Jurgen Klopp has told his players there will be no Premier League title to challenge for if Liverpool continue to play like they did at Leicester.
The Reds suffered a huge blow in their bid for a second league crown as they were beaten 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.
A memorable night for Leicester, who battled to victory over the title hopefuls
The result means the Merseysiders are six points behind leaders Manchester City, who have hit form during the busy festive schedule with nine straight league wins.
Many are tipping the race to go right down to the wire, with Chelsea also believed to be challengers, but Klopp says his side won’t be in contention with more performances like this.
“If we play like this then we won’t have to think about it to be honest,” he told talkSPORT afterwards.
“If we play our usual football we have the chance to win quite a few football games. If we do that we’ll see but we have to play better.”
Have Liverpool fallen too far behind Man City?AFP
Wonder what James Maddison said to Mo Salah before his penalty?
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— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 28, 2021
He added: “We were not good enough, not good. Not even close to what we can be. They deserved the three points.”
It was an uncharacteristically bad performance from Liverpool‘s players, with Mohamed Salah missing a penalty for the first time in four years, scoring his previous 21.
“For sure Maddison was talking to him but everyone does that,” Klopp said after the game, adding there was not an ounce of blame on his top scorer. “Usually Mo is better in this situation but so is the team.”
However, talkSPORT host Jason Cundy believes Klopp needs to look at himself too.
He believes the manager got his substitutes wrong and was outwitted by opposite number Brendan Rodgers at the King Power Stadium.
It was a victory for the former Liverpool boss against his successorGetty
Cundy said on the Sports Bar after the game: “It’s always difficult when you get a microphone thrust in front of your mouth when you’ve seen City get an extra three points on you and your results are starting to look a bit iffy, the performances aren’t at the standards he wants. He’ll know Liverpool are better than what we’ve just seen.
“I think he has to look at his own performance. The substitutions… Curtis Jones would’ve been my choice [to replace Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain]. I’m not sure Naby Keita brings that [attacking play] to the party.
“Then when you look at the substitutions Rodgers made, Youri Tielemans and Ademola Lookman said that they believed that they could get win the game. Brendan did him.”
Cundy added: “Brendan absolutely schooled Klopp tonight. He got one over on him and it’s not often you can say that. Klopp got done by Rodgers.”
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