Well, the invincible run is over... The whole team had a stinker; even in the first 10 minutes you could see something was seriously wrong. People are going to blame Lovren, but for me the enduring images of this game have to do not with Lovren, but with Van Dijk. Near the start of the 2nd half (I think it was still 0:0) his hitherto perfect hair slipped out of the hairband and he was trying to fix it for quite some time while the play is going on. It's a small thing, but it felt like a symbol of this performance – sudden loss of composure and control over something you took for granted as perfectly in order.
Then his run after Sarr for the 2nd goal – he didn't look like he believed he had any chance of catching him; again, something you never see from Van Dijk. The weak and lackadaisical challenge for the first goal. The desperate shot from distance in the end. This was a demigod suddenly realizing he's vulnerable and he's human. So many times we've hung on in games while playing poorly thanks to the utter excellence of our defense spearheaded by Van Dijk – this time they capitulated under not the biggest amount of pressure.
Beyond the defense, everyone else was woeful as well. The front 3 couldn't get anything at all going, Mane was strangely passive, Gini diabolically bad, Trent all over the place, even Alisson looked rather mediocre. Klopp obviously noticed the problem early because he just stood there helplessly, almost like he couldn't recognize his players. There was an improvement in the 2nd half, but once the 1st goal went in we had absolutely nothing to counter with, nothing left in the tank, no second gear to go to.
This was shit. Really, really shit. Let's pick ourselves up and beat Chelsea.
