Liverpool collapsed against a Tottenham side that was struggling at Wembley so has the Anfield side improved in Jurgen Klopp’s two years in charge
Magnificent in Maribor with a record-breaking win but then woeful at Wembley, it is the same old story with the Anfield club.
A LOT has happened since Jurgen Klopp’s first match in charge of Liverpool at Tottenham exactly two years and six days ago.
But Sunday's 4-1 defeat showed just how little the Kop have progressed under the German coach.
The counter-attacks may be quicker and the technical area antics quirkier, but the defending is just as bad as it was under his predecessor Brendan Rodgers. If not, worse.
No amount of theatrical gestures, soppy-boy grins and facial gurns can disguise the stark reality that Liverpool look further away from being title challengers than ever.
Magnificent in Maribor, woeful at Wembley, it is the same old story with the Anfield club.
And Klopp has still not addressed the huge defensive problems that existed when he took over.
SPURS 4 LIVERPOOL 1: Harry Kane nets yet another brace for Spurs as Mauricio Pochettino’s men run riot
They were exposed to the fullest by a Tottenham team that could have feasibly doubled their tally.
Klopp’s flops were all over the shop at the back by a Spurs attack that could not have wished for an easier afternoon following their midweek Champions League exertions at the Bernabeu.
Liverpool’s back line was loose and lax from the first whistle as Spurs raced into a 2-0 lead inside 12 minutes, with Harry Kane’s opener and Heung-min Son’s strike for the second both exposing their weaknesses on the left side of the visitors’ defence where long-time underperforming Alberto Moreno was once again handed a start.
Heaven knows what Andy Robertson, with just three starts to his name since his £10million summer switch from Hull, has done to upset his new gaffer.
But he surely could not have done worse than any of the defenders in red on view.
It could have been even worse for them and their manager as Son’s also thudded a shot against the crossbar.
For those of us who grew up witnessing the Kop win successive top flight titles and European Cups, this was most un-Liverpoolike.
Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren are no Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson, that’s for sure.
Lovren in particular was just awful and played as though he was wearing lead boots.
The quickest he moved all afternoon was when his manager’s patience clearly snapped and the Bosnian was dragged after just 29 minutes.
Mind you, his replacement Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain another new signing snubbed by Klopp only makes more of a mockery of Anfield’s summer recruitment.
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Thank heavens then for Mohamed Salah, the £34m buy from Roma who was the only Liverpool player worth his salt as he dragged Klopp’s men back into the game single-handedly with a 24th minute strike against the run of play that gave his team brief respite from the wave upon wave of Spurs attacks.
Joe Gomez was moved inside to partner Matip but normal service was resumed as the latter’s header gifted Dele Alli Tottenham’s third goal on the stroke of half time.
And Kane’s second of the match after the break failed to tell the full story of Tottenham’s dominance and Liverpool’s defensive ineptitude.
It had the Spurs fans taunting Klopp with a chant of: “You’re just a one season wonder.”
Klopp may point to the club’s farcical failure to land Virgil van Dyke in the summer for his team’s defensive misgivings.
You would not back against Liverpool going back in for the Southampton centre-back in January.
But on this evidence it is going to take more than one Dutchman to plug the leaks Klopp has in his defence.
That is why Evertonians will not be the only fans waking up on Merseyside this morning wondering whether it is time for their club to change their manager.