It never rains but it pours.
And having been soaked at Vicarage Road on Saturday, Liverpool, metaphorically speaking, suffered another downpour at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
Their unbeaten Premier League run is over, and so is their FA Cup campaign. There will be no historic treble, no domestic double for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who suddenly look vulnerable having for so long appeared untouchable.
That’s three defeats in four games for the Premier League leaders, as many as they had suffered in their previous 66. Atletico Madrid suffocated them, Watford stunned them and Chelsea punished them. The Reds have shipped eight goals in their last four games, and failed to score themselves in three of them.
“I know the numbers,” said Klopp, grim-faced on Tuesday night. “They are not that cool.” Later, he would admit that “there aren’t that many competitions for us now.”
Overreaction is dangerous – and given they are about to be crowned English champions, Liverpool should have plenty of credit in the bank in that regard - but there are clear issues across the pitch right now; issues Klopp will need to fix before Atletico Madrid visit Anfield in the Champions League next week.
He would love a convincing performance at home to Bournemouth on Saturday, for starters. Liverpool’s confidence, clearly, looks to have been dented by recent events. The ‘mentality giants’ have looked jaded and off-colour since their mid-season break. Form has dipped, concentration has wandered. Mistakes are being made and punished, and there has been a worrying lack of cutting edge in the final third.
“We made massive mistakes,” admitted Klopp, adding that “in the last four games we have conceded too many goals from completely different situations.”
(C) Getty ImagesAgainst Chelsea, those situations were a giveaway from Fabinho on the edge of his own box, followed by a fumble from Adrian which gifted Willian the opener. Chelsea’s second came from a misdirected Virgil van Dijk header five yards inside the Londoners’ half, which allowed Ross Barkley to race upfield and, with no challenge forthcoming, smash Frank Lampard’s side into the quarter finals.
Unlike at Watford, there was some mitigation for Liverpool this time. Klopp had made changes to his team, seven of them in fact. There were two teenagers, Neco Williams and Curtis Jones, in the starting XI, while Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino and Adam Lallana all g0t rare starts.
But by the same token, there was also Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Andy Robertson, three of Klopp’s first-choice back four. There was Fabinho, his most trusted holding midfield player, and there was Sadio Mane, one of the world’s elite attackers. From the bench, Liverpool summoned James Milner, Roberto Firmino and, belatedly, Mohamed Salah.
The manager had challenged his team to ‘strike back’ after their weekend defeat, and there were times, particularly in the first half, when it appeared they might do so. There was intensity and purpose, and the pace of the game was pleasing.
But when you concede goals, it often costs you. Liverpool’s powers of recovery over the past 18 months have been remarkable, but even the best sides can’t keep going to the well. For the third time in a fortnight, they were unable to muster a response to conceding the first goal of the game.
In fact, it will alarm Klopp how quickly his team’s composure went missing in the second half. As they had at Watford and in Madrid, they struggled to create proper chances. In fact, they failed to register a single shot on target after the break. Mane and Minamino were bright for 45 minutes, anonymous for the rest. Origi’s form is not good at all.
“The performance I am not concerned about,” insisted Klopp. “And I am not worried about momentum.” Rightly, he will back his team to come through their dip in form.
How could he not? The reason results such as Saturday’s or Tuesday’s are so surprising is because of the standards Liverpool have set for themselves. We go into games expecting them to perform and expecting them to win – whether it’s at home to Southampton or away to Chelsea. High expectation is the price top sides pay.
And if the doubters ever needed reminding how far this team have come, how good this team are, all they need to do is listen to the away end during the dying seconds of Tuesday’s game.
“We’re gonna win the league,” they sang.
And guess what? They’re absolutely spot on.
Crisis? Not here. Not with this team. A blip, yes. A couple of setbacks, for sure.
But given what they’ve done in the last 18 months, you could say they were due one…