Jurgen Klopp has warned his shell-shocked side they must use two catastrophic displays in the past week as a massive wake up call, if they want to win trophies.
Liverpool are strong favourites to win the Europa League this season, and are also still fancied in the title race, as they sit just three points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City. But they looked far from contenders for either, as they were blown away by Toulouse in Europe on Thursday night amid a white hot atmosphere, and also seemed to wilt in a similar situation at Luton’s tight, intimidating ground.
Klopp was in animated mood after Europa League defeat - which saw his team blow the chance to qualify as group winners with two games to spare. And he pulled no punches as he insisted the Reds must wake up and react quickly. “Against Toulouse, quite obviously we were not aggressive enough. It was as easy as that. They were much more aggressive than us. How is that possible?” he said.
“Yes, they play at home. Yes, they have their crowd. But in these moments you have to be there. We must use that as a real learning curve - and the Luton game too - because it was a similar atmosphere.
“That should not be a problem. We had that a lot, at Newcastle, for example, a real atmosphere. So we just have to learn. And yeah, is it part of the learning process? Probably, Yes. But it still does not feel great.”
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After an impressive start to the season with a new look, much younger team, Liverpool have struggled in recent weeks, especially away from home. Toulouse are a poor side, who - like Luton - are in relegation trouble, and it has echoes of last season, when Klopp’s team didn’t score a goal in six away matches against teams in the bottom half of the table.
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Jarell Quansah saw a late goal disallowed in Toulouse (GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)And even though the English club were harshly treated by another ludicrous VAR decision which ruled out a perfectly good late equaliser, Klopp insisted that was missing the point. “So I really think it was a goal, I really think it should have been given as a goal - but I don’t think that would have made it any better,” he said. “Because we have to defend better. We have to defend so much better.
“So now of course we have to react. We can be a really good team. We have shown that. We have shown what we can be. But I want it right now. And not like what happened here in Toulouse.”
Asked if that inconsistency is part of the process all young sides go through, Klopp replied: “I wish it would not be necessary. I want it quickly - I wish we would learn quickly, to be honest. We will see.
“Generally we are in a positive situation and it is really important that you learn to deal with that. There has been a lot of praise, but I want us to learn from this.
“We can lose a game. My God. But we have to use it to learn the right things, especially. And we learnt against Toulouse to win a football game, you need to be a lot more aggressive.”
Klopp has Alexis Mac Allister suspended for the visit of Brentford to Anfield on Sunday, while Curtis Jones will be out with an ankle problem, but Ryan Gravenberch should return from a minor issue, and Virgil van Dijk has recovered from a bout of sickness.
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