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Leicester 3 – 1 Liverpool – Reds hit their low of the Season

Michael Skok 28 lutego, 2017

From competing with Chelsea for the title to potentially being out of Europe altogether, Klopp’s Liverpool side have failed to impress for the entirety of 2017. Having lost already to relegation battlers in Hull and Swansea, Liverpool’s most embarrassing loss came at the hands of the Premier League champions in Leicester.

This was an embarrassing loss for a couple of reasons. From Liverpool’s side, they had two weeks of rest, more so than any other side in the Top 6. This is very important to note because Klopp’s side requires an incredible amount of pace and pressing in order to function at their potential. There were signs of slowing down ever since of the New Year, bottom tier clubs were able to out compete the Reds both physically and mentally, and shut down almost every attack the former free-scoring side threw at them. Mane, Coutinho, Firminho, and Lallana; all of whom had a range of impressive performances this season, were simply inept in both their pressing and passing in the final third. At the other end, Liverpool’s ever embarrassing defensive line came back to haunt them. The high line Liverpool employed was exactly what Jamie Vardy thrived on last season, but had nowhere near the amount of success this season.

To further complete the picture of how abysmal Liverpool were is to look at it from Leicester’s side as well. Like Hull and Swansea, they were in the relegation zone when they played Klopp’s men. However, this is a side that failed to score a goal in all of 2017. This is a side, where Jamie Vardy – whose their traditional goal threat, failed to have a shot on goal for several weeks of game time in the league. A side that sacked their league-winning manager Claudio Ranieri just the past week, and a side that has lost 5 of their last Premier League games in a row.

For all of Klopp’s merits, the same issues haunt him as a manager and the playing style he famously uses of intense pressing and fast football. Like his last season in Dortmund, he performed well against the larger, more quality sides in the league (i.e. Bayern Munich), but failed to get results against midtable and even lower table opposition. They had two weeks to prepare for another match against possibly the worst side in the league on current form. Liverpool will need a result against Arsenal on the weekend, for their sake, and for the manager’s.

Michael Skok
Football Editor for
Polish-American Portal www.Poland.us
More on: www.mikesgoal.com