Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
John Aldridge

Liverpool have chance to put 'scary' habit behind them as Jurgen Klopp faces Napoli dilemma

Losing to Leeds is not something Liverpool can afford to be doing at this moment in time.

It is a game you have got to win, with all due respect to Leeds. I expected Liverpool to win, like everyone else, so that scoreline was a shock. There were too many misplaced passes and we just didn’t look right. We’ve really got to work hard for our goals, especially in the league, and Leeds’ two goals could have been so easily avoided.

We have not been our usual freescoring selves this season, with the exception of the Bournemouth game at Anfield, so you’ve got to make sure you are right at the back. We went behind again on Saturday and we’ve got real problems in defence. Liverpool will know they've lost the league and they are now in the serious dilemma of going for the top four with all the other teams around them winning.

READ MORE: Liverpool fans who want 'FSG out' face big question with two difficult answers

READ MORE: 'I still wake up at night' - Every word of Jurgen Klopp's passionate response to Liverpool 'decline' question

The team are going to have to play catch-up after the World Cup and there will be no excuses after the tournament because players will be back from injury while a number of them will not even be going to Qatar. We may have to move in the market, too, the way things are going.

With the international breaks there have been this season, you expect the team to come back and turn a corner when they have regrouped, but they haven't - and that’s the scary thing. It’s a new start for Liverpool after the World Cup and we simply have to take it with both hands because if the team keep going as we are right now, fourth place will be gone.

Questions are now being asked of the manager and we have to remember we have been really spoiled under Jurgen Klopp. The only bad patch we have really had was when we lost all those home games a couple of years ago, but we bounced back from that and have to do the same now. That season in 2020/21 killed us without the Kop being present, but we’ve got the fans now and the players have got to get back on track.

Napoli next is far from the ideal scenario

Liverpool couldn’t have had been handed a harder next game than Napoli, who are one of the best teams right now in Europe. It is going to be a hell of a test for the manager because can we beat them three or four nil on current form to top the group? No. But we shouldn’t have done that to Barcelona three years ago in the Champions League, and we did.

Does Klopp put his strongest team out or does he see that we’re already through so will rest players for Tottenham at the weekend? I would say you would have to go and put your best team out, try and win the game and finish top of the table.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.