Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 0-3 Atalanta

There’s Sunday and then there’s tonight.

There’s infuriating and then there’s revolting.

This was a putrid, pathetic, shameful performance from Liverpool and everyone involved - manager and players.

It’s genuinely one of the worst results in the club’s European history - as good as Atalanta were tonight, they’re sixth in Serie A and have absolutely schooled Klopp and Liverpool tonight on our own patch.

It’s the first time since Real Madrid in the Champions League last February where Liverpool are a genuine disgrace to themselves.

The difference here is that, unlike then, when Liverpool were way out of their depth, this is a team that until tonight were the raging favourites to win the Europa League. And they’re now 99% of the way to being eliminated.

It’s arguably the worst performance under Jurgen Klopp - I even include Watford in 2015, Spurs in 2017 and Villa in 2020 - and the most concerning thing is that the manager was not able to improve things at all.

It’s hard to know whether it’s a performance that’s been creeping up on us - the last four have ranged between average and poor - or if tonight is just an aberration caused by the arrogance and lack of respect shown by the team.

It’s hard to know whether this is a product of the extra efforts to maintain form during the injury crisis, or whether they just weren’t at all up for it tonight.

It’s hard to know whether Klopp and the team have run their race for the season, or whether they’ve just hit a wall in terms of performances recently after getting us so far.

It’s hard to know whether the shouts of ‘you can’t keep getting away with this’ about our defensive frailties and late winners are turning out to be true, or whether they’ve just run out of juice.

But the last three weeks have been a bit of a chore. United in the FA Cup was thrown away, we made ridiculously hard work of Brighton and Sheffield United, then the United debacle on Sunday and now this abortion of a performance tonight.

I was trying to think of positives and it’s a measure of how atrocious we are tonight that the only positive I’ve come up with is the scoreline, because if Atalanta had walked out of Anfield with a 5-0 win, they’d have been good value for it.

Klopp might have been a chain smoker once upon a time but the worst habit his team have had under him is the tendency to underestimate an opposition. Arrogance and complacency has been the root of many poor halves and performances in this era.

And it’s cost us wins and trophies. Without this arrogance and complacency, we beat Everton in 18/19 and win the league. We beat Leicester and Brighton in 21/22 and win the league. We beat United a few weeks ago and have a place in the FA Cup final. We beat United a few days ago and have a lead in the Premier League.

The manager sets the tone for tonight’s horror show with his team selection. Why he’s giving charity minutes out to the likes of Kostas Tsimikas is anyone’s guess. He simply had to start either Joe Gomez or Andy Robertson at left-back tonight.

It’s worth pointing out that earlier this season, Tsimikas was given the run-around by both Leicester and Southampton in cups. So if he’s not good enough to perform against Championship sides, why is he starting against such an effective opposition in a European quarter-final?

Why did he not start Mohamed Salah? Now, don’t get me wrong, he’s been poor recently and was again tonight when he comes on, but you’re always a more threatening team for having him in it.

Yes, Harvey Elliott deserved a start but that could’ve been in midfield. And the decision to take off a player ahead of the second half, when he’s always better later in the game, was wild.

The most concerning thing is that Klopp says he would make the same team selection again if he could have his time back. I don’t care if this is sacrilege, because if he genuinely thinks that, then thank fucking Christ he’s going.

The first half is the worst 45 minutes we’ve produced at Anfield all season, captured neatly by the fact that Caoimhin Kelleher, squarely at fault for the first goal, is probably our best player.

It’s a half that is so desperately short of urgency, desire, energy. You’d think it was the second leg and we’d already wrapped the tie up a week earlier, not a first leg with a chance to build a lead.

Atalanta’s shape and tactical performance is incredible throughout, but particularly in the first half. Their man-to-man marking is infamous around Europe and Liverpool have no answer for how to play around it.

