Anthony McIntyre ⚽ It is difficult to recall a performance as terrible as last night's. 

Not because they haven't occurred but memory like the rest of me is no longer robust and ruddy. Like the dog at the bottom of the stairs, uncertain if it has just come down or is about to go up, it is difficult to remember Saturday's match never mind the rest.

This was as an abysmal display of football from a Klopp side that we are ever likely to see. Having effectively thrown the league title on Sunday, they have now all but guaranteed that Klopp will not get the Swansong he deserved at the Aviva in May. Klopp had earlier commented that to play in Dublin would be like playing at home. I told Paddy, my regular match-going companion, that I was cancelling my application for final tickets. His response was to stick with it - any final regardless of who would be in it would be worth the day out in Dublin.

That's true but Liverpool are most unlikely to be there given the deficit they need to turnaround. And if we allow for conceding the customary obligatory early goal, for Liverpool to break even they would need to secure a 4-1 win in Italy. What chance that with a defence that is fast becoming a charity due to the amount of goals it donates to the opposition!

Up front things are not much better. Tere is no shortage of chances created but the conversion rate is woefully inadequate. Supposedly top drawer attackers flapping around making absolutely nothing happen. And to think of the wage demands Salah was making to stay at the club. He certainly has not earned them.

This has been hailed as a great Liverpool side. Far from it. This is the third worst defeat in Klopp's 483 games in charge. Only Manchester City and Aston Villa have secured larger victory margins over any of his teams

Last night's game was painful to watch. It never showed any sign of coming together for Liverpool. At the end of the first half I opted to go to bed rather than suffer in anything but silence. My wife and son have to endure a lot of ranting at the television, especially if the whiskey glass is in my hand. But like the moth to the flame I returned to my chair just to make sure I got well and truly burned in the second half before storming off to bed, teeth left unbrushed despite being at the dentist earlier in the day. I did manage to put the mouth guard in before going to sleep otherwise the weeping and gnashing of teeth would have taken their toll. My wife reminded me to take cough medicine to which, after a glance at the bottle, I simply said fuck it.

Every player on the pitch last night should donate what they earned for the game to charities in Liverpool. They can be as charitable to the impoverished and disadvantaged as they were to Atalanta. They can not claim the right to have earned those wages. If they have a conscience they will not swindle the fans. If other less well paid professionals such as doctors or pilots performed so poorly there would be multiple casualties. The casualties of last night's debacle are the fans. At the very least they should be given their money back.

At the end of the season should the failures mount up, as I expect they shall, supplicating for understanding with outstretched hands on the grounds that they took the title race to the wire, pushed the eventual champions all the way, does not deserve to pass muster. They had victory in their grasp but blew it and and have risked sending the coach down unfairly in cultural memory as Jurgen Flop. 

A more sober assessment is that they rather than he flopped: the team that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Flapperpool

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ It is difficult to recall a performance as terrible as last night's. 

Not because they haven't occurred but memory like the rest of me is no longer robust and ruddy. Like the dog at the bottom of the stairs, uncertain if it has just come down or is about to go up, it is difficult to remember Saturday's match never mind the rest.

This was as an abysmal display of football from a Klopp side that we are ever likely to see. Having effectively thrown the league title on Sunday, they have now all but guaranteed that Klopp will not get the Swansong he deserved at the Aviva in May. Klopp had earlier commented that to play in Dublin would be like playing at home. I told Paddy, my regular match-going companion, that I was cancelling my application for final tickets. His response was to stick with it - any final regardless of who would be in it would be worth the day out in Dublin.

That's true but Liverpool are most unlikely to be there given the deficit they need to turnaround. And if we allow for conceding the customary obligatory early goal, for Liverpool to break even they would need to secure a 4-1 win in Italy. What chance that with a defence that is fast becoming a charity due to the amount of goals it donates to the opposition!

Up front things are not much better. Tere is no shortage of chances created but the conversion rate is woefully inadequate. Supposedly top drawer attackers flapping around making absolutely nothing happen. And to think of the wage demands Salah was making to stay at the club. He certainly has not earned them.

This has been hailed as a great Liverpool side. Far from it. This is the third worst defeat in Klopp's 483 games in charge. Only Manchester City and Aston Villa have secured larger victory margins over any of his teams

Last night's game was painful to watch. It never showed any sign of coming together for Liverpool. At the end of the first half I opted to go to bed rather than suffer in anything but silence. My wife and son have to endure a lot of ranting at the television, especially if the whiskey glass is in my hand. But like the moth to the flame I returned to my chair just to make sure I got well and truly burned in the second half before storming off to bed, teeth left unbrushed despite being at the dentist earlier in the day. I did manage to put the mouth guard in before going to sleep otherwise the weeping and gnashing of teeth would have taken their toll. My wife reminded me to take cough medicine to which, after a glance at the bottle, I simply said fuck it.

Every player on the pitch last night should donate what they earned for the game to charities in Liverpool. They can be as charitable to the impoverished and disadvantaged as they were to Atalanta. They can not claim the right to have earned those wages. If they have a conscience they will not swindle the fans. If other less well paid professionals such as doctors or pilots performed so poorly there would be multiple casualties. The casualties of last night's debacle are the fans. At the very least they should be given their money back.

At the end of the season should the failures mount up, as I expect they shall, supplicating for understanding with outstretched hands on the grounds that they took the title race to the wire, pushed the eventual champions all the way, does not deserve to pass muster. They had victory in their grasp but blew it and and have risked sending the coach down unfairly in cultural memory as Jurgen Flop. 

A more sober assessment is that they rather than he flopped: the team that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

8 comments:

  1. Atlanta are unbeaten over 6 years in their last 11 away Europa games . If they win the title , the result won't look so bad . Should the Reds win their last 7 games they will finish on #92 points , the great 3 in a row side from 1982 - 1984 accumulated 87 , 82 , 80 points title winning tallies from # 42 game seasons . The Reds sometimes exited Euro competitions tamely during the glory decades .
    Maybe no P L side will remain in the last 4 of the C L & E L ? So much for the Prem being the vastly superior league ! Already scored as many goals this term as the treble side of # 2001 , bag another 20 goals , equal the club record tally of 2022 # 147 goals . Win the title , nobody will care about the Europa & F A exits .

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    Replies
    1. That's true - if they win the league . . . but who would bet on that?

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  2. Red Ron

    The "treble side"? You mean the "3 trophy" side?

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  3. Doom and gloom all round after our miserable capitulation to Blackburn's shithousery today in the week that Stuart Dallas announced his retirement. Why do we fans have to endure such mental torture?

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    Replies
    1. It is mental torture . . . hardly the first time millionaires have done that to society

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    2. You need only look at the Liverpool donkeys today Barry to get the sense of frustration.

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  4. At least you haven't the agony of play offs to look forward to, Anthony.

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    Replies
    1. there is nothing to look forward to. Just sad to see Klopp leave as the nearly man but at the heel of the hunt he could not create a team that could do the business.

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