Liverpool - News

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We asked for your thoughts on Liverpool's Europa League quarter-final performance against Atalanta.

Here are some of your responses:

Ben: The worst performance at Anfield in ages. Klopp isn't going to be winning any more trophies this season. They are out of the Europa League and will likely lose in the title race. We can't score or defend. Salah has gone off the boil, Nunez and Gakpo couldn't hit a barn door if they tried, and our defence relies too much on Van Dijk. A sad end for a great manager.

Muaz: Complete TRASH! The only player who was decent was Kelleher. He is the reason we have at least a chance against Atalanta in the second leg. Too many mistakes at the back and not clinical enough in the final third. A horrible display but fair play to Atalanta, they were amazing. My only hope is that the same thing happened a few years ago with Barcelona.

Mark: That was not just the worst performance under Klopp, but quite possibly the worst Liverpool performance I have seen in many years. For a side with so much talent, they looked like a Sunday league team. I am taking nothing away from Atalanta - their tactics were spot on - but how Liverpool played so poorly is beyond me.

Linda: We were at the match - great build-up and solidarity with the protest. If the goal from Elliott had crept over the line, we would have kicked on from there - but we made some errors which cost us and they punished us. We just didn't expect a result like that. We had our chances and we will get them again next week.

Richard: Klopp is to blame. We can't take the lead and we are always chasing teams. We should be 10 points ahead in league. Why did he pick a weakened team instead of putting out the strongest team first?

Paul: I was well aware that Atalanta are a quality team who would cause us problems, so I can't understand why we didn't play our strongest team from the beginning. The question now for Klopp is whether he tries to rescue this or he saves the players for the league, which is now also looking a distant hope.


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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp to BBC's Match of the Day: "The stats in the first half won't be as great as the stats in the second half. I think that was pretty obvious we didn't play a good first half. We wanted a reaction and we saw a reaction.
"It wasn't a fully convinced team on the pitch. It's a really difficult one. We weren't great. Crystal Palace had far too many football moments where we ran in the wrong direction.
"In more than 20 years when you watch my teams, the press and counter press is pretty good, some days it is outstanding. In the first half, it was nothing and then we were 1-0 down.
"Second half, we tried to change the formation and dynamic that wasn't tricky for Crystal Palace. You could stand here on another day and see the same balls go in and we're talking about a 4-1 win, but football doesn't work like that."
A hangover from the Atalanta defeat?: "I really don't know, I couldn't say that. I would say with the chances we had, we were really unlucky. What could Darwin do with his chance or Mo. Good defending from Mitchell. In the second half, Crystal Palace were lucky we didn't punish them but that's why we are stood here with no points and Crystal Palace have three."

More from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to Sky Sports on whether his side are suffering from a hangover to their 3-0 defeat to Atalanta in the Europa League: "Could be. If you would look to my teams over the years, I think you could say our pressing is usually good. Counterpress is there. The first half we were open like 'how can that happen?' Curtis [Jones] was the only one really chasing, really getting out and from time to time broke their rhythm. Beisde that they [Palace] could just play through. They [Liverpool] were horrible to watch.
"Was this a hangover? Yes. That's how humans react sometimes. It's not great but it happens. The conviction wasn't there. We were much too far apart from each other. Last line too deep, the midfield wasn't really there, first line didn't start the press. So that's all true.
"Where it's coming from? How can I answer that one 100%? But it's only a few days ago that we played a bad game so it might have something to do with that. Actually it was a really good game, without scoring. But it's not that easy unfortunately."

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to Sky Sports on where it went wrong for his side against Palace: "I am standing here and to talk about this game is really tricky. Two different games I would say, with the first half and second half. First half was absolutely not good enough so we showed a reaction. The reaction was we lost conviction from the last game. We tried to get rid of this but that work out as much as we wanted.
"To concede that goal was a horrible goal to concede with a completely free player in the area. That cannot happen but it happens. Andy Robertson gets the other ball so it's like scoring a goal if you don't concede from that. Crystal Palace didn't have many more and we controlled it better and then second half we can easily say if we don't score with these chances what can you say?
"The game in the second half was much better, Trent coming on and in the moment the structure changed. We caused problems and we had big big chances. If we stand here and win the game 4-1 we could have seen the same game with a completely different result. But we didn't so we have to take that."

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Today marks the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool fans were killed while attending the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium.
"Our thoughts today, as always, are with all those affected by the tragedy at Hillsborough and the 97 fans who will never be forgotten," Liverpool have written on X.
"You’ll Never Walk Alone."
A minute's silence will be held in Liverpool later to mark the anniversary of the deaths of the 97 men, women and children as a result of a crush at the semi-final on 15 April 1989.
The silence will be observed at Exchange Flags near the Town Hall at 15:06 BST, the time the match was halted 35 years ago.
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We asked for your views on Liverpool's defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Here are some of your answers :

Liverpool fans

Debbie: Where was the pace and desire? Too much passing around the back , the few times they went with pace down the wing they were in! Didn’t do it often enough. Finishing in the games since we played United has also been poor.

