Klopp must share the blame for Liverpool's ills: Richard Buxton
Liverpool boss' handling of their backline issues has put them on the defensive
Even during times of adversity, Juergen Klopp continues to lean on boxing analogies.
Liverpool's movie-loving manager still portrays his own team as Rocky Balboa, while Manchester City are depicted as formidable nemeses Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed.
But the English Premier League champions no longer find themselves on the ropes.
A 4-1 humiliation at the hands of Pep Guardiola's side yesterday morning (Singapore time) left the Reds' title defence on the floor; incapable of resurfacing from the canvas.
Klopp can only blame himself for Anfield's long-awaited reign becoming so short-lived by cultivating a house of cards which has already collapsed within a matter of months.
They are now 27 points worse off from their opening 23 top-flight fixtures - another low for a defending champion - than when the title was winging its way to Merseyside.
Much as the German cites mounting injuries, some self-inflicted, the absence of fans is laying bare Liverpool's inability to function without a partisan crowd roaring them on.
Klopp knows just how crucial supporters on The Kop are to his side's creative output as well as his natural showmanship of routinely gesticulating wildly in their direction.
Losing the 12th man led to City becoming the third team to emerge victorious in the past 2½ weeks from a stadium that had previously not witnessed a Reds' EPL defeat since 2017.
No one could have forecast the seismic impact that playing through the coronavirus pandemic would incur, yet other aspects under Klopp's control were entirely preventable.
His refusal to embrace fresh defensive reinforcements in Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies forced Fabinho and Jordan Henderson to continue operating as centre-backs against City.
Kabak received international clearance to kick his heels on the substitutes' bench as the visitors ran riot. Davies was probably doing likewise from the comfort of his living room.
The pair's respective deadline-day arrivals were supposed to be a remedy to a problem which should have been addressed far earlier but was instead stubbornly overlooked.
NO DEFENSIVE COVER
Allowing Dejan Lovren to depart without a replacement of equal experience or technical ability in reserve came back to bite Klopp, after Virgil van Dijk's season was ended and two players with questionable injury records in Joe Gomez and Joel Matip succumbed again.
As a result, Liverpool have lost two midfielders so integral to their heavy pressing, with their preferred position increasingly undermined as Thiago Alcantara's ongoing presence in the side is now a recurring problem rather than a potential game-changer.
Tactical indiscipline is an inescapable theme of the Spain international's formative months at Anfield, due to his regularly sailing close to the wind early on in matches.
It happened again as a rash challenge on Ilkay Guendogan earned him a third yellow card in eight EPL games since returning from injury. It afforded City freedom to dictate the pace once Guardiola's former pupil effectively ruled himself out of the action.
Liverpool believed they were adding a true Rolls-Royce to their engine room from Bayern Munich. Instead, they have a second-hand runaround spluttering in its place.
They will need to recalibrate not just a disjointed midfield order but also adjust a ceiling that has been exponentially raised from a relatively modest barometer.
Fourth became the new first when Klopp secured a formerly coveted Champions League qualification place on the final day of 2016/17 and gradually began to build upwards.
Starting from zero may feel like a retrograde step after the unprecedented success which followed, but Liverpool are a far cry from the fearless entity who once made both Guardiola and City cower at the mere prospect of going toe-to-toe with them.
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