Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says losing to Hull City on Saturday was not an acceptable result
Hull City continued their marvelous run of form under new manager Marco Silva as they caused shock waves to the Premier League table by beating an abject Liverpool outfit 2-0 at the KCOM Stadium.
Tigers debutant Alfred N’Diaye scored against the run of play on the brink of half-time, while loanee Oumar Niasse hit the final nail in the Liverpool coffin with an 84th minute goal. Liverpool, despite all their efforts, proved to be toothless in the final third.
After the game, manager Jurgen Klopp was undoubtedly a frustrated figure. Losing against a club that has been flirting with 20th place for the last several weeks will certainly do little good in helping the Reds mount a legitimate title challenge.
Speaking to the press after the game, Klopp said:
“The overall performance was not like it should be. It makes no sense for us to play like this. If we played like we did in the second half for the whole game, no team can cope with us. But we need to wake up; that was not acceptable.”
This defeat meant that Liverpool are still to pick up a win in what has been a horrible start to the new year. The Reds failed to find the answers against a relegation threatened side and have now dug a deeper hole for themselves.
At the start of the campaign, Klopp’s men were highly regarded for their counter-pressing or Gegenpressing brand of football that reaped such high dividends. Even the country’s top teams were failing to outmaneuver the feisty attacking threat, but now that seems a distant memory.
Liverpool have been dropping points left, right and centre, and have managed to win just once in their last ten games in all competitions. Their poor run of form has seen them fall 13 points behind leaders Chelsea.
Alex Hunter of the Guardian quoted Klopp as saying: “I don’t want to use it but, as an explanation, if you can’t be champions any more the Champions League is still an outstanding, big, big target. So many teams want to be there.”
Their next game is against high-flying Tottenham Hotspur, who now appear to be the only team providing a legitimate fight to Chelsea for the Premier League. Playing Spurs will not be an easy ask, and Klopp may be in for perpetual misery if his side continues to put in performances like these.
