FAB FOUR ARE OUT OF TUNE AT ANFIELD

NO MATTER how much the home fans screeched, it didn’t make a difference. Here was another of those games that are driving Jurgen Klopp to distraction. After all the suffering he endured at the hands of Everton three days earlier, when the neighbours battened down the hatches, Liverpool’s manager took drastic action and let his ‘Fab Four’ of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino loose against West Bromwich Albion. It made no difference. For all the possession, for all the huffing and puffing, once again Liverpool came across a blue and white house they could not blow down and two more points were frittered away. Not even a grandstand finish, when substitute Dominic Solanke had a goal disallowed for handball and a shot kicked off the line, ruffled the composure of a West Brom team who were supremely organised by Alan Pardew and worked relentlessly to get a draw. Pardew set up his team to frustrate, to break up the contest and play it on West Brom’s terms. They took their time at every free kick and defended stubbornly. The onus, as was the case against Everton, was for Liverpool to be creative but, despite seeing lots of the ball, they rarely attacked at pace to disrupt West Brom. Too many, most notably Mane, were short of the required standard. Klopp said: ‘We can do better and we have to do better but on a night like this when you are not at your best you need a bit of luck. That was not our best game tonight but I think we had enough chances to win. We didn’t use them and we have to accept the result.’