Really reminds me of the 3-0 loss to Watford in the title winning season. Mistakes punished, chances not taken, defensive line all over the shop and a general lack of ideas going forward in key moments.
Agree with some of the other posters that this one is on Klopp. It was Atalanta’s system that made us suffer and we weren’t prepared for it. Always felt that despite us being favourites for the competition, we’d only win it if we kept our standards up.
I can’t rule us out, anyone would be foolish too, but that is a tough one to take. We need to really get back to being more defensively resolute. A few 1-0s and 2-0s in the league would do us a world of good.
Going over there next week, we need to avoid the temptation to go gung-ho, and need to focus on a clean sheet, whilst chipping away at their lead. 1-0 on 60 minutes is no bad thing. We need to dominate possession, camp in their half, push them right back and pen them in. We’re capable of doing so, but the key then becomes taking our chances.
As bad as we were tonight, we still created enough to score a few. I love Darwin but he’s not on form, and right now, he looks in need of a rest. Having a few games as an impact sub could be a good thing for him. Salah I believe needs more rhythm, he’s come back from injury and just isn’t quite finding the level yet, you could see the same with Jota and Jones yesterday too.
In my opinion, Gakpo has played his way into contention, and I’d start him against Palace. He offers a level of control up top that could help us all the way through the side, including helping to keep a clean sheet.
Szoboszlai, isn’t quite having the same impact, but he’s not miles away, it’s mainly his composure that needs to fall back into place. I’d persist with him, with Elliott as the option off the bench when needed. I don’t think Jones is ready to start yet either. He’s crucial to us when on form now, but he’s not back to his level yet.
The back seven were the ones to really suffer yesterday, I felt. Van Dijk and Mac Allister’s passing was off compared to what we’re used to. Konate too looked out of sorts, and it probably backs up the argument that this was the game for Quansah with Konate better suited to the United game. Gomez had his worst game for ages and Tsimikas looked too timid, when we really needed our full backs to push on an expose the space created behind the Atalanta pressing line, and I think the game would have suited Robbo and Bradley more, from the start. Particularly at home.
I actually felt, the game needed more players who could beat a man too, given the man to man marking operated, so a Gravenberch in midfield may well have suited us better, and I was disappointed to see Elliott off in the first changes, as although he struggled, he seemed more likely to create something than any one bar Gakpo, maybe, in the first half, and Diaz looks a must start for the second leg.
If Trent’s fit too, it becomes a different game, as his eye for a pass, and bravery on the ball would have been well suited to the game.
Overall, despite their breakaways, I felt we shaded the first half, even though you could see we weren’t fully coping with their setup. We weren’t clinical enough and were punished by a rare Kelleher error. Second half, we started bright too, all the subs gave us a momentarily lift, in fact, but it all soon looked disjointed and we ran out of ideas quickly, even though I think persistence with the plan would have paid dividends.
The game ended a mess, and we’ve started to gift teams goals in a way we haven’t been doing so far this season. As bad as the individual errors was the defensive organisation, which was at least partly responsible for each goal. Our offside trap which is usually superb was awful, and it could have cost us on more occasions than it did in the end.
Despite everything, it’s the same issues that are haunting us and part of that is our opponents being clinical whilst we are anything but. We need a massive improvement from Sunday onwards if this season isn’t going to end disappointingly. We need also to start picking a strongest XI and running with it now people are back from injury. There’s only a maximum of 9 games left on this run of one game every 3 days, we need to have consistency and fluency in them and rotating isn’t giving us that. By all means, switch up the side in game, at half time if needed, but we need to find a winning team fast and stick with it.
If we are at our best, this tie isn’t over, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in a week, if we are to reach that level. We go again against Palace and I expect a big response from the players and the crowd.
