SIGHS MATTERS
Klopp admission sign of Reds’ fall
JURGEN KLOPP looks every bit a man whose world has just collapsed around him – and who could blame him?
If Liverpool were not so good and this mighty club were not champions, you could have sworn he had the look of a man about to walk away.
In a week when he was denied the chance to go to his mother’s funeral in Germany, it seems harsh even to mention a catastrophic double defeat which begged the question had he conceded the title?
Klopp did not duck it or deflect the enormity of it with a smart-alec response.
Instead, he pondered it almost too carefully, seemed to try a smile, dropped his head, wiped something from his face and then looked up after what seemed like an eternity and sighed: “Yes, I can’t believe it, but yes.”
Liverpool are 13 points adrift of leaders Manchester City having played a game more. They are six points behind Leicester and face a real scrap for the Champions League places. Even so, to throw the towel in with 14 games remaining and 42 points to play for is a massive statement on how far they have dropped. Over the past 10 games, they are 15th in the Premier League form table. Leicester ripped them apart in seven savage minutes to make it three defeats on the bounce, which includes a 4-1 loss at home to City.
Klopp added: “I don’t think we can close that gap to be honest.
We have to improve our game.
A big part of our football again was really, really
good. But we have to avoid mistakes and avoid misunderstandings.
“It’s tough at the moment. The only way out of it is to play good football and we are still able to do that.”
And they are. Mo Salah pounced on a sublime piece of trickery from Roberto Firmino to put the Reds deservedly ahead in the 67th minute. But Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers switched things around and… wallop! James Maddison curled in a 78th-minute free-kick that VAR eventually decided had not been infringed by offside.
Then goalkeeper Alisson’s week of misery continued when he raced out to deal with a long ball but tangled with debutant Ozan Kabak, and Jamie Vardy raced on to the loose ball to score. Harvey Barnes fired in the third, the final blow for Klopp in a season that has already offered its fair share of obstacles.
LEICESTER (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 8; Amartey 7, Evans 7, Soyuncu 7, Pereira 7; Tielemans 8 (Choudhury 87), Ndidi 8; Albrighton 7 (Perez 74; Mendy 90), Barnes 8, Maddison 8; Vardy 8. Goals: Maddison 78, Vardy 81, Barnes 85.
LIVERPOOL
(4-3-3): Alisson 4; Alexander-Arnold 8, Henderson 7, Kabak 4, Robertson 6; Wijnaldum 6 (Shaqiri 87), Jones 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 75), Milner 5 (Thiago 17, 5); Mane 7, Firmino 7, Salah 7. Goal: Salah 67.