CLUELESS
Liverpool’s slim title hopes are finally killed off as Silva’s Hull continue to raise hopes of escape from danger zone
THEY serenaded their new manager all afternoon to the tune of Glad All Over but soon Hull fans may need a different anthem. How about the theme from The Great Escape?
In the space of six weeks, the atmosphere inside the KCOM Stadium has changed completely, with locals taking delight in telling the world that ‘we’ve got Marco Silva’, and so they should after he masterminded by far the most impressive result of his brief tenure.
Few gave Silva any chance of keeping Hull afloat when he arrived in January but, after goals from Alfred N’Diaye and Oumar Niasse incinerated the remains of Liverpool’s title challenge, no longer does this appear to be a hopeless case. Here is a team that is gaining momentum.
Yet if things are good for Silva, Jurgen Klopp looks shell-shocked that Liverpool’s campaign is falling apart.
Since beating Manchester City on New Year’s Eve, they have won just one of their subsequent 10 games to leave Klopp dealing with his first Anfield crisis.
Liverpool were clueless here, a statement that can be backed up by the fact they had 72 per cent of possession but did nothing with it. Hull, with diligence and determination, kept them at bay and executed Silva’s game plan to perfection.
Organisation is the most important quality Silva has introduced to Hull, making them obdurate and difficult to break down, but his plans for this game were disrupted in the moments before kick-off when Michael Dawson, his captain, injured his calf in the warm up.
It meant a first start for Andrea Ranocchia, who arrived on loan from Inter Milan on deadline day, but the Italian — one of three debutants — could not have wished for a more comfortable introduction to life in England as Liverpool huffed, puffed but eventually wheezed in the final third.
Klopp, who will stand by his players in the most difficult moments, admitted that the opening 45 minutes were a shambles. Slow in their thoughts and slapdash with their decisions, his players’ attitude left his brow permanently furrowed.
The closest that they came to finding a way through was when Eldin Jakupovic, Hull’s goalkeeper, allowed a cross from Roberto Firmino to squirm from his grasp, but he recovered sufficiently with the help of Tom Huddlestone — the game’s outstanding performer — to divert Philippe Coutinho’s shot away.
Klopp would have been thankful to reach the interval with the score allsquare, but on the stroke of half-time a litany of errors presented the hosts with an opportunity they gleefully grasped and made Liverpool’s task all the more complex.
Everything started when Liverpool started playing the ball out from the back. Emre Can was culpable with a loose touch, then a pass that went straight out of play. Kamil Grosicki — the Poland winger signed on deadline day from Rennes — took the resulting corner, Simon Mignolet flapped and N’Diaye inflicted maximum punishment.
Mignolet rescued a point with his penalty save against Chelsea last Tuesday but there is more to being a top goalkeeper than excelling from 12 yards and there could have been no worse time for him to show his fallibility.
Suddenly Liverpool found themselves swimming against the tide.
There was no choice for them but to set up residence on the edge of Hull’s penalty area, yet that tactic was loaded with risk.
In the 63rd minute Liverpool could have been killed off in one counterat-
tack but Uruguayan forward Abel Hernandez’s heavy touch allowed Mignolet to smother.
Liverpool were better than they had been before the interval — it would have been difficult for them to be any worse — and might have drawn level in the 56th minute but Jakupovic was able to get fingertips on to a looping header from Sadio Mane after good work by Adam Lallana.
Parity should certainly have been restored in the 65th minute but, somehow, Coutinho contrived to slice a left-footed shot wide from inside the six-yard box after a cross from James Milner had arrived at his feet.
The way Coutinho hung his head as the home fans goaded him illustrated both his and his team’s desperation.
It proved to be the pivotal moment. Had Coutinho equalised, you could have foreseen a situation where Liverpool went on to win, but it was as if all belief drained from them as the Brazilian’s wayward strike cannoned into the advertising hoardings.
Not long after, Liverpool were put out of their misery by a man who has only just departed Merseyside. Niasse was derided as an Everton player, ostracised by Ronald Koeman for lacking quality, but on Humberside he is already a favourite.
A long ball over the top allowed the striker, who is on loan from Goodison Park, to scuttle forward and, keeping his cool, he slid a finish under Mignolet to spark delirium in the stands.
Mission impossible might yet be achievable.