Manchester City generously applauded new champions Liverpool onto the field before their Premier League match on Thursday — and promptly showed no mercy by thrashing them 4-0 at the Etihad stadium.
Klopp was quick to defend his team’s attitude, rejecting any suggestion they had taken the game lightly.
“I saw a brilliant attitude. I saw fight. We didn’t behave like somebody who became champions a week ago. We lacked fluidity. And in some 50-50 situations they were quicker than us,” he said.
After the guard of honour, which included City manager Pep Guardiola, the visitors started brightly and Ederson had to be alert to keep out a fourth-minute effort from Mohamed Salah.
Salah then struck the post after a clever pass from Roberto Firmino, whose hair was coloured red, but if Liverpool thought they were in for another night of festivities, they were in for a rude awakening.
Joe Gomez could not cope with Raheem Sterling’s twisting and turning in the box, pulling him to the ground before Kevin De Bruyne converted the penalty in the 25th minute.
The 20-year-old Foden made it 3-0, firing past Alisson after a swift exchange with Kevin De Bruyne.
City were showing an unusual willingness to play long balls and after Rodri launched a pass deep to De Bruyne, the Belgian found Sterling inside the box and he slipped the ball goalwards, with substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s outstretched touch only turning it into his own net.
It could have been even worse for Liverpool with Riyad Mahrez’s fine solo effort in the final moments but VAR spotted a handball by Foden in the build-up.
“We beat the champions, an extraordinary team,” Guardiola said.
“We tried to play football, take risks against the best team I have ever faced in my life at high pressing,” he added.
“They drank a lot of beers this week but they arrived here with no beers in their blood which is why I give us a lot of credit.”
The loss was the joint-heaviest defeat by a side already crowned Premier League champions. Arsenal were beaten 4-0 at Liverpool in 1997-98 in the game after they clinched the title
VAR took centre stage once again when Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane had a goal harshly ruled out as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United in the Premier League on Thursday to remain nine points adrift in the race for the top four.
Less than two minutes later, Kane fired past goalkeeper Dean Henderson but his equaliser was ruled out by VAR, with Lucas Moura adjudged to have used his arm to inadvertently nudge the ball in Kane’s direction after being pushed to the ground.
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was furious with the decision and his mood worsened in the 69th minute when United carved his team open again to set up substitute Lys Mousset for his first goal since Dec. 1.
Tottenham lacked creativity despite bags of possession and Oli McBurnie rubbed salt in their wounds with a third goal six minutes from time, before England striker Kane scored a 90th-minute consolation, tapping in from a Son Heung-min pass.
When the sides met at the Tottenham Stadium in November, United appeared to have been hard done by with a goal ruled out for a fractional offside decision.
This time it was Spurs who had cause to question the use of the VAR technology with a decision that Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp described as the worst he had ever seen.
Asked for his opinion, Mourinho said: “I can’t say what I think, because I would be in trouble, suspended, and I don’t want to be. Asked if he had spoken to the referee, Chris Kavanagh, he added: “Which one? The referee is hidden in some office. This man on the pitch is not the referee.”
United had struggled after the Premier League restart but agaisnt Tottenham they produced the kind of performance more in keeping with an impressive first season back in the top flight.
Manager Chris Wilder had sympathy for his Spurs counterpart but was more happy to talk about his team.
“They had the majority of the ball, as they will do with the players they’ve got, when we did break it down it was our turn to try and play which I thought we did,” he said
Until West Ham United’s 3-2 home win over Chelsea on Wednesday, restart had certainly not amounted to a fresh start for the club’s languishing at the wrong end of the Premier League.
Until West Ham finally displayed the necessary resolve required when attempting to beat the dreaded drop, the grand sum of points accrued in the 15 games played by the bottom five since the resumption of the season was three.
It makes grim reading. Bottom club Norwich have lost all three, scoring none and conceding eight. Bournemouth, now 19th, have lost all three, scoring once and conceding seven.
Aston Villa, in 18th, picked up two points from their four games while Watford, the only team to beat Liverpool this season, appear to have fallen back to their early-season form, also picking up one point from nine.
Shortly before West Ham kicked off against Chelsea, Norwich were hammered 4-0 at Arsenal and, more shockingly, Bournemouth were demolished 4-1 at home by Newcastle — a result that suggests Eddie Howe’s south coasters are sinking fast.
Which is why substitute Andriy Yarmolenko’s 89th-minute breakaway winner for West Ham felt so massive.
The roars of joy inside the empty London Stadium from West Ham’s players, coaching crew and assorted security staff could have been heard right up their Thames Estuary heartland.
In the context of a relegation ‘battle’ more akin to lemmings headings for the cliffedge, West Ham’s win felt like nine points rather than three. It moved them up to 16th place with 30 points, three above Villa.
Manager Davis Moyes was quick to point out that one win was not enough, although his suggestion that his side might need three more victories might be overly cautious.
They go to mid-table Newcastle on Sunday with a chance to establish a safety cushion. While adrift Norwich’s home game against sixth-from-bottom Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday offers perhaps a last chance to kickstart a late escape bid, the fixtures look grim for the others.
Villa are at record-seeking Liverpool, Bournemouth are at Manchester United and Watford, one point above the trapdoor, go to a chastened Chelsea side.
This is the first Premier League survival scrap played out in empty stadiums — perhaps a mitigating factor in the lack of spark displayed by those near the bottom. Vociferous home support when the stakes are high can make a difference.
“It’s very easy from the outside to think (the players are not giving all), especially with the manner of the games at the moment. With the lack of a crowd impacting perceived efforts, I think,” Howe said after defeat by Newcastle.
A terrible error from goalkeeper Tim Krul gifted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang his 50th Premier League goal as Arsenal thumped Norwich City 4-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday, pushing the Canaries ever closer to relegation.
Krul foolishly attempted to fake a long kick and dribble past the Gabon striker in the 33rd minute, but he nicked the ball off the keeper’s foot and rolled it into the net to reach a half-century of goals in the English top flight.
The Gunners scored a brilliant second four minutes later as David Luiz started an attack with a superb cross-field ball to Kieran Tierney. His pass found Aubameyang, who teed up Granit Xhaka to score with a sweet first-time shot.
However, Norwich’s penchant for mistakes came back to haunt them, and Aubameyang killed the game off with his second goal in the 67th minute after the visitors lost the ball from their own throw-in.
Cedric Soares came off the bench to score his first goal for Arsenal in the 81st minute as the London club climbed to seventh place on 47 points. Norwich remained bottom on 21 points, six behind 17th-placed West Ham United with six games left.
“We’ll talk with the club and we’re going to see what’s going to happen, but first of all I’m really focused on the games and the end of the season, so we’ll see,” the 31-year-old told BT Sport.