No flags on the Kop, no wind in Liverpool’s sails – this was a night when Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour hit serious turbulence.
It was a night when a Premier League misstep at Old Trafford was followed by a serious European fall at Anfield. Klopp rested Mohamed Salah for 45 minutes and watched his chosen ones rest themselves.
With around 15 minutes remaining in the contest, Joe Gomez – with many a team-mate waiting for a delivery into the danger area – took a shot from 25 yards. Klopp erupted as only an angry Klopp can. Not long after, Mario Pasalic shovelled salt into the Liverpool manager’s gaping wound with a tap-in for Atalanta’s third.
That just about summed up Liverpool’s night and Klopp looked almost relieved when Halil Umut Meler blew the final whistle. Meler was the official who was punched by a Turkish club president earlier this season. There was no chance of John W Henry landing one on Meler – probably because there is no chance of Henry attending a match at Anfield nowadays.
When he does rock up next, he is unlikely to get a warm welcome from a Kop that downed its flags in protest at next season’s ticket prices. Minus the banners, Anfield did not have a typically European-night feel to it and that probably contributed to a shoddy Liverpool start.
Jurgen Klopp's approach with Robert Lewandowski bodes well for Darwin Nunez
After Harvey Elliott’s mistake, Pasalic side-footed an absolute sitter into Caoimhin Kelleher’s face and, soon after, Gianluca Scamacca also found the keeper when the net was an easier target.
Not that Liverpool were bereft of early opportunities, Darwin Nunez wasting a smart pass from Curtis Jones with a trademark miss, and Elliott managing to hit both bar and post with the same left-footed strike. But, in truth, it was an entirely uninspiring first half from Klopp’s team, characterised by a plague of misplaced passes, and it was hardly a shock when the tidy Italians nosed in front before the break.
Liverpool were dreadful at both ends (Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)Davide Zappacosta coasted into space behind the ineffective Kostas Tsimikas and the pull-back was met by Scamacca, whose strike was far from clean but was helped across the line by a culpable Kelleher.
And Gian Piero Gasperini might even have been the more unhappy manager heading into the dressing-room, having watched Teun Koopmeiners squander a routine chance to double the Atalanta lead in added time. Gasperini knew Klopp could call some sort of cavalry and Salah, Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai duly emerged for the second half.
All three had a positive impact on Liverpool’s tempo but Atalanta always carried a counter-attacking threat against a Liverpool defence that looked, at times, looked half-interested. And just after the hour mark, an unattended Scamacca – who scored eight times in his one season with West Ham – calmly collected a second from a Charles de Ketelaere cross.
Gianluca Scamacca scored twice for Atalanta (DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of Liverpool's performance? Comment below.
Liverpool responded by applying some half-decent pressure but the Gomez cameo – followed by the Atalanta third from Pasalic – was typical of their scarcely-believable cluelessness. Complacent, cocky, over-confident, take your pick – but what is certain is that this was a low point – not just of Klopp’s long goodbye but of the entire season.
There were, indeed, no banners on the Kop… but this was most definitely a Liverpool team that is flagging.
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