Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool Made Their Name Reacting to Disappointment - They'll Be Fine This Time Too

Bloody hell. Liverpool don't do things by halves, do they?

We all knew their breathtaking run of form was going to come to a crashing halt at some stage. But three defeats in four, starting with a 3-0 humbling to a team in the relegation zone and ending with an 18-year-old nutmegging Fabinho, isn't quite how we'd pictured it.

In truth, though, the writing has been on the wall for a while. Dating back to January's ugly victory at Wolves and the subsequent 2-2 collapse at Shrewsbury, the cracks have been beginning to show for weeks, and the loss of Jordan Henderson to injury has proven to be the kicker.

Last week's hard-fought (and more than a little fortuitous) victory over West Ham was the only time in a six-game stretch in which the Reds have scored more than a single goal; they've been shut out in three of those and lost them all.

Three defeats in three separate competitions in a two-week spell is more than just a minor blip, and yes, it is something for Jurgen Klopp to be concerned about.

But in the long run, that's nothing new. Picking themselves up off the floor is a speciality of this Liverpool team; just one they haven't had to use in a while.

This unwelcome brush with humanity is unfamiliar against the context of one of the best runs of competitive results in the club's history, those three defeats so alien to a team who had before gone 44 league games unbeaten and won 18 on the spin.

The sort of mentality that leads a team to such a ridiculous run doesn't just disappear in a puff of smoke, however. It was evident before, and it will be evident after.

Cast your mind back as far as the 2016 Europa League final. That 3-1 loss to Sevilla, having led at half-time thanks to a Daniel Sturridge strike, was a heartbreaker, but Liverpool regrouped, rallied, and within a year they had qualified once again for the Champions League.

"It’s something a lot of teams aren’t capable of" @trentaa98 believes the current crop of Reds players have used lows in their careers as the catalyst to achieve success https://t.co/xlPVBLwXY5
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 15, 2019

That would prove immeasurably significant to the celebrated Klopp revival, but of course that wasn't without its adversity either. The long march to the 2018 final in Kiev itself ended in a 3-1 defeat to a Spanish side, and the parallels with Basel were evident.

But again, Liverpool rallied, and had won the trophy for themselves 12 months later.

Last season's Premier League title race? Lost out by a point despite managing the third best ever top flight points haul, but responded by winning 26 out of their first 27 games this season, and unless covid-19 intervenes, they'll have their first title in 30 years to show for it.

The mood around the club at present, in fact, invokes memories of May 2019. The 3-0 Champions League defeat in Barcelona, followed shortly by Manchester City's famous Vincent Kompany win over Leicester, had served as a brutal one-two punch. There was a feeling the bottle had crashed, and the era had ended before it had begun.

But then what happened? Divock Origi and Gini Wijnaldum happened.

Europa League heartbreak, Champions League heartbreak, Premier League heartbreak and Champions League heartbreak again. From those gut-punching lows, the revivals haven't always been immediate, but the responses have stayed the same. A roar, rather than a whimper.

Bournemouth and Atlético Madrid come to Anfield over the next week, and while this 'you wouldn't want to be playing Liverpool' narrative is a little too romantic for my liking (yes you would, they're more vulnerable now than ever) there is no denying that someone soon is going to be punished for the Reds' own shortcomings.

The boss on yesterday's performance and now showing a reaction 
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 4, 2020

If Liverpool can respond by getting the title charge back on track and making the Champions League quarter-finals for a third year running, then this will all be put to bed within eight days of the 'crisis' peaking out.

But even if it takes a little longer, keep the faith. This Liverpool team is something special.

As it always has in recent times, any dip in form will ultimately show up irrelevant against the end result.

Source : 90min