Well, that was shite.
With the games coming thick and fast, and the injuries piling up almost as quickly, Jürgen made five changes from the team that battered Brendan’s boys on Sunday with three of the back four being changed and the lesser spotted Origi getting a rare start up front. We had, of course, battered the Italians away from home three weeks ago and, with games against Ajax and Midtjylland still to come, it was widely assumed that qualification from the group was almost assured anyway.
Anorak fact of the day: it was on this date back in 1964 that Liverpool first wore an all-red kit, with Bill Shankly deploying his troops to face Anderlecht in the old European Cup. Ian St John, Roger Hunt and Ron Yeats were on target in a 3-0 home win that night.
Diego Armando Maradona was honoured with a brief silence before the game, having passed away earlier today at the age of 60. Unquestionably one of the greatest footballers of all time- he’s the best I’ve seen in over forty years of following the game- he was often as wayward off the pitch as he was transcendent on it but the way he almost single-handedly (pun semi-intended) dragged Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and Napoli, who had only narrowly escaped relegation the previous season, to the scudetto the following year gave some indication of his almost supernatural ability. Rest in peace, Diego.
The visitors made the brighter start, with Ilicic shooting wide before Gosens forced Alisson into a decent save. Gomez shot wide after Neco got caught on the ball; the young right back redeemed himself a few minutes later with a good challenge when Atalanta were looking dangerous. Ilicic should have been booked for a blatant dive in the 35th minute.
The home side were poor; we didn’t even have a shot until the 45th minute and even that ended up in the car park from Salah. The two minutes of added time seemed to prove that the referee had a sadistic streak; as the teams trudged off for their halftime oranges, the Reds must have been fearing the Haartrockner treatment from the manager.
Jürgen had obviously taken a leaf out of his players’ book and couldn’t be bothered either, as the second half started just as the first had: we looked soporific and Atalanta created the early chances, with Alisson having to clear his lines with alacrity. Ilicic then slid in to tuck away Gomez’s cross and give the visitors the lead on the hour mark.
Klopp had already had his subs ready to come on in what appeared to be a premeditated move; immediately after the goal, Tsimikas, Gini, Mo and the disappointing Divock made way for Robertson, Fabinho, Firmino and Jota respectively. Romero had to clear Robbo’s cross before Bobby could reach it; the visitors then extended their lead when Hateboer beat Robertson and teed up an unmarked Gosens. Two goals in four minutes; Liverpool were down and virtually out.
Any hopes of a rousing Reds revival came to nowt; we looked disjointed, disinterested and dejected. Minamino was introduced for the last five minutes and at least injected some vigour but, overall, this performance was as poor as any I’ve seen from us in a long time, with the obvious exception of the Aston Villa debacle. If anyone can recall the last time we had no shots on target in a home fixture, please send the answer on a postcard to the usual address.
Next for the Tricky Reds is a long trip down to Brighton for the 12:30 kick off on Saturday; a draw there would put us top of the league, temporarily at least, but I would expect to see our strongest available eleven take three points from the Seagulls. After tonight’s woeful performance, the south coast side could well be facing a backlash. It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for them.
Almost.
MOTM: Leon Esterhuizen and Mike Dawson, the winemakers at Journey’s End winery in Stellenbosch. Yes, it’s a rare excursion to South Africa today; the silky, deep 2015 Cape Doctor went down a treat with tonight’s veal. Smashing.
Mohamed SALAH 
61’