Jurgen Klopp has publicly admitted for the first time that Liverpool’s hopes of retaining their Premier League title are over after losing 3-1 at Leicester.
Alisson suffered another nightmare when a late collapse at King Power Stadium Liverpool left 13 points behind leaders Manchester City, who have one game in hand after beating Tottenham 3-0 on Saturday night.
The goalkeeper gave Jamie Vardy Leicester the second goal on comeback when the Foxes scored three goals in a dramatic 14-minute final for a dramatic win that raised their own hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Alisson, fresh from two big gaffes against Manchester City, backed Liverpool’s late surrender as he stormed out and missed Youri Tielemans long pass and Vardy kicked the ball in.
James Maddison had already leveled himself before Harvey Barnes struck to worsen the misery of the visitors.
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Liverpool are 30 points worse off than they were at this point last season
After that, Klopp admitted that his team was too busy to catch City.
When asked by Sky Sports News whether he had granted the title, Klopp replied, “Yes. I can’t believe it, but yes.
“I don’t think we can close the gap this year, to be honest. We have to win football games and a large part of our game today was very good.
“What we have to avoid are mistakes and misunderstandings. In two situations we didn’t do that today and so they were allowed to score two goals. The results are heavily related to the performance – we were good enough today to win them.” Game except for a few mistakes towards the end.
“Before the game, we all knew Ozan [Kabak] is a really good player and we know that afterwards, but he’s not used to all the things we do. Ali [Alisson] is offensive and likes to get out of sight.
“When you’re new together it usually happens, but it happens the preseason. Unfortunately we didn’t have that. We’re not worried about the title, we’re not stupid.
“We have a tough game on Tuesday and then the derby next week. We’re thinking of that.”
Liverpool looked for Mohamed Salah’s 17th goal of the season on their way to victory but collapsed in a hectic 14-minute final.
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Liverpool’s Alisson had another moment to forget in Leicester’s 3-1 win when he stormed out of his gate and gave Jamie Vardy the opportunity to score.
At first, Leicester thought they had a penalty after beating Thiago Barnes, only VAR could rule the foul.
It didn’t matter much when Maddison’s low free kick came straight into play – though it wasn’t given until after a VAR check with Daniel Amartey, who was only marginally on the side.
Three minutes later, Alisson rushed to Tielemans’ pass, but clattered against Ozan Kabak to leave Vardy with an easy finish. Things got worse for the visitors when Barnes was free with five minutes left and shot past Alisson.
“We’re not looking for excuses,” added Klopp.
“Some things we could have done better, but it’s difficult right now. I agree that most of the game was a really good game. It’s not easy to dominate Leicester like we did today after we did lost like we did with some. ” to a strange scoreline days ago [the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City].
“We took the lead before we conceded an odd goal. I thought it was offside to be honest while the 2-1 win is a misunderstanding. I felt it had a huge impact on the game had, but we had to show a different reaction. We. ” was too easy for the third. The only way out of this situation is to play good football. “
Rodgers: We’ll fight to the end
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Harvey Barnes stays cool to extend Leicester’s lead against the champions
Leicester was well beaten 4-0 in the related game last season, but the maturity Brendan Rodgers showed on Saturday underscored the progress made since looking for a place in the Champions last season League were just under.
When asked about Klopp’s concession for the title, Rodgers said: “Liverpool have reached an incredible level over the last couple of seasons and he has done a great job with this team. Jurgen will talk about how he feels and when he does is. ” I’ll be something for him to see with his team.
“We were playing against a top team so we knew we had to play really well to win. It was a disappointment not to be in the top four after being there for so long last season.”
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WATCH FOR FREE: Highlights of Leicester’s win against Liverpool in the Premier League
“It could have been the elephant in the room, so we sat down and talked about how we can reset the season sharply and get started. Even though so many key players have been injured, we’ve been so consistent. There’s still a lot of football so have we ‘I’m going to enjoy this win over the champions, I thought we deserved it.
“There is no doubt whatever happens during the rest of the season, the players have shown maturity and consistency. This group has great potential and it just takes time and consistency.
“Just skipping last year helped and we’ve seen them deal with different aspects when players are missing. With 14 games left we will fight to the end and see where it leads us.”
What’s next?
Sunday, February 21, 2:00 p.m.
Start at 2 p.m.
Saturday, February 20, 5 p.m.
Start at 5:30 p.m.
Leicester return to the Europa League on Thursday as they face Slavia Prague. Kick-off at 5:55 p.m. The Foxes will then visit Aston Villa in the Premier League next Sunday, live on Sky Sports; Kick-off at 2 p.m.
Liverpool visit RB Leipzig in the Champions League in the first leg of the last 16 on Tuesday at 8 p.m. before returning to Everton at home in the Premier League on Saturday, live on Sky Sports. The reporting starts at 5:00 p.m. and starts at 5:30 p.m.
