COMING UP...
with class, deserve only our admiration for an unbeaten run spanning 422 days, but for once they ticked all the wrong boxes. They were strolling, complacent, pedestrian, lethargic. And hopeless.
Kop messiah Jurgen Klopp’s holy trinity of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah – 105 goals in their previous 69 starts as a three-line whip – was nonexistent. And they missed Jordan Henderson’s leadership in midfield like a car would miss its steering wheel.
Klopp seemed to suggest afterwards that the defeat could be a blessing in disguise. Asked if he was disappointed that Liverpool could no longer emulate Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2004, he said: “Not really, because I don’t think you can break records because you want to break records. You break records because you are 100 per cent focused on each step. It was clear that at some time we would lose a game. We didn’t wait for it but it was clear that it would happen. Tonight it happened. I see it rather positive because from now on we can play free football again. We don’t have to defend or try to get the record, we can just try to win football games again.”
Lovren, making his first Premier League appearance in almost three months, was not quite so stoic.
“We feel a little ashamed,” the Croatian (left) said. “We should have done better.
There is no excuse for that performance. The manager looked at us when we came into the dressing room afterwards. He knew that we knew it wasn’t our best performance.
“I think this was a proper wake-up call to everyone. I don’t want to say that it is good, but it can be a benefit.
“I think the manager knows we are missing something (since the mid-season break). I think it is about aggression when we lose the ball and recovering the ball as quickly as possible.
“We know there is always an end for everything. It is here where our unbeaten run ended. We will not look at this result and think it was a bad season because of losing here.
“One performance won’t ruin everything. From tomorrow we look forward. We can still make this a perfect season.
“The last couple of games hadn’t been the best performances but we won. This one was like someone hit us in our faces – and we deserved it.
“It hurts, really hurts. A defeat is a defeat but, you know, this was strange. Right from the beginning until the end, it was missing the usual things that we have. We deserved to lose.”
Liverpool simply couldn’t handle Sarr’s electrifying power surges. In 2017, the Senegal winger (scoring, left) turned down a move to Barcelona as a 19-yearold because he thought he would be stuck on the bench. It would cost them £75million to get him now. And it is of no consolation to Klopp that Sarr worships Mane as his role model, saying: “Sadio is not only a Senegal team-mate – he is my inspiration and my idol.
“For me, he is the best player in the world, certainly the best African player in Europe. When I first came to Watford, he sent me messages welcoming me to the Premier League and, when he gives me any piece of advice, I listen carefully.”
WATFORD
Sat C Palace (away) ........... PL Mar 14 Leicester (home) ........ PL Mar 21 Burnley (away) ............ PL LIVERPOOL
Tom Chelsea (away) ..... FA Cup Sat Bournemouth (home)..PL Mar 11 Atl Madrid (home) ....... CL
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