The manager’s team selection does not help - it’s crying out for Conor Bradley or Robertson to offer some 1v1 threat and some proper width. Gomez offers so little going forward tonight, apart from a few preposterous shots from distance - can something please be done to forcibly evict anyone shouting ‘shoot’ when the ball comes to him?

He’s a good player is Gomez, but he can’t shoot. Some defenders just can’t. Accept it. Robertson can’t shoot. No-one shouts for him to shoot. Makes sense.

Atalanta’s strategic performance is wonderful. They are marvellous at preventing Liverpool playing through the lines and forcing us to go long. 

Mario Pasalic and Ederson are remarkable throughout, they work so hard and operate in such an unorthodox but effective way.

It takes Liverpool an eternity to work out what’s going on and how to react to it. The midfield three of Wataru Endo, Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones delighted me on the team sheet - but all three of them were under-par. 

Mac Allister couldn’t have his usual impact on the game because he was starved of time on the ball, and Endo and Jones were absolutely horrific. All three looked pensive and were stunned every time one of Emerson, Pasalic or Teun Koopmeiners shadowed them.

So, as well as poor individual performances, there was a huge systemic issue through the team, which was that they had no answer to Atalanta’s fantastic tactical performance.

Gian Piero Gasperini has well and truly had Klopp’s pants down. It’s one of the best managerial performances you’ll ever see at Anfield.

His goalkeeper Juan Musso has had one of his quietest ever outings - the lack of creativity of good chances is unbelievable.

In fact, probably the best Liverpool chance of the night comes early on where Darwin Nunez is played in with a great pass but bafflingly tries to chip the ball over Musso when he has a golden opportunity to open his body up and go around him. 

Stuff like that isn’t necessarily poor finishing, it’s atrocious decision-making.

There’s so many narratives around Nunez that it’s difficult to really know whether he’s underrated or overrated but he’s been pretty awful since that United FA Cup game.

He’s not a killer. He’s never going to be. But making the correct decisions from time to time wouldn’t go amiss.

He’s punched above his weight in the last few months, as has Endo, Kelleher and Gomez.

They’ve been sensational. Revelations. But, over-performance isn’t sustainable and the last few games have seen these players, who’ve done so well for so long, give us a little reminder of what they are.

Kelleher is a second-choice goalkeeper. He’s a decent keeper. He’s not a world-class keeper. He does well to make some stops that keep the scoreline presentable but he needs to be doing way better for the first of Gianluca Scamacca’s goals.

Endo is a bargain buy who’s been producing performances none of us thought he could. I’ve fallen in love with him and he’s been one of the finds of the season. But he’s had two terrible performances on the spin now.

Gomez is the interesting one because he’s played in a few different positions. Klopp said before the game that his team selection, which proved to be a mistake, was based on keeping legs fresh.

If there’s one man who needed a rest, it was Gomez. He’s been leggy for a few games and has another shocker here tonight.

You can only punch above your weight for so long. Endo, Kelleher and Gomez look tired and their performances are suffering. The story of their seasons should not be defined by the last week or so.

But, we’ve had so many players over-performing expectations that some fans have become very blasé about this squad. Ruben Amorim, assuming he is the chosen one, has a lot more work to do than some people think.

This squad needs work at goalkeeper, left-back, centre-back and arguably in defensive midfield and up top. 

Because the chances of Endo, Kelleher, Gomez and co. producing another season of this standard are very slim.

But, to be fair, they’re not the only ones who have stinking evenings.

Tsimikas has no excuse. Yes, he’s coming in cold but he’s also fresher than anyone on that pitch. Unfortunately, he’s just nowhere near at the standard. 

This is his fourth season at Liverpool. Andy Robertson hasn’t been great in any of those seasons yet never once has his place as our first-choice left-back been threatened. In fact, he’s come under more threat from Gomez, a right-footed centre-back, than Tsimikas.

He scored the winning penalty in the FA Cup final two years ago and he set up Virgil Van Dijk’s winner in the League Cup final in February this year, but other than those two Wembley moments, he’s rarely proved himself to be anything other than a second choice.

