JURGEN KLOPP’S GREATEST power down the years has been to transmit his energy to his teams: hence Liverpool were at their best when they were playing like the nostril-flared, teeth-bared, fist-pumping madman on the sideline.
But tonight Liverpool played in the image of the pallid and exhausted man who spent yesterday’s press conference admitting he can’t wait to be shot of the pressure of his job.
“It’s not great to be in this situation all the time”, said Klopp. “Maybe other people enjoy that more than me. But that’s something I definitely will not miss.”
And so his weary players trooped across Stanley Park to be throttled by a sinewy, insurgent Everton. Liverpool are frankly not good enough to avoid at least part of every game becoming a streetfight, and tonight they didn’t have Everton’s appetite for the fight.
It was summed up a few minutes before the hour mark. Virgil van Dijk swept up a loose ball and nodded it down to Mo Salah, whose attempted touch was diffident and lame. An Everton player leaped onto possession – they were first to everything, always – and they swept forward for Dwight McNeil’s snapshot to be pushed over the crossbar by Alisson.
No matter. Everton hoiked the corner to the backpost where Dominic Calvert-Lewin rose completely unmarked to head the ball in. Virgil van Dijk protested at being blocked, but Trent Alexander-Arnold stood cowering and rooted to the ground, looking like an airfield passer-by who was frightened by the noise of the jet engines.
And that was that for Liverpool.
Luis Diaz slalomed forward a few minutes later and hit the post. From the moment it didn’t go in, Liverpool gave up the ghost as it was all they had left to give.
Liverpool have earned praise this season for their comeback qualities but it should be asked as to why they can’t start playing until they fall behind: this was the 16th league game in which they conceded the first goal, but, just like against Palace and against Atalanta, this time they couldn’t stir themselves for yet another comeback.
The team has collapsed in recent weeks. Perhaps this is a reversion to the mean of an over-performing team, but that makes it no less painful for Liverpool fans. From a position of having the title in their hands at the start of the month, the dream of a perfect Klopp farewell is all over, with Everton and Manchester United doing much of the damage. Ouch.
The FA Cup loss at Manchester United will be remembered as the moment something was fundamentally lost; the point at which Liverpool were shaken out of the self-perpetuating fervour that was loosed by the reaction to Klopp’s exit. The desire to do well by their manager one last time gave them an enormous push, but they kicked for home too early. Now they’ve fallen before the finish line.
Because the team has collapsed. Even van Dijk has started to make clumsy errors, while restocked midfield options has coincided with a complete breakdown in their ability to control a game’s tempo. They have vanished as an entity in recent games, with this game another in recent weeks to feature endlessly desultory, useless passing.
But of course the greatest problem has been up front. Liverpool have continued to create chances, and their forwards continue to miss them. Mo Salah appears to losing his battle with a profound career decline. Every aspect of his game has deserted him. His touch has been heavy, he has been shucked easily off the ball, he has lost the ability to dribble past an opponent, and his finishing has become anxious and wayward.
And then there is Darwin. Across Liverpool’s most important part of the season, he has flopped. Tonight was another night to show he is not good enough for this rarified level of the sport. Once picked out in space in the box he took a lumpy touch and the moment was gone, and he also wasted Liverpool’s glorious chance, blasting right at Pickford one-on-one with the whole of the goal to aim for. A great big thump forward has become Darwin’s signature – and often useless – finish. The first the man will have heard of the verb to Slot will be when his next manager arrives.
Klopp can at least cheer himself that he has only a few terrible weeks left of having to rely on Darwin’s finishing. It’s the equivalent of someone needing their bet to come in to make this month’s rent payment. Darwin’s phone number might be the first Klopp deletes once he finishes up.
Liverpool yet again missed Diogo Jota, who was injured yet again against Fulham at the weekend. The cold truth is that Liverpool have found a wretched way of giving into gravity’s pull: this team has qualities and potential but it isn’t yet good enough to win the league. Look at Klopp’s five changes: Endo, Quansah, Elliot, Gomez, and Tsimikas. These are not game-changing subs.
So there will be no glorious farewell for Jurgen Klopp, it will be warm and rich but tinged with regret. Nobody brought a greater fight to Manchester City than Klopp’s Liverpool, which effectively legitimised the Premier League as a sporting pursuit.
He was ripped off in the trophies he got in exchange and now he won’t collect another. Klopp is leaving because he has met the moment in which he has no more to give.
He is weathered and beaten down and he can’t deal with another press conference or another 12.30 kick-off or another whistle-swallowing referee and his team can’t either. It was strangely telling that Van Dijk was talking about 12.30 kickoffs in his post-match fronting-up. Further proof that Klopp has modelled Liverpool completely in his image.
Tonight, that was the problem.
