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Just six months ago, Liverpool, a finalist in the Champions League, was hoping that one summer of heavy investment would allow him to take a step further towards a sixth Cup. Europe, but a 2-0 defeat at the Belgrade Red Star leaves them struggling the group stages.
While Anfield remains a fortress the European nights of the Reds, Jurgen Klopp is on a worrying trend, especially with a visit to Paris Saint-Germain in three weeks.
Liverpool failed a single shot in the 1-0 defeat at Napoli last month and was also opened in a 4-2 defeat to Roma in the return match of the semifinal. last season, progressing only thanks to a 5-2 win in the first leg.
"Unfortunately, I have already seen a few games of this type and it is very difficult to find your mojo," Klopp badumed as Belgrade achieved Red Star's first victory in the competition for 26 years.
Everything is far from being lost. Liverpool remains tied with Napoli atop Group C with six points. Four points on their last two matches would be enough to guarantee the Reds' progress on the last lap.
However, losing to what should have been the floggers of the group made their task much more difficult.
"We have to make sure that this will not happen again, otherwise it will be difficult because the next match will be played again and the last match will be very difficult at home against Napoli," added Klopp.
"We have to make sure we do better in Paris. There were many times when we could control the game and we did not do it, we made the wrong decisions. "
– New recruits remain unused –
Liverpool's Premier League debut was a different story. Still unbeaten after 11 games, the only points they lost were draws against other top-five teams in Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Even though Liverpool's results have been positive, they have rarely been matched by the level of performance they achieved in their Champions League final last season.
The three prolific fronts of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, who combined for 91 goals last season, all experienced a slowdown in fitness at different stages during the first three months of the campaign.
Firmino scored a goal in his last 11 games for the club and the country, but even one night when Klopp tried to give the Brazilian a rare break, he was sent off at half-time in Belgrade after his doubled Daniel Sturridge missed a glorious opportunity to give Liverpool ahead.
"We had the first great chance – Daniel with a very good chance. Every goal in a game like this leads the game in a specific direction, "said Klopp.
Liverpool's reserve options were meant to provide a stronger challenge to both national and European competitions this season.
More than 160 million pounds ($ 210.5 million) were spent on new recruits, but only goalkeeper Alisson Becker became a regular on first team, midfielders Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri having been largely left on the lines.
Once again at the time of crisis in the Serbian capital, Fabinho and Keita remained on the bench for 90 minutes, while Shaqiri did not even make the move for reasons of sensitivity politics after the controversy of the Swiss international born in Kosovo. celebration of goals against Serbia at the World Cup.
Klopp needs to find a way to use his new resources and quickly rediscover the Liverpool mojo in order to avoid an embarrbading early European exit.
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