, to a serious knee injury after Klopp chose to play him in a dead Champions League rubber against Danish minnows FC Midtjylland.
He would have been a welcome addition, because Liverpool’s world-class attacking trident of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have all made individual contributions recently but have only fleetingly fired all at once.
For balance, however, it must also be stated that Manchester City were without the injured Kevin de Bruyne and their main marksman Sergio Aguero, but looked like they had goals in all areas once they stepped on the accelerator.
As Liverpool may cite injuries as mitigating circumstances, what they do not need is the sort of nightmarish performance delivered by their normally reliable Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson, whose poor kicking can qualify as assists for two City goals.
Alisson, having enabled Phil Foden to set up Ilkay Gundogan to make it 2-1 with two awful clearances, seemed almost in a state of distracted blind panic when he passed straight to Bernardo Silva, who crossed for Raheem Sterling to score City’s third and finish the game.
Liverpool’s life does not get any easier with a visit to third-placed Leicester City next Saturday (12:30 GMT) before a Champions League last-16 first leg against RB Leipzig on neutral territory in Budapest before the Merseyside derby with Everton at Anfield.
And although the losses to Brighton and now City came after impressive away wins at Tottenham then West Ham, Klopp has to stop the slide and fast.
Klopp clearly decided facing Manchester City was no place for his two transfer deadline day signings. Ben Davies, signed for £2m from Preston North End and Ozan Kabak, a loan arrival from Schalke, were not thrown in against such rampant opponents.
They will surely have to come in soon, however, because Klopp needs Fabinho and Henderson in particular back in midfield as soon as possible. They are sorely missed.
Surely they have been signed with exactly this in mind.
Klopp did deploy youngster Curtis Jones in midfield here and he did not let Liverpool down. Indeed it was a surprise when he was replaced by James Milner after 68 minutes. Whatever the change was designed to achieve, it was not a success.
Liverpool, under Klopp’s outstanding management, have shown too much and won too much to be mired in talk of a crisis but there is simply no escaping they are currently on a worrying slide, concerns exacerbated by taking several steps back following the two steps forward at Spurs and West Ham.
It was a result, performance and scoreline City will have relished inflicting on Liverpool in return for some of their own misery at Anfield – and it left the mood around the stadium as cold as the freezing Merseyside weather.
BBC Sport
– Feb. 8, 2021 @ 14:17 GMT
Tags: but champions on worrying slide' Liverpool: 'Too soon to talk of crisis
