It is time for Jurgen Klopp to get real about Liverpool issues

DEJECTED: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp appears dejected at the end of the Premier League match at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton. Pic: Barrington Coombs/PA Wire

Premier League: Wolves 3 Liverpool 0

Holes in the defence, a yawning chasm in midfield and a seeping gash in team morale and confidence. Liverpool are riddled with problems.

The biggest concern for the Liverpool fans who drained out of the Steve Bull Stand at Molineux long before Ruben Neves had delivered the humiliation of a third goal, however, might be in the gap between Jurgen Klopp’s assessment of his team and the starkness of the reality.

Not that Klopp need fear the murmurings of discontent from above any time soon. His achievements, and the way he has wedded himself not just to the football club but to the ethos of the entire city, ensure he has plenty of time and opportunity to turn things around.

But the owners may need some reassurance that his response in his post-match press conference was for public consumption, and that his private assessment, within the confines of the dressing room, was very different.

The German admitted that the opening 12 minutes was “horrible”, which was undeniably true.

Joel Matip’s fault lay not in diverting Hwang Hee-Chan’s cross into his own net after just five minutes, which was unavoidable, but in his failure to react quickly enough to the pass that freed the Wolves winger in the first place.

He might point a finger at midfield colleagues who gave Pablo Sarabia acres of space to deliver the pass to Hwang in the first place, with Thiago Alcantara in particular switching into “stroll” mode for most of the 90 minutes.

The second goal was equally calamitous, with no-one reacting to the initial free kick into the box, Joe Gomez getting no purchase on his defensive header and defenders watching as Max Kilman’s header rebounded to the feet of debutant defender Craig Dawson.

Horrible for sure. But it was after that Klopp diverged from actuality, describing the other 78 minutes-plus as an “OK away performance”, and the opening 25 minutes of the second half, when Liverpool pounded away at a stern Wolves defence without joy as “brilliant”.

To use the word to describe his players’ efforts was demeaning of what Liverpool have been in the previous five seasons.

They pressed hard, true, but there was a forced feel to everything they did. Mo Salah was snatching at the kind of shots which, in a normal season, he would be guiding expertly into the top or bottom corner.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s double attempt from a free kick summed it up, the initial shot crashing lamely into the defensive wall, the follow-up dragged dreadfully wide.

Darwin Nunez, intended to give a sharp new spearpoint to a side that came within an ace of winning all four trophies last season, was twice denied by Jose Sa in one-on-ones at crucial moments. He needs to score, at least one, but his mindset was revealed by an interview days before the game when he compared his uninspired start to life at Liverpool to his time at Benfica, when he was ordinary in his first season and “exploded” in his second.

Liverpool need him to explode now, not in August.

It was a sign of a player, and a team, who know they are in the mire but cannot avoid being held back by it.

The fact that Klopp put his faith in an 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic as the kingpin of his midfield, with England international Jordan Henderson on the bench and Fabinho left out through illness, tells a story in itself.

Bajcetic was perhaps the only player who justified inclusion, with a level of effort that put Thiago and Naby Keita to shame.

Liverpool’s response was strong in terms of possession and territory, but ultimately there was no positive outcome and Wolves, who had expected a second half backlash, inevitably countered to deliver a third goal.

That was no disgrace in itself as the lightning pace of Adama Traore exposed a team that was committed to the front foot, and delivered a perfect pass for Ruben Neves.

What came immediately before that moment was, however, instructive. Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho, who provided the pass to Traore, had to scrap for possession, firstly with Thiago, who gave up, and then with Bajcetic, who could perhaps plead fatigue for his equally feeble effort.

Neves’ goal marked a big moment for Wolves, as it was the first time in nearly 12 months they have scored three goals in a match, a period that includes cup games against Preston and Gillingham.

It also ensured Liverpool would lose a third consecutive league away game for the first time since 2012, a sequence that formed part of a dismal run of five wins from their final 19 games which ended with eight place and the dismissal of Kenny Dalglish.

No-one has the right to say Klopp is on the same path, but any more repeats of this kind of showing, and they will.

WOLVES: Sa 7, Semedo 7, Dawson 7, Kilman 7, Ait-Nouri 7 (Jonny 83), Lemina 8 (Podence 83), Neves 8, Nunes 7, Sarabia 7 (Moutinho 60, 7), Cunha 7 (Jimenez 60, 6), Hwang 7 (Traore 41, 7).

Subs: Bentley, Collins, Hodge, Bueno.

LIVERPOOL: Alisson 7, Alexander-Arnold 4, Gomez 4, Matip 4, Robertson 5 (Tsimikas 85), Thiago 4 (Milner 85), Bajcetic 5 (Elliott 77), Keita 5 (Henderson 65), Salah 5, Gakpo 5 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 85), Nunez 5.

Subs: Kelleher, Jones, Tsimikas, Carvalho, Phillips.

Referee: Paul Tierney 7.