Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admits that his Premier League champions “lost the plot” in their historic 7-2 defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday night.
Once error-prone stand-in Reds goalkeeper Adrian sent a stray pass to Villa captain Jack Grealish to set up Ollie Watkins for a fourth-minute opener, the Merseysiders were rattled and never found their way back into the game.
Watkins, who had no top-flight goals to his name coming into the match, finished with a hattrick, while Grealish scored two, with John McGinn and debutant Ross Barkley also adding to Klopp’s misery – the Anfield club’s heaviest defeat in 57 years.
It was a horror show from the Virgil van Dijk-led defence that conceded just 32 goals all season last term, with Villa becoming the first team since
Tottenham in 1963 to score seven against the 19-time league champions.
While Mo Salah scored twice for the Reds in the defeat, Klopp’s team became the first title holders since Arsenal in 1953 to ship so many goals in one game.
Reflecting on his worst defeat in his five years in charge, Klopp says: “The first goal had an impact but it shouldn’t.
“We conceded goals like that in the past, but the reaction wasn’t good, and we lost the plot.”
After revealing that first-choice keeