Klopp has work to do

Liverpool’s players might have been 45 minutes away from European glory but their second-half capitulation will have told Jurgen Klopp what he must have already suspected – the Reds’ rebuilding job has a long way to go. Adam Bate reports from Basel…

There are moments when Liverpool are looking at their most fluent, when the pressing is precise and the passing quick, that Jurgen Klopp’s positive influence on his team is abundantly clear. The 10 minutes that followed Daniel Sturridge’s wonderful opening goal in the Europa League final on Wednesday was just such a moment.

Suddenly Sevilla were shaken. A red flare lit up the Liverpool end and the Reds flair lit up the pitch. Adam Lallana saw a shot blocked and Dejan Lovren had a header disallowed. The Spanish side were ragged, unable to cope with Liverpool’s press. James Milner was winning possession high up the field and chaos reigned in the Sevilla defence.

But just as Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino found themselves to the fore, finally fizzing around to good effect, the half-time whistle came. For Sevilla, there was respite. For Klopp’s Liverpool, their fleeting glimpse of glory was blown with it. “If it was 2-0 at half-time it’s different,” Klopp claimed afterwards.

What followed was certainly different and might well trouble Klopp’s thoughts for much of the summer while his players tackle tournament duty with their respective countries. Seville scored after 17 seconds of the restart and it proved the catalyst for a comeback – a reverse Istanbul – as three second-half goals saw them take the trophy yet again.

“We lost faith in our style of play,” Klopp told a packed press conference as the noise of Sevilla’s celebrations went on around him. “We lost our formation. It wasn’t compact anymore.” He looked horrified but admitted that shock would be the wrong word. “I’ve had this problem one or two times.”

The difficulty for Klopp is knowing what to do about it. This was the team that won the second leg of their semi-final …

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