Shock &Maw
Swansea hero denies Klopp, but only Liverpool can beat Man City then lose to bottom club
LIVERPOOL were brought crashing back down to earth by basement boys Swansea.
After ending Manchester City’s unbeaten run in their previous match, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds were stunned by Alfie Mawson’s goal five minutes before half-time.
The defender pounced on a weak headed clearance by £75million man Virgil van Dijk and shot home low beyond Loris Karius.
JURGEN KLOPP cut a frustrated figure on the touchline – probably wondering how it is possible for Liverpool to go from one extreme to another.
The brilliant thrill-a-minute victory over Manchester City eight days ago to the lame, disorganised surrender against the Premier League’s bottom club.
Hard to fathom, impossible to understand and a serious setback despite it being their first defeat in 19 games, as all the old doubts will come back to haunt them.
Fragile at the back, the defender signed for £75million made the mistake which led to Swansea’s goal, Virgil van Dijk’s poor clearance opening the door for Alfie Mawson’s unlikely winner.
It still took a string of terrific saves from Lukasz Fabianski to defy Liverpool, but Klopp’s men were decidedly off colour, vulnerable at the back and weak in midfield.
It was an incredible upset, only Swansea’s fifth win in the Premier League this season and, even though they remain bottom, it will give them a glimmer of hope.
It was almost a year to the day – January 21, 2017 – since Swansea won 3-2 at Anfield. That victory gave them the belief they could stay up and maybe miracles can happen twice.
Liverpool know the neckand-neck race for a place in the top four means every setback will be seen as a disaster and Klopp will be worried his players just could not summon up an answer.
He gave Emre Can the armband, which could be seen as a charm offensive to try to persuade the Germany midfielder to stay, with his contract up at the end of the season. But otherwise Klopp made only one change – Van Dijk for Dejan Lovren, who was ill. It was a night the defender will probably want to forget, as he was off key at both ends of the pitch. Liverpool made a painfully slow start, positively pedestrian compared to Klopp’s self-styled rock and roll football in their last outing – the 4-3 win over City. They were a world away from that intensity and struggled to get going. They have lost their momentum and are in serious
danger of dropping points in the fierce battle for a top-four finish. The Reds were sluggish and wasteful up front, Van Dijk glancing wide from Alex OxladeChamberlain’s corner and Mohamed Salah then volleying over when clean through.
Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal looked surprised there was no offside flag and repeatedly made a sign for the VAR to be used, even though there was no video ref for this game.
Having weathered the storm, the home side began to grow in confidence and Liverpool looked vulnerable in defence.
Swans left-back Martin Olsson swung over a cross, Van Dijk sliced his clearance and the ball spun up and went just over the Reds crossbar. If Van Dijk was brought in to lift confidence in Klopp’s defence he was having the opposite effect. Shortly afterwards a Sam Clucas corner was only half cleared by Van Dijk and Federico Fernandez cushioned the ball to set up Mawson to smash home.
The Liberty Stadium could barely believe what they were watching – then exploded in delight.
Fernandez celebrated so wildly he got a bloody nose when the players jumped on top of each other.
Liverpool defenders Joel Matip and Andrew Robertson were booked for fouls borne out of frustration and Klopp looked strangely subdued, seemingly unable to inspire his men.
They did raise their game after the break but Fabianski was equal to everything, tipping a Salah free-kick over the bar, rushing off his line at the first hint of danger and commanding his box to great effect.
Klopp threw on Adam Lallana and Danny Ings in a roll of the dice to try to salvage something from the game, but Liverpool just could not find a way past Swansea’s brave resilience.
Fabianski grew in confidence and stood firm as Liverpool frantically searched for an equaliser with time running out.
He was unbeaten at the final whistle – but only just, the home side having survived a huge scare in the dying seconds when Firmino hit a post with a header and Lallana failed to convert the rebound from five yards out.