Klopp has no excuses over schedule, warns Shearer

Jurgen Klopp has no excuses about the Premier League schedule as Liverpool face falling TWELVE points behind Manchester City, warns Alan Shearer… and Thierry Henry claims the faltering Reds have suffered from a ‘weird’ atmosphere in recent weeks

• Liverpool ended a five-day break from action by losing at Leicester on Tuesday
• Alan Shearer says boss Jurgen Klopp has larger concerns than chasing Man City
• Shearer warned that leaders City, who could soar 12 points clear, are ‘relentless’
• Fellow legend Thierry Henry believes he had already seen signs of a Reds slump 

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will be alarmed by his side’s sudden loss of energy and cannot use fixture scheduling as an excuse, Alan Shearer has warned after the Reds’ defeat at Leicester.

Mohamed Salah missed several chances including a penalty and Sadio Mane should have scored as Klopp oversaw a wasteful 1-0 loss to a second-half strike by Ademola Lookman at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday.

Klopp described his players’ performance as ‘really bad’ and admitted that he was not primarily concerned about falling further behind City, who can move 12 points above his team by winning the two games they will play before the Reds are next in action.

Jurgen Klopp (second from right) could not stop Liverpool from slipping to defeat at Leicester

Ademola Lookman (left) punished the Reds for their unusual misfiring by scoring the winner

The frustrated manager could not pinpoint why Liverpool had played poorly after a five-day break while some of their rivals have faced a more hectic schedule. 

Shearer told Amazon Prime Video Sport: ‘Man City have been relentless in their performance but [Klopp] is right – that’s not his concern.

‘What would be his concern is the way his team played. He hasn’t really got the excuse of playing two games in two days but his team were flat, they didn’t play well.

‘They got into good positions but their final ball was poor. Yes, they had a penalty miss; yes, they missed a sitter with Mane.

Klopp held his hands up and admitted that he did not know why his team had underperformed

‘But the Liverpool that we have got used to watching plays with energy, plays on the front foot, closes you down with intensity. We didn’t really see enough of that.’

Fellow legendary striker Thierry Henry claimed Liverpool’s form had already dipped during their win at home to Newcastle on December 16, draw at Tottenham three days later and victory on penalties over the Foxes in the Carabao Cup before Christmas. 

Henry said: ‘There were already [bad] signs in the games against Newcastle and the cup against Leicester.

‘Yes, it wasn’t the same starting lineup – but against Tottenham there were signs of them not being at their best.

Mohamed Salah had a penalty stopped after 15 minutes and hit the crossbar from the rebound

‘There was kind of a weird atmosphere and momentum. They just got by. Before those games, they were killing teams.’

Liverpool are level with Chelsea in second and six points behind City after failing to score for the first time in 35 games.

City travel to Brentford on Wednesday and Arsenal on Saturday before Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday. 

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