Liverpool running out of gas as Jürgen Klopp exit nears

Struggling Liverpool appear to be running out of gas as Jürgen Klopp exit nears, since the 3-0 loss to Atalanta at An eld in the Champions League. e Reds again dropped points away at West Ham on Saturday falling further in the Premier League race behind Arsenal and Manchester City.

e draw also dealt a big blow to Liverpool’s season from ghting for three trophies to being beaten out of all competitions.

Liverpool certainly did not look like a team still in with a chance of winning the title, however slim, in a first half played with all the intensity of a pre-season friendly.

e Reds dominated possession in the early stages and a Robertson cross landed at the feet of Harvey Elliott, whose rst-time shot crashed into the side-netting.

Liverpool were awarded a penalty by referee Anthony Taylor a er Angelo Ogbonna upended Cody Gakpo – and then handled the ball for good measure – but Luis Diaz was

agged o side with a VAR check con rming the assistant’s decision.

Gakpo should have done better when he was teed up by Diaz only to blaze his shot over the crossbar and then Diaz’s shot clanged against Alphonse Areola’s near post.

But with two minutes to go before half-time Liverpool were caught out by a quickly-taken corner.

Mohammed Kudus li - ed the ball into the box and Bowen planted his header just out of the reach of the dive of Alisson Becker.

Liverpool hit back immediately a er the restart when Diaz raided down the West Ham le and squared the ball into the area.

e onrushing Robertson took a touch before hitting a shot which squirmed between Areola and his right-hand post.

en came the farcical own goal which could have catapulted Liverpool back into the title race.

When Trent Alexander-arnold swung in a corner, Gakpo prodded the ball in the general direction of the sixyard box, where all manner of chaos ensued.

Ogbonna took a swing and sliced the ball goalwards, where Tomas Soucek ‘s unconvincing clearance hit Areola before rolling pitifully into the net.

Areola made partial amends with a ne save from saved from Diaz before Alisson

kept out a erce volley from Emerson Palmieri.

But in the 77th minute Bowen wriggled free down the right and li ed a cross towards Antonio, who easily got in the gap between Virgil Van Dijk and Jarell Quansah as he converted a simple header.

“Intense for the boys – 10 days, four games, last one today. First half, dominating, good game. Not the highest intensity, happens quite frequently when you have these intense periods, you need to get the legs going,” Klopp said in his post match analysis.

According to him, Liverpool created more chances and were dominant but conceded the rst goal from a corner. “Not great. Speak about it at half-time, that the one thing I didn’t like is how we dealt with the chances we missed, a bit throwing arms [up] and stu like this,” Klopp said.

However, Cody Gakpo believe the team gave their all but were unlucky in the game. “We gave it our all but it’s not the result we wanted.”