From talk of landing a thrilling quadruple to the looming threat of Jurgen Klopp’s farewell turning into a damp squib. How quickly the landscape has shifted.
Suddenly, Liverpool’s home Premier League clash with Crystal Palace on Sunday has taken on even greater significance. Win or bust.
If they can’t lift the gloom which descended over Anfield on Thursday night, then a season which promised so much will ultimately deliver very little. It would be a desperately anti-climatic end to a golden era.
Klopp’s hopes of a dream finale in Dublin on May 22 are dangling by a thread after a chastening 3-0 defeat to Atalanta in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final.
If, as expected, this proves to be his final European home game in charge, what a dismal way to bow out. The man who led Liverpool to their sixth European Cup triumph in Madrid looked utterly perplexed by what was unfolding in front of his eyes.
His team were a collective mess — unrecognisable from the one which won their group at a canter before demolishing Sparta Prague 11-2 on aggregate in the last 16.
“Nothing really positive to say. It just was a really bad game, oh my God,” Klopp said. “A lot of performances were really, ‘Oops, wow, I didn’t know they could play like that’. You need to create a team movement on the pitch. A lot of the players looked really alone in a lot of moments.”
Klopp talked about Liverpool “losing the plot” as he bemoaned their lack of tactical discipline, the failure to cope with Atalanta’s man-marking approach and the absence of any discernible counter-press.
It marked the end of a 33-game unbeaten run at Anfield in all competitions dating back 14 months. It was the club’s joint-heaviest home defeat in Europe, sitting alongside the 3-0 (October 2014) and 5-2 (February 2023) defeats to Real Madrid.
It was another frustrating night for Darwin Nunez (Richard Sellers via Getty Images)
For context, Atalanta are sixth in Serie A, some 32 points adrift of leaders Inter Milan. Yet the margin of victory didn’t flatter them. According to Opta, they created seven big chances and their xG (expected goals) of 2.58 was the highest by a visiting side at Anfield since Manchester City (3.47) in February 2021.
At least that 4-1 defeat to City was behind closed doors. This one was played out in front of a disbelieving crowd. The atmosphere was as flat as Liverpool’s error-strewn performance, with the Kop lacking its usual colour and vibrancy with no flags or banners on display in protest at rising ticket prices.
Liverpool haven’t plumbed these depths since the dark days of last season when they were routed at Brighton and Wolves, but it would be wrong to simply dismiss this as a bolt out of the blue.
Over the past month, standards have slipped. Klopp’s side have only won three of their last seven matches in all competitions and one of those was against a hopelessly outclassed Sparta Prague.
It’s been chaotic. The dramatic 4-3 defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup was followed by unconvincing league wins over Brighton and Sheffield United. Then came last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, which put a serious dent in Liverpool’s title challenge as they failed to make their dominance count.
This is a team that’s been malfunctioning. Late drama is entertaining and showcasing powers of recovery from losing positions is uplifting, but it’s not sustainable if you want to win major silverware. There’s been so much focus on Liverpool’s lack of ruthlessness in the final third that their vulnerabilities at the other end have gone under the radar.
They haven’t kept a clean sheet in the last eight games in all competitions, conceding 14 goals in that sequence. When Klopp’s side last won the league in 2019-20 there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome once they went in front. The current crop isn’t able to control games like that. It’s far too easy to get at them.
Just look at the shoddy manner of the goals conceded against Atalanta. For the opener, the erratic Kostas Tsimikas left Liverpool exposed with Davide Zappacosta able to cross for Gianluca Scamacca, whose shot squirmed under Caoimhin Kelleher.
Then the unmarked Scamacca made the most of a huge gap between defenders Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez to double his tally. The third was even worse with Dominik Szoboszlai initially at fault as he carelessly conceded possession to Scamacca and Kelleher meekly pushed Marten de Roon’s shot straight to Mario Pasalic, who tapped home.
“The way we conceded the goals, we’re very disappointed,” admitted captain Virgil van Dijk. “We should have done much better in every aspect of the game. We were below par. It hurts but we can’t dwell on it if we want to make this season a success. We have to bounce back.”
Liverpool’s midfield got bullied. Alexis Mac Allister won five out of 12 duels, Wataru Endo two out of five, Szoboszlai none out of four and Curtis Jones one out of five.
It wasn’t any better further up the field. For the second time in a week, Darwin Nunez was taken off with his team trailing. The Uruguayan frontman, who squandered two great chances, has fired blanks in five of his last seven outings. During a pivotal period, he has lost his way. Nunez won just one out of eight duels against Atalanta as the hosts lacked a focal point.
The introduction of Diogo Jota off the bench, after two months out, immediately gave Liverpool something they had been lacking.
Maybe fatigue played a part, with this being Liverpool’s 50th game of the season. Maybe they were guilty of underestimating Atalanta, with Klopp defending his decision to make six changes to his starting line-up that undoubtedly contributed to such a disjointed display.
“I would do exactly the same again,” he insisted. “If you want to be good in the rest of the season, then we have to make changes. I am responsible for this result, first and foremost.”
Klopp said he wasn’t “in the mood” to talk about Liverpool’s chances of adding another miraculous European comeback to their collection in Italy next Thursday. Their only previous visit to Atalanta ended in a 5-0 victory in November 2020.
“Now is not the moment for having a big mouth and telling them what we will do there. This was a low point for us, performance-wise,” he added.
Out of the FA Cup, losing top spot in the Premier League and now a painful setback in Europe. Liverpool need to lick their wounds and come out swinging against Palace. Their season depends on it.
(Top photo – Stu Forster/Getty Images)
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