Liverpool cut a sorry figure

 

What has happened to Liverpool? The Reds are cutting a sorry figure and the empire of Jurgen Klopp seems to be falling down this season. It took just seven minutes for them to implode and digest another defeat in the Premier League. They are a shadow of the past and the team seems to be showing no signs of improving rather, getting trapped in the zone of weird transition – one minute they are up while in the rest, they are down and out.

Liverpool’s away form has not been the problem of late. They had won their previous two matches on their travels – impressively so, at Tottenham and West Ham and at the King Power Stadium they tried to exploit the backline of Leicester City that missed the injured James Justin.

With Fabinho out with a muscle problem to join the long-term casualties Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joël Matip, Klopp had fielded his 13th different pairing of the league season, Kabak coming in alongside Jordan Henderson.

Ozan Kabak is a Red now and in his first-ever match, he experienced the going tough before the interval, with the first coming when Jamie Vardy, lurking on his shoulder, got around the back of him only to lob too high. Kabak also slipped over when Leicester sprang forward on 42 minutes with Maddison flicking Vardy through – in a one vs one clash against Alisson, Vardy blasted against the crossbar.

It was Vardy again who found space in behind Henderson to meet Barnes’s cross from the left. It was a huge chance but his header was weak. Vardy also nearly got onto another through ball in stoppage-time, this one from Marc Albrighton.

Nevertheless, Liverpool produced two good opportunities in the first half through Mohamed Salah, but the finishing lacked the touch of the last couple of seasons.

Henderson got him away in the 10th minute with a lovely ball over the top, but Salah mis-kicked – it left everyone surprised. Surely, Salah does not miss those!

Then Trent Alexander-Arnold provided a through-ball on the counter  -  Salah ended up crossing but the ball never looked like reaching Sadio Mane before Amartey.

Salah also wanted a penalty in the 12th minute after feeling a slight touch from Pereira, but the referee never really paid attention.

After the break, Leicester City started slowly and were trying to get back to momentum.

The Reds utilized their slowish start as Trent Alexander-Arnold played almost gave Liverpool the lead in the 57th minute only for his deflected free-kick to come back off the crossbar. Then came that delicate moment when Roberto Firmino produced a Socrates like back-heel for Salah, who fired home and the Reds were leading.

It seemed that the Reds would either hang on to the lead or score another one but in just seven minutes, Liverpool imploded.

VAR took the center stage again as the Foxes equalized.

At first VAR first over-ruled a penalty award following a trip by Thiago Alcantara on Harvey Barnes, correctly seeing that the offence had taken place outside the area.

The Foxes were awarded a free-kick.

James Maddison promptly whipped the free-kick through the bodies crowding in the area and into the far corner but again the goal would be disallowed for offside against Daniel Amartey in the middle.

After further review, Amartey – who had influenced play – was deemed to have been onside and the goal stood.

Sloppiness in the midfield allowed Youri Tielemans long-ball for Barnes – Alisson came out of his goal to clear but instead, he collided with a back-paddling Kabak the upshot was the goalkeeper shanking his clearance straight to Jamie Vardy, who gleefully ran the ball into the empty net.

After a few minutes, the misery of the Reds was fulfilled when Salah gave away the ball and Wilfried Ndidi’s pass set Barnes clear of Kabak. He fired the third and the Reds ended up with eggs on their faces in just seven minutes.

Alisson is having one hell of a nightmarish season - after his two howlers against Manchester City, last weekend came another at the King Power Stadium.

All of a sudden, the Reds are under pressure now for a Champions League spot. The whole team is suffering from an extreme lack of self-belief and the boys are out of form or it would be ideal to say, the boys of the champions of Europe in 2018-19 and Premier League winners last season have passed their best and the time has come to infuse fresh blood and rebuild the Red Machine, which is malfunctioning.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 13/02/2021 Liverpool cut a sorry figure

Thank You

Faisal Caesar