Perception v reality: Watford expose Liverpool’s lack of progress under Klopp

Reporting from Vicarage Road, Premier League correspondent Greg Lea offers his thoughts on Watford's stunning win over Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp congratulates Watford players after their heavy victory against Liverpool. Ben Stansall / AFP

Watford 3 (Ake 3, Ighalo 15, 85) Liverpool 0

LONDON // Perception can be deceiving. Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool collected 12 points from their first eight matches this season, a tally that led to his sacking in early October.

While some considered the former Swansea City manager to be a little hard done by, the general consensus was that Liverpool’s recent results and performances had justified the decision.

To the great excitement of the club's fans — and plenty of other followers of the Premier League — Jurgen Klopp was appointed as his replacement a few days later.

In the nine games since then, though, Liverpool have amassed only 12 points, exactly the same total that brought about Rodgers’ dismissal.

A swashbuckling win at Manchester City led to talk of a possible title tilt a month ago, but that objective is surely unattainable now.

On this evidence, a place in the top four may also be beyond them.

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Liverpool were awful at Vicarage Road on Sunday, second best in every department as Watford took the opportunity to close the gap on the Uefa Champions League places on offer to both sides before kick-off.

Their shakiness in defence began almost instantly, Adam Bogdan fumbling a corner and allowing Nathan Ake to open the scoring with just over two minutes on the clock.

Watford’s impressive strike duo Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney took full advantage of that sense of nervousness at the back, dominating centre-halves Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho both in the air and on the ground.

Liverpool were not much better in other areas of the pitch.

The midfield offered no creativity, with Watford’s compactness without the ball making it extremely difficult for the likes of Lucas, Jordan Henderson and Emre Can to thread incisive passes forward.

The front three of Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho were equally ineffective, and Liverpool failed to cope with Watford’s constant hounding and harrying right across the park.

The energy and dynamism associated with Klopp’s teams were present only in Liverpool’s opponents. This was an extremely limp and lifeless showing from the visitors; in many ways, a 3-0 defeat rather flattered them.

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“Hopefully this will be the most disappointing day in my whole Liverpool career,” Klopp said when asked if this was the worst his team had played during his tenure to date.

“It was a bad start and not the best reaction to the start. [It was a] very difficult first half.”

As poor as the display was, all that Liverpool’s points record under Klopp proves is that their new manager does not have a magic wand.

There have been signs of his work taking hold, most thrillingly in the aforementioned 4-1 win over Manchester City, but this is more or less the same Liverpool side that were only the sixth best outfit in the division last time out.

Nathaniel Clyne, Firmino and reserve goalkeeper Bogdan were the only starters on Sunday who were not at the club in 2014/15.

With Raheem Sterling joining City in the summer, there is even an argument that Liverpool’s first-choice XI is weaker this term.

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It will take time for Klopp to turn things around, and it may not be until 2015/16 — after he has had the chance to make some signings of his own and lead a pre-season where his methods can be implemented without the same sense of immediacy that competitive action brings — that we can truly call this his Liverpool side.

Even so, finishing outside of the top four would be a missed opportunity given Chelsea’s extraordinary implosion.

With Leicester City increasingly looking like they could last the distance, Liverpool may have to finish above both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur to qualify for next year’s Champions League.

Some fantastic performances — chiefly against City, Chelsea, and Southampton in the League Cup — had suggested that they were improving, but the reality is that Liverpool are five points behind fourth place, a larger margin than when Rodgers departed two-and-a-half months ago.

Perception can be deceiving.

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