Thursday 19 May 2016 11:26, UK
Liverpool’s players might have been 45 minutes away from European glory but their second-half capitulation will have told Jurgen Klopp what he must have already suspected – the Reds’ rebuilding job has a long way to go. Adam Bate reports from Basel…
There are moments when Liverpool are looking at their most fluent, when the pressing is precise and the passing quick, that Jurgen Klopp's positive influence on his team is abundantly clear. The 10 minutes that followed Daniel Sturridge's wonderful opening goal in the Europa League final on Wednesday was just such a moment.
Suddenly Sevilla were shaken. A red flare lit up the Liverpool end and the Reds flair lit up the pitch. Adam Lallana saw a shot blocked and Dejan Lovren had a header disallowed. The Spanish side were ragged, unable to cope with Liverpool's press. James Milner was winning possession high up the field and chaos reigned in the Sevilla defence.
But just as Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino found themselves to the fore, finally fizzing around to good effect, the half-time whistle came. For Sevilla, there was respite. For Klopp's Liverpool, their fleeting glimpse of glory was blown with it. "If it was 2-0 at half-time it's different," Klopp claimed afterwards.
What followed was certainly different and might well trouble Klopp's thoughts for much of the summer while his players tackle tournament duty with their respective countries. Seville scored after 17 seconds of the restart and it proved the catalyst for a comeback - a reverse Istanbul - as three second-half goals saw them take the trophy yet again.
"We lost faith in our style of play," Klopp told a packed press conference as the noise of Sevilla's celebrations went on around him. "We lost our formation. It wasn't compact anymore." He looked horrified but admitted that shock would be the wrong word. "I've had this problem one or two times."
The difficulty for Klopp is knowing what to do about it. This was the team that won the second leg of their semi-final 3-0 against Villarreal, but he confessed to concerns at how the same line-up had faltered against Chelsea last time out at Anfield. "You need consistency," he complained.
"It wasn't just the team shocked but the crowd was shocked too. We had a wonderful atmosphere until it went 1-1 and then Sevilla took the game. We had 44 minutes to strike back so what's the problem? We have to react better." Was he blaming the supporters? No. "It's my job to help the players to react to different situations better," he added.
It's my job to help the players to react to different situations better.
He tried everything to raise the fans but refocusing his own players was the real problem. It was difficult to dismiss the feeling that some had frozen. Alberto Moreno, in particular, endured an awful evening against his former club. But it was startling that his players appeared so ill-equipped to address the issue; to manage the game.
"Where do we run?" asked Klopp. "Where do we pass? Where do we have to move and how do we have to protect the situation? You saw after it went 1-1, looking for small channels and losing the ball. You cannot lose the ball like this and be surprised, running back in the wrong direction."
Instead of taking stock, the centre-backs continued to split and Emre Can kept attempting to thread passes through a rejuvenated Sevilla. His completion rate of 74 per cent was not what was required from a player in his position and Liverpool merely invited pressure. There was a naivety to their work and Sevilla's second might have come sooner.
There was a last-gasp tackle by Kolo Toure and a desperate hooked clearance by Dejan Lovren. But Coke struck twice long before the end and the game was gone. Key decisions had gone against Klopp's Liverpool but that didn't mean there were not lessons to learn. When the pressure was applied, the Reds unravelled.
Klopp had said in the build-up that his team's opponents were "not better than we are" but while the banners in Basel's makeshift Kop claimed 'European royalty' were in town, Sevilla's huge sign reading 'the champ is here' proved more persuasive. Their team had been in this situation before under Unai Emery and it showed.
They rode the storm and retained their belief. But for the tens of thousands of Liverpool fans who had taken over the trams and redecorated the streets around the gate at Barfusserplatz, for those with tickets and those without, for those with accommodation and those without, belief in the club was rather greater than the belief in these players.
Faith in the manager, however, remains largely unshaken. In a sense, that's remarkable given some of the ordinary statistics. A total of 48 points from 30 Premier League games is not a number to excite - in all competitions only Roy Hodgson has an inferior win percentage in the past 20 years - but there's still a feeling that better times lie ahead.
That won't include European football next season but as was shown by the events of 2013/14 that disappointment can bring opportunity too. "That means a lot of time to train," said Klopp. Time he's been denied this year. "We have to work on it," he added. "It's not a wonder or something. It's pure work."
And there will be new arrivals as well. Perhaps players more obviously suited to the demands of this coach. "Of course, the team will be a little bit different next year," he said. "We'll do something with transfers that's clear. I'm sure we'll again be in a final and again have decisive moments. We'll have to do better."
Moments. A couple of big ones have passed Liverpool by this season but as Klopp himself said afterwards when asked about losing a fifth cup final in a row, he'll do everything he can to reach the next one. And next time, his Liverpool team will be that little bit more ready to make their big moment count.
