CNN
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From a Liverpool perspective, the largest optimistic to take from the staff’s humiliating 4-1 defeat to Napoli is a minimum of it was solely 4.
The crimson shirts have been carved open time and time once more, notably within the first half, and just some wayward ending – together with a missed penalty from Napoli striker Victor Oshimen – saved the scoreline to a semi-respectable 3-0 at half time.
An early penalty from Piotr Zieliński after a James Milner handball set the tone for the match, as wave after wave of blue shirts descended on Alisson’s objective.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – who has endured a very torrid begin to the season – and Joe Gomez have been caught out on quite a few events within the first half, earlier than André-Frank Zambo Anguissa lastly obtained Napoli’s second, slotting the ball previous Alisson after a wise alternate with Zielinski.
Then simply earlier than the break, Champions League debutant Giovanni Simeone, who had come on as an alternative to Oshimen, was gifted a straightforward tap-in after being discovered utterly unmarked in entrance of objective by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
If Liverpool supervisor Jurgen Klopp had hoped the half-time break would enable his staff an opportunity to regroup and are available out combating within the second half, he was sorely mistaken.
Inside two minutes of the restart, Napoli had made it 4-0 as Zielinkski obtained his second, prodding residence the rebound after Alisson had saved his preliminary effort.
It was virtually an excessive amount of for Klopp to bear, as he pulled his cap down from his head to cowl his eyes from the horror he was watching.
Liverpool did get one again simply a few minutes later after a mistake within the Napoli midfield had gifted Luis Díaz possession, permitting the Colombian to bend a wise end into the underside nook.
In reality, there was by no means any likelihood or signal of a toothless Liverpool mounting a comeback on what Klopp described as a “actually robust” night time for the membership.
“[It’s] robust to take,” the German instructed BT Sport. “I’d say not that tough to clarify whenever you noticed the sport. Initially, Napoli performed a extremely good recreation and we didn’t, that’s the first rationalization for the defeat.
“It appears a bit bit like we’ve got to reinvent ourselves. There are loads of issues missing, not in all of the video games, however now the enjoyable half is we’ve got to do it in the course of a Premier League season and a Champions League marketing campaign.
“In three days’ time, we play Wolves and, after they noticed the sport tonight, they can not cease laughing, most likely, and suppose: ‘Oh my god, that’s an ideal second [to play Liverpool],’ however we’ve got to attempt to discover a setup to be significantly better in just about every little thing.”
Liverpool at the moment sits seventh within the Premier League with simply two wins from its opening six matches.
With two successive residence matches developing in opposition to Wolves and Ajax, nothing lower than six factors and an enormous enchancment in efficiency will do for a staff determined to get again on observe.
