LIVERPOOL’S title hopes are tanking quicker than the pound. So is their defence.
Leandro Trossard’s Anfield hat-trick was not enough to secure victory for Roberto De Zerbi in his first game in charge of Brighton, but it further exposed the frailties of a Liverpool team that has lost its mojo.
Every time Klopp thinks his side has turned the corner he encounters another cul-de-sac.
First, the hammering of Bournemouth looked like it would ease early season rustiness. Then it was a Champions League win over Ajax to sweep away the debris of a heavy loss in Naples.
Now he faces more soul-searching to understand why his side looks so fragile, their football chaotic.
Liverpool’s coach admitted a bigger sample size of the game would be needed to fully assess the state of his side. It took only 14 minutes of the De Zerbi era to reaffirm that the most courageous managers think they have worked for Klopp’s team out.
Trossard’s hat-trick could have been sealed long before his 83rd-minute equaliser ended any chance of Klopp being consoled by Liverpool recovering from a two-goal deficit.
The Belgian began with two accomplished finishers in front of away supporters only marginally less disbelieving than the Kop. Had Danny Welbeck headed in from six yards moments earlier, the sense of bewilderment at Liverpool’s sudden allergy to applying themselves when out of possession would have spread like an epidemic.