Liverpool must make sure blip does not turn into a slump as Manchester City visit

Form: Liverpool are winless in three
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
David Lynch5 October 2018

In the end, Jurgen Klopp was forced to admit he was "not 100 per cent sure" what caused Liverpool to play quite so poorly in defeat to Napoli on Wednesday evening.

It may have taken the hosts until the 90th minute to muster Lorenzo Insigne’s winning goal but, when it came, nobody in the away end felt their side had suffered an injustice.

Napoli harried and fought with the enthusiasm of a team who knew any result other than victory would severely damaged their hopes of progression to the Champions League knockout stages.

By contrast, the Reds looked like a side who knew that one point would do - and came away with none as a direct consequence.

As such, when Klopp sits down to conduct a more thorough analysis of the game, he must do more than simply identify a gulf in desire; he will need to be "100 per cent sure" of what went wrong.

Liverpool are now without a win in their last three games, having suffered cup defeats to Chelsea and Napoli either side of a Premier League draw with the former.

But arguably the biggest difference here was that, unlike across that double-header with Maurizio Sarri’s men, Klopp’s team completely deserved to lose.

That is particularly worrying given what lies ahead, with Premier League champions Manchester City heading to Anfield on Sunday for an early showdown between the two teams most frequently hailed as title favourites so far.

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Defeat to Pep Guardiola’s men has the potential to turn a blip into a slump, not least because of what it would say about the Reds’ hopes of bringing their most desired piece of silverware home this term.

So, perhaps the only upside of Wednesday is that Liverpool did not hold out to take a point they did not merit, one which might have served to paper over cracks as wide as those that scar the Stadio San Paolo’s concrete frame.

In searching for similar positives, Georginio Wijnaldum welcomed the "reality check" he and his team-mates received during a post-match interview with the club’s official website.

He said: “It’s a good game to learn from. That’s what we’re going to do - we’re going to analyse the game and see what we can do better.

“We know what we can bring, we still have confidence, but this was a reality check on how things must not go. It’s a good lesson for us to get better.

“We have to take it as a lesson then we have to carry on.”

Meanwhile, James Milner produced a typically honest assessment in tweeting: “We weren’t good enough last night, but Sunday’s game is ideal to show a reaction.”

Of course, a meeting with City is only ideal should Liverpool prove lessons have been learned by reminding observers they are capable of ending their 29-year title drought this term.

AFP/Getty Images

To do that, they will need to resemble the effervescent, well-drilled unit that earned three victories over Guardiola’s all-conquering team last season, rather than the leggy, blunt mess that slumped to defeat in Naples.

Worryingly, the nearest Klopp came to identifying a particular reason for his side’s woeful showing was when he said: “You have seen it has been absolutely intense since the last international break with the games we’ve had - twice Chelsea and stuff like that, coming to Napoli, playing PSG and now we have a game on Sunday against Man City.”

Surely the manager appreciates that, with just three days separating his squad’s return from Italy and the weekend’s mouthwatering showdown on Merseyside, the demands on his players are by no means easing.

But, ever the optimist, Klopp ended his look ahead to the next game by promising things will ‘be 100 per cent different’ for his team at Anfield.

Quite frankly, they need to be.

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