His alarmingly bad showing tonight sees him hauled off at 45 for what is likely to be his last ever Liverpool start.

It’s him rushing ludicrously high out of position, and losing out to Koopmeiners, that leads to the first goal. The amount of space that duly gets afforded to Davide Zappacosta is staggering.

Zappacosta joins Nelson Mandela and Jurgen Klopp in having the freedom of the city of Liverpool, and some half-arsed defending from Van Dijk and Gomez allows Scamacca’s shot to reach Kelleher. It should be saved but it isn’t.

The second goal is actually similar in its design. The left-back, now Robertson, rushes out of position and it leaves acres of space for Charles De Ketelaere to cross, and for Scamacca to nonchalantly finish.

Again, it’s far too soft from Van Dijk, and the gap between Konate and Gomez is ridiculous.

The left-back pushing up too high, not coming out with the ball and Liverpool getting done down that side on a turnover has been a steadfast route to goal for Klopp’s oppositions for years.

Champions League final 2022. Everyone blamed Trent Alexander-Arnold. It wasn’t his fault. It was the system.

The third goal is even worse. Dominik Szoboszlai, who produces one of the worst substitute appearances you’ll ever see, is fucking around with the ball in his own half. We’re 2-0 down with seven minutes left yet he’s dawdling on the ball. Of course, he runs into traffic and gets dispossessed.

Scamacca finds Marten De Roon, who is left totally unoccupied after Van Dijk fails to follow him. 

No-one has tracked the run of Pasalic either, so he is able to rebound Kelleher’s parry.

Van Dijk’s performance tonight is appalling. Sometimes, the arrogance he displays is so costly and for all three goals, he should be more engaged, more physical and less defending-by-aura.

Liverpool end the game with Gomez, Ibrahima Konate, Van Dijk and Robertson. Arguably the four best pure defenders at the club, yet still we concede chances and goals at will.

That shows that the issues with Liverpool’s defence are far more systemic than personnel.

At 0-3 there’s still a chance to salvage something ahead of the second leg but Gomez shooting from distance and Salah being offside when tapping in a good Robertson cross put paid to that.

There’s no need for Salah to be offside there. This is what I mean. Across the board; the performance is just nowhere near good enough all night.

Robertson is perhaps the only substitute that is genuinely decent, though Luis Diaz and the returning Diogo Jota are at least involved.

Cody Gakpo is the best of the starters and the only good period Liverpool have in the game, just before the first Scamacca goal, sees him pick the ball up in good areas and release the likes of Elliott and Nunez on a few occasions.

But, it’s a sobering night where Liverpool just didn’t have the answers to a tactical masterclass from Gasperini.

The Atalanta story is a great one and has been for years, and in De Ketelaere and Isak Hien, they’ve given two of the best individual performances Anfield has seen from an opposition in a while.

The law of averages suggests that our run of ‘somehow’ winning games couldn’t keep happening, and of course, I’d rather have fallen apart tonight than in any of the league games.

Although by  ‘somehow not’ winning a game on Sunday, we’ve put ourselves in a position whereby even perfection in the league from here on in might not be enough.

That’s why tonight and this tie was and is important. Because if we don’t win the league or the Europa League, this season full of memories has produced just the League Cup, which, as special and cherishable as it was, is now old news. 

For Klopp to leave in successful style, he needs one of the Premier League or the Europa to be the main story of this season, with the League Cup a fabulous side-story.

I’m not sure what Klopp should do with the second leg of this now. The immediate priority is a win on Sunday, but then comes the return leg.

He may feel, especially if we beat Palace, that a 3-0 deficit is a bridge too far and make mass changes.

Or, he may feel that overturning a 3-0 lead in 90 minutes is more likely than winning seven straight league games.

But then he’ll have the dilemma of not wanting to run players into the ground before three away league games straight after the second leg.

This disastrous team selection, performance and result has put the manager in a hole. 

Daniel