Klopp’s fond Liverpool farewell fizzling out fast

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Publication title: Cape Argus (Cape Town, South Africa)

Klopp tasted defeat in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park for the first time in nine visits as a 2-0 loss against Everton on Wednesday night left the Reds’ dreams of sending their manager off as a Premier League winner in tatters

Just a few weeks ago, Liverpool were on course for a potential quadruple but have come off the rails.

A run of four wins in nine games has seen Klopp’s men crash out of the Europa League and FA Cup, as well as falling off the pace at the top of the Premier League. Liverpool trail leaders Arsenal by three points, and are only one point ahead of defending champions Manchester City, who had two games in hand ahead of last night’s clash against Brighton.

AFP looked at what has gone wrong to leave Klopp’s fitting farewell at risk of fizzling out...

Slow starts

Liverpool’s habit of fighting back from losing positions was lauded earlier in the campaign as a sign of the “mentality monsters” Klopp has created throughout his time at Anfield.

They have amassed 27 points after falling behind in the Premier League alone this season, but have seen their luck run out after falling behind to Crystal Palace and Everton in shock defeats over the past 10 days.

In all competitions, Liverpool have conceded the opening goal 22 times this season. They never recovered from a sluggish start at Goodison, as Everton wasted a number of chances and had a penalty overturned by VAR even before Jarrad Branthwaite opened the scoring on 27 minutes.

Wasteful finishing

Liverpool’s forward line has also gone off the boil come the business end of the season.

They have failed to score from open play in four of their past five games.

Mohamed Salah has looked out of sorts since returning from a hamstring injury picked up at the Africa Cup of Nations. Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez were again guilty of wasting huge chances against Everton. And Diogo Jota, often heralded as the most natural finisher at the club, has...