In the space of just a few weeks, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have gone from chasing a quadruple to facing the prospect of their only piece of silverware – during the legendary German’s final season at the helm – being the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool were stunned by arch rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March. Klopp’s side then dropped two valuable points against the same opposition on Sunday.
And while no one will be completely writing off the Reds just yet – they have form when it comes to stunning continental comebacks, just ask Barcelona and AC Milan – that thumping Anfield defeat against Atalanta in the first leg of their Europa League last-eight tie on Thursday creates a deficit even these Liverpool ‘mentality monsters’ may struggle to overcome.
Liverpool stunned by Atalanta in Europa League
Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, it’s fair to say, did a job on their more vaunted hosts.
Cruising to a 3-0 win via a brace from ex-West Ham misfit Gianluca Scamacca and a late dagger from the one-time Chelsea youngster Mario Pasalic, Atalanta had more shots, more chances, more energy, intensity and discipline.
It was a remarkable team performance from a side who, to a man, produced eight or 9/10 performances all across the board, from the all-action midfielder Teun Koopmeiners to centre-back colossus Isak Hien and a man who managed only three Premier League goals under David Moyes at The Hammers.
For Steve McManaman, the former Liverpool winger on co-commentary duty for TNT Sports, the nature of Atalanta’s second goal on the hour mark summed up the sloppiness of a dreadful display, Klopp’s first home defeat in 34 games.
A fine cross from Charles de Ketelaere finished off by Scamacca in glorious isolation. Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate were nowhere to be seen. In fact, Scamacca was in so much space that you’d have been forgiven for assuming he was offside in the build-up.
“The distance between Joe Gomez and Konate is monstrous,” McManaman sighs, baffled by Liverpool’s highly flawed offside side before aiming a not-so-subtle dig at the profligate Darwin Nunez at the other end of the pitch.
“That is a lovely finish by the big centre-forward (Scamacca). that’s how you finish a ball as a big cf
“Awful goal to concede. The back four is a strong back four. A strong back five with the goalkeeper. That’s a terrible goal to concede.”
Gianluca Scamacca and Darwin Nunez have very different nights
The coolness of Scamacca’s finish – slotted home first time without breaking sweat – was in stark contrast to the effort Nunez produced while one-on-one in an almost identical position in the first-half. Sometimes class, often chaotic, Nunez attempted to replicate that Brentford chip but instead skewed well wide with the Atalanta goalkeeper well off his line.
“We can make the shortest press conference of all time,” Klopp grumbled at full-time. “It just was a really bad game, oh my God. So we started well, really well, and then didn’t continue.
“I think even before they scored but we just lost the plot a little bit. Like, we were everywhere and nowhere. I didn’t recognise that. That was really strange. In football terms that’s tactical discipline.
“But, anyhow, we had a big chance I think from Darwin and then unlucky with Harvey (Elliott who hit the bar with a curler from the corner of the box). Then they scored the goal and then we kept playing into their hands, to be honest.”
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