Jurgen Klopp didn’t recognise ‘really strange’ tactic from his players last night

Jurgen Klopp says he didn’t recognise a tactic from his Liverpool players in their 3-0 defeat at home against Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League. He described it as ‘really strange’ to see.

Liverpool were horrendous at Anfield on Thursday night. They sunk 3-0 to Atalanta in their first home defeat for over a year - and it’s one that leaves their Europa League dream in tatters.

Of course, Liverpool can overcome such a scoreline and they’ve done it before. It’ll be a momentous task, though, and probably an impossible one if Jurgen Klopp continues to not recognise the tactics he sees from his players.

The German talked after the defeat in a press conference, where he tried to explain just how bad the performance was. At one point, Klopp talked about a tactic he kept seeing that even he didn’t recognise.

“We just lost the plot a little bit,” said Klopp. "We were everywhere and nowhere. The midfield was spread like that [arms out wide], so right midfielder left side, left midfielder right side. I didn’t recognise any of it - so that was really strange.

“So in football terms, that’s tactical discipline.”

Or lack thereof.

Jurgen Klopp confused by Liverpool display

It’s quite surreal to hear this from Klopp - across eight-years-plus in charge, he’s never voiced this problem before. So why’s it popping up now?

Perhaps it’s complacency, perhaps it’s a lack of intensity. Liverpool’s players, after all, appear to have reacted more to Atalanta’s gameplay than the Italians did to theirs. An inability to stamp authority on games has certainly affected the team over the last few weeks.

Whatever the reason, Klopp has simply got to fix that ASAP. A disconnect with the players on the pitch will cost Liverpool the title this season. There’s no doubt about that.

Hopefully, then, this result can serve as a bit of a wakeup call for the title race - it’s just a shame it’s almost certainly cost the team the Europa League in order to possibly get it.