Dan: It looked like we never left the dressing room in the first half. Too many holes in our defensive shape, no desire to win the ball back or press them. It was far to easy for Palace to pass between the lines. Second half was better but again no composure in front of goal, it felt rushed. We broke through a few times but poor decisions cost us.

Matthew: Absolutely poor performance. Letting them stand in the box alone to tap home their goal was schoolboy football. Jones has to take five touches even if one is needed and Salah is a shadow of his former self and doesn’t run in behind. A slow start again and some of them didn’t look like they wanted to be there.



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A terrible week for Liverpool..Alan Shearer, BBC Sport columnist.

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When you get to the final part of the season one bad week can undo months of hard work - and Liverpool have just had a terrible week.

I actually thought their defensive performances have been a real strong point for them for large parts of this campaign, even though Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson have missed long spells of it through injury.

So, the past few days have been a big surprise in terms of how easily and how often they have been opened up, firstly by Atalanta in the Europa League and then by Crystal Palace.

They were misfiring in attack on Sunday too. Liverpool have fought back from losing positions to earn 27 points this season, but it was probably after they had missed their third sitter on Sunday that I started to think it was going to be one of those days for them when nothing goes in.

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But, while it is true Liverpool missed some big chances, so did the Eagles. Jurgen Klopp's side were very open and I do not think they can complain about the result, even if it is a pretty devastating one for their title hopes.

This was Manchester City's weekend, but the top of the table is still extremely tight and I still think there are more twists to come in the title race.

To stay in it, Liverpool and Arsenal will have to pick themselves up quickly.

It looks a big ask for Klopp's side to rescue their Europa League quarter-final in Italy on Thursday, but they cannot afford to drop any more Premier League points when they face Fulham on Sunday.

Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.

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Manchester United are showing an interest in Sporting Lisbon's Viktor Gyokeres, but they fear Liverpool could scupper their chances of signing the 25-year-old Sweden striker.

The Reds can sign 22-year-old Sporting Lisbon and Portugal centre-back Goncalo Inacio for £40m.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have identified 23-year-old Sunderland and England Under-21 goalkeeper Anthony Patterson as a potential replacement for Caoimhin Kelleher.

'I owe everything to him' - Alexander-Arnold on Klopp..

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Trent Alexander-Arnold says he "owes everything as a player" to departing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and conceded it will feel "weird" to return next season without the German in charge at Anfield.

Klopp gave Alexander-Arnold his first-team debut in October 2016 shortly after his 18th birthday and he has since won every major domestic trophy with the Reds, as well as the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup.

"I owe everything to him, really, as a player," the England international, 25, told The Overlap podcast.

"I was thinking about this recently. The only thing you can ever ask for as a young player is opportunity. All you can do is hope that when you get to 18 or19, you've got a manager that's willing to give you a chance and I was fortunate enough to have that.

"Not only that, he put his arm round me and guided me through it, through the ups and downs, the winning of stuff, losing things.

"Good games, bad games, because your first bad game you think you're never going to kick a ball again. You think: 'I'm done'."

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We asked you for your thoughts on Liverpool's Europa League quarter-final defeat to Atalanta.

Here are some of your comments:

Eddie: The biggest mistake was Jurgen telling everyone he is leaving. That decision should have been kept between him and the owners. This team have fallen off a cliff. I'm not going to single out any player in particular, but at least three senior players have been nowhere near the levels they should be. This is season over. Thanks for everything Jurgen.

Alex: We lost this tie in the first leg and never really showed the belief that we could overturn it in the second leg. What worries me is our ongoing inability to score. We look tired. All of those late victories are catching up with us. We need to learn to kill games off early - instead we have used all of our mental and physical energy. What a shame!

Daniel: Talk about a comeback not to be! What a disappointing way to end our European campaign. There are not many positives to take from this one. The penalty in the first seven minutes may be the only positive I can think of but, apart from that, a very lacklustre performance from the lads.

Claude: We need to find a couple of quality strikers, but that I know that is an impossible task. Once Sadio Mane left, that Liverpool front line has not been the same. We also need another Virgil van Dijk, as Joel Matip and Joe Gomez get injured too often. Atalanta were ruthless and streetwise at Anfield, something which we never recovered from.

Adria: It is so sad that after all these years that Jugen Klopp's final season is going out like a damp squib. It seems the players are more concerned about either their next club or about being fit for the new coach. They are just not playing for the club and are back to their old ways of playing for themselves.

Ali: Fans can get lost in the magic of what Jurgen Klopp achieved, but no big trophy since 2020 is simply not good enough. An underdog manager who struggles under the big lights. Liverpool outgrew Klopp!


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