TOP of the table after five wins out of five in the Premier League, and with the Super Cup sitting alongside the European Cup in the trophy cabinet, Liverpool are now – after a single defeat at the hands of Serie A runners-up Napoli – "chumps".
So screams the inflammatory font on the back page of The Mirror today.
After smashing 15 goals in those five league games, a blank scoresheet in Italy, a dodgy penalty and an off night for the front three resulted in the first defeat for Liverpool since The Reds lost 3-0 at Barcelona in the first leg of the semi-final of the Champions League.
Liverpool lost 6 of their last 8 away CL ties. CL defending champions and back to back finalists… Pep's away form at Barça, Bayern and City in the CL is banter as well. Yet he's won it twice and made the Semis a lot of times.
— Gastro (@Gastro_o) September 18, 2019
That result in the Nou Camp in May bolted on to last season’s group stage defeats at Napoli, Red Star Belgrade and Paris Saint Germain, led to talk last night of “concern over Liverpool’s away form in Europe” on BT Sport’s commentary.
That’s certainly fairer than calling the Champions of Europe “chumps”. But how much is a concern and how much is dot-joining for the sake of a story? The Reds, remember, won 4-1 at Porto and 3-1 at Bayern Munich last season, the latter surely ranking high in Liverpool’s great victories on the continent. Before that, they secured significant victories at Manchester City (2-1) and Porto again (5-0).
It’s not like they can’t do it on the road in Europe. Last October, Liverpool were played off the park at Napoli, leaving Italy having not even registered a single shot on target.
Liverpool lose, they did not even manage a single shot on target. #LFC #Napoli #NAPLIV #Insigne pic.twitter.com/1jb9X8HMSD
— Abdi Kadir A Azzis (@Akcaqil) October 3, 2018
Carlo Ancelotti’s side dominated the match that night, enjoying more possession, passing the ball better, trying 14 shots to The Reds’ four and in general deserving of all three points, albeit that it took until the 90th minute for Lorenzo Insigne to score the winner.
Then, a draw would have been a steal for Liverpool – a point won against all the odds. Back to what we witnessed last night. Ultimately, Liverpool lost, returned home empty-handed, registered no points. Bare facts.
But the meat on the bones is that Liverpool were much improved compared to the performance in Naples 11 months previous. Then, Jurgen Klopp got stuck into his players for their performance. “You have to stay calm in a situation like that, but we were too hectic with the ball,” he said. "We had good moments, but not enough.”
This time, the manager was clearly unhappy with a mind-boggling penalty decision that swung the game. The 82nd-minute decision after Andy Robertson was adjudged to have tripped Jose Callejón was the second game running that VAR didn’t clean up a referee’s mess after the nonsensical judgement that left Joel Matip scratching his head against Newcastle at the weekend.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes the officials were wrong awarding Napoli a penalty last night saying “it’s clear and obvious, no penalty because Callejon jumps before he has any contact”.
Was it a penalty, yes or no? pic.twitter.com/tmLF2sFUdy
— Football Gossip Podcast (@podcast_fg) September 18, 2019
If VAR can’t correct what is wrong, what’s the point? Right now it feels like a referee watching a screen doesn’t want to upset a referee on a pitch, and is able to hide behind the smokescreen of the phrase: “clear and obvious error.” Away from that decision, Liverpool dominated the ball, created chances and could and should have scored. Napoli’s Allan going down with cramp in the 72nd minute was a clear sign of the test The Reds were offering their opponents.
Sadio Mane will still be asking himself today how he messed up the chance to square for a Mo Salah tap in. Salah meanwhile will rue the goalkeeping skills of Alex Meret and the excellent defending of Kalidou Koulibaly. And Roberto Firmino will wonder how he quite so deliberately guided his free header wide.
Fabinho brought control to a midfield that wasn’t evident last year while Adrian continues to grow in confidence between the sticks, pulling off a world-class save.
My word what a boss save. Insane by Adrian pic.twitter.com/YUXG0gWmxW
— Mark (@Batchowski) September 17, 2019
Any defeat will bring criticism, but this level of criticism? After one defeat? A defeat where Liverpool played pretty well? And when the defeat in the grand scheme means so little with all to play for in the group? Liverpool have been, and will likely remain, imperious at home and Napoli will have a job on their hands to repeat last night’s result when they visit Anfield in late November.
Before that happens, Red Bull Salzburg travel to Merseyside, The Reds head to Genk and The Belgians make the return trip on matchday four. Nine points out of nine in those fixtures is hardly beyond the realms for this Liverpool side. In the meantime, before another round of matches clears the decks, the story is the story and The Reds will have to ride out the jerking knees.
To finish, a bit of trivia. AC Milan were the last European Champions to lose the opening game of their title defence in 1994, falling to a 2-0 defeat to Ajax. They went on to reach the final, which they lost to Ajax.
Despite the reaction then, all is not lost. The “chumps” have every chance of being champs once again.
