Don’t panic!
KLOPP’S CHAMPIONS-ELECT SEE 44-GAME UNBEATEN RUN END, BUT VAN DIJK SAYS...
LIVERPOOL’S recordbreaking surge to the Premier League title this season was sensationally ended with a 3-0 loss to relegation battlers Watford last night.
But Kop captain Virgil van Dijk said there “was no reason to panic” after a desperately poor performance.
“Watford played well with a lot of fight and that’s the reality,” said Van Dijk.
“We couldn’t find a way though and we have to do better. But we don’t have to panic.”
Liverpool’s first defeat of the season ended a run of 44 unbeaten matches in the Premier League – and also means they fail to overtake the 18-match winning streak they now hold equally as an all-time record with Manchester City.
Boss Jurgen Klopp said: “It doesn’t matter that we can’t break records. That’s not my concern.
“You can always lose a game, and all you can do is focus on the next step.”
LIVERPOOL’S air of invincibility was brought to a crashing end at Vicarage Road.
Watford’s £30million club-record forward Ismaila Sarr bagged a double, before setting up a killer third goal for skipper Troy Deeney as Nigel Pearson’s side laid waste to Jurgen Klopp’s champions-elect.
It was Liverpool’s first Premier League defeat of the season – and the first time their colours had been lowered in 45 league games stretching back to that devastating loss at Manchester City last January.
It also halted their bid to rack up a record 19th successive top-flight victory. Klopp’s men are still a staggering 22 points clear at the top of the table. And this defeat could now hand them the chance to clinch their club’s first title in 30 years against Pep Guardiola’s City at the Etihad on April 5 – FA Cup commitments permitting. Watford’s need for the points was even more pressing than Liverpool’s last night after picking up just one from their previous four games. This victory took them out of the bottom three and will give them the belief they can pull away from trouble in the coming weeks. All three of Watford’s goals came in an incredible second half in which they blew the visitors away.
Senegal forward Sarr, who arrived from French club Rennes last summer, opened the scoring in the 54th minute.
Abdoulaye Doucoure muscled his way beyond Virgil van Dijk as they tussled for Adam Masina’s looping long throw and when he crossed low into the heart of Liverpool’s six-yard box, Sarr smuggled himself ahead of Andy Robertson to score.
Six minutes later he beat Kop keeper Alisson again. Will Hughes and Deeney combined to put him clear and his lifted finish over the keeper was reminiscent of countryman Sadio Mane at his clinical best.
And Deeney sent the Watford fans in to dreamland in the 71st minute.
This time Sarr was provider, intercepting Trent Alexander-Arnold’s poor backpass and setting up his skipper to loft into an unguarded goal with a touch of class.
Watford deserved everything they got. Apart from a thumping effort by substitute Adam Lallana that smashed against the post, they held Liverpool at bay with some ease. It was at Vicarage Road in August 2017 that Klopp first unleashed Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Mane.
They all three scored in a 3-3 draw and bagged 105 goals in the 70 Premier League games they have been in tandem.
But apart from a first-half Salah shot that flew into the side netting, Liverpool’s trio of forwards were largely anonymous yesterday.
Watford’s game plan was to surrender possession and territory to the visitors in the hope they could expose them on the break.
Gerard Deulofeu thought he had done just that when he cut inside Alexander-Arnold before flashing a shot just too high.
Watford’s cause wasn’t helped when Deulofeu’s right knee buckled after tangling with Van Dijk and the Spanish winger was carried off gulping oxygen to ease his pain.
Watford went close before the break when Alisson spilled the ball and Deeney looped a shot a fraction wide after his first effort was saved by the Liverpool keeper.
Robertson forced Hornets keeper Ben Foster into his first save early in the second half but then they were flattened by Sarr’s quick-fire double.
The forward could have had his hat-trick shortly after Deeney scored but he guided his shot wide when clean through.