LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom —
Jurgen Klopp said Monday he has spent days
trawling over Liverpool’s “horror show” of a 4–1 defeat to Napoli that leaves
last season’s Champions League finalists with little margin for error in
Europe.
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A buoyant Ajax
visit Anfield on Tuesday, fresh from their 4–0 mauling of Rangers on match day
one, looking to twist the knife into a Liverpool side that appears to be
running on empty.
Klopp’s men came
within two matches of winning an unprecedented quadruple last season, only to
lose out to
Manchester City on the final day of the Premier League season and
suffer defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Liverpool are
feeling the hangover, after their relentless 63-game season, in the early weeks
of the new campaign.
Their success in
seven years under Klopp has been built on running the extra mile to gain the
upper hand. In all seven of their games so far this season, the opposition has
covered more distance.
They have
recorded just two wins in those seven games, one courtesy of a winner against
Newcastle deep into stoppage time.
But even Klopp
was shocked at the depths his side sank to in Naples last week as the Italians
missed a penalty and a host of other glorious chances to make the score line
even more embarrassing.
“I watched the
game back plenty of times and it was a real horror show,” Klopp said at his
pre-match press conference for the visit of Ajax.
“It was the
worst game we played since I am here. We had a few bad ones, everyone remembers
(a 7–2 defeat to) Aston Villa and others but there were always glimpses of us
even in these games. In this particular game, nothing.”
In the immediate
aftermath of the demolition at the Diego Maradona Stadium, Klopp said
Liverpool needed to reinvent themselves.
They are already
finding it difficult to make the transition forced by the departure of forward
Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich.
A colossal
presence during Klopp’s time in charge, the Senegalese offered both the energy
to press without the ball and quality to make the difference in the final
third.
Darwin Nunez is
yet to deliver on his 80 million euro transfer fee, not helped by a three-match
suspension as punishment for a sending-off on his home debut.
At the back,
Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have suffered alarming dips in form.
But it is in
midfield where Liverpool have really toiled, with the decision not to reinforce
that area in the transfer market, until a deadline day move for out-of-favor
Juventus midfielder Arthur, heavily questioned.
Liverpool are
reportedly saving their money for a move for Borussia Dortmund’s England international
Jude Bellingham.
The German
giants were understood to be unwilling to let the teenager leave in the same
window in which
Erling Haaland departed for Manchester City
That is a
transfer strategy that has worked for Liverpool before as they held off on
signing a center-back for half a season in 2017 in order to bring in Van Dijk.
But it could
easily backfire, with competition fierce for a place in the Premier League’s
top four this season and the threat of an early exit from the Champions League.
One thing Klopp
can count on is job stability thanks to so much credit in the bank.
“Class is
permanent. The same is true of the manager,” said former Liverpool defender
Jamie Carragher in his column in The Daily Telegraph.
“Some say
Liverpool are paying the price for the last five years. If so, it is a price
every fan would willingly pay again.”
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