Alisson reacts after receiving a goal in Leicester.PAUL ELLIS / AFP
"Do you assume you've lost the title?" Jürgen Klopp was asked in the conference that followed Liverpool's 3-1 loss at Leicester.
"Yes," said the current champion's coach, after pausing and shaking his head.
"It's amazing, but yes."
Half an hour earlier, Liverpool were winning at Leicester.
With a majestic assistance from Firmino.
With a subtle hint of Salah.
With trade.
With effort.
Stealing the ball in the opposite field and ruling the game by occasions and by control.
The reigning champion won as teams that are laying a foundation win, fighting against the depressive winds based on small successes achieved on the altar of routine.
Liverpool were leading 0-1 in the 78th minute when referee Anthony Taylor found Thiago fouling Barnes on the side of the area.
It could be.
It could not be.
The VAR intervened to rule out a penalty.
James Maddison launched the direct free-kick and the ball passed through the gap between the wall and the players waiting for the center.
Direct to the network before the perplexed look of the mocked Alisson.
The Liverpool goalkeeper is not coming through his best days.
This Saturday he remained a prisoner of his distraction.
LCT
3
-
1
LIV
LeicesterSchmeichel, Amartey, Caglar Soyuncu, Evans, Ricardo Pereira, Tielemans (Hamza Choudhury, min. 86), Albrighton (Ayoze Pérez, min. 73), Onyinye Ndidi, Barnes, James Maddison and VardyLiverpoolAlisson, Ozan Kabak, A. Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Henderson, Wijnaldum (Shaqiri, min. 86), Curtis Jones (Oxlade-Chamberlain, min. 74), Milner (Thiago, min. 16), Mane, Salah and Roberto Firmino
Goals0-1 min.
66: Salah.
1-1 min.
77: James Maddison.
2-1 min.
80: Vardy.
3-1 min.
84: Barnes.
Referee Anthony Taylor Yellow Cards Curtis Jones (min. 23), Evans (min. 42) and Ozan Kabak (min. 70)
Maddison's 1-1, just minutes after Klopp traded Jones for Oxlade-Chamberlain, had the effect of a demolition.
Suddenly, the entire structure, slowly manufactured over more than an hour of small sacrifices, collapsed.
Two minutes later, after a possible foul by Evans on Mané that the referee ignored, and after the loss of Thiago, caused by Ayoze near the Schemichel area, the Belgian Tielemans shot long.
It was an automatic movement.
Like someone who shoots the bulge.
The ball flew 50 meters and caused what a long ball should never cause in an orderly defense: an outpouring of panic in Alisson and Kabak.
The goalkeeper thought that the center-back would not arrive, the center-back turned trying to clear without seeing the goalkeeper.
The threat of Barnes passing by caused the stunned to collide.
The ball was at the feet of Vardy, who scored an empty goal.
In the band, Jürgen Klopp was nailed.
Looking at the scene with his mouth open.
The manager's anger had gone from pointing out the referee to vaguely concentrating on his defenses.
The Premier were virtually lost when Barnes made it 3-1 after another play that displayed disorganization and discouragement in a completely destabilized champion.
Liverpool clinch fourth place behind City, Leicester and United.
Never in the history of Premier League statistics did the defending champion drop so low in the following season.
A year ago on matchday 24 Liverpool had 70 points;
Now, after the same games, it adds up to 40.
Klopp: "I don't think we can close the gap"
"We played a very good game overall," said Klopp, in the telematics conference he attended minutes after the final whistle.
“It is not easy to dominate Leicester like we dominate today.
The 0-1 was a great goal.
I think they tie us offside and the second was a misunderstanding [between Alisson and the centrals] ”.
"I don't think we can close that gap, to be honest," he replied, when asked if he didn't think it possible that in the remaining 24 games Liverpool could bridge the distance of ten points that separate it from City, which has played two games. less.
“We have to win games and for that we have to play very well, as we did today;
and we must also avoid mistakes and misunderstandings.
Today we were wrong twice and they scored two goals.
It is normal that a young center-back like Kabak, who has just joined the team, does not communicate well with his goalkeeper.
Those things happen in the preseason.
But since we have not had preseason… ”.