Liverpool 2 Swansea 3: Liverpool throw it away yet again

If we didn’t know already, today was the day when our fight for the title ran aground.  To say we were poor would be putting it mildly.  Roberto Firmino’s goals aside, this was not a performance to be proud of, we were quite simply abysmal.

Losses against Burnley, Bournemouth and now Swansea, nine points which would put us top of the League.  Deep lying teams throw Liverpool too easily of kilter.  Unable to impose Klopp's pressing style, the lack of variation first shown up by Burnley (with Mane in the team), requires immediate surgery.

Liverpool have undoubtedly the weakest defence of the top six and for one reason or another the two best centre-half's at the club Joel Matip and Mamadou Sakho were missing yesterday.  With the heading ability of both the defence would be markedly stronger and the team stronger at set pieces in attack.

Why start with two holding midfielders at home against the lowest placed side in the league?  Klopp has a propensity to do this when the opposition should fear the mite of our attack.  Recently, in the perceived lesser games Klopp has gone with Stewart and Elaria as his defensive two and while Ejaria has a reputation for the more a more expansive game of the two, the Liverpool midfield almost appear comatose, unable to adequately protect the defence, let alone help provide an attacking threat.

Jurgen Klopp spoke after the game about missed opportunities in the first-half, but they were never clear cut and it was Swansea rather than us who came closest hitting the post.

The shabby, in fact embarrassing nature of the display was difficult to workout given the two standout moments of the match were Firmino’s goals, taken with the assurance of a top striker.

Make no mistake Swansea were fully worth their win they strangled the life out of us in the first-half and continued in the same vein in the second pressing further up the pitch forcing mistakes.   Fernando Llorento, once linked to Liverpool, showed he has no intention of plying his trade in the Championship next season.  He is still a striker of some pedigree.   First, being on hand to finish off Fernandez header from a corner, before decisively heading home Tom Carroll’s cross.

Anfield was finally ramped up to fever pitch after not only getting back on level terms, but with the stunning quality of Firmino’s goals.  The first a delicious header from Wijnaldum cross and the second exquisitely bringing down the ball and  instinctively firing home a stunning half-volley,  it seems inconceivable to anyone at the ground that as the second goal exploded from the boot of the Brazilian that Liverpool would lose.

But lose they did, with another player once linked to the Reds Sigurdsson fastening on to Klarius slack pass to calmly slot home.

Huff and puff as Liverpool tried, Swansea commendably and in the end comfortable held on for a vital win.

The idiosyncrasies of Liverpool’s season sees us as the first team to bypass fifty goals this season, yet languish some 7 points behind Chelsea who have a game in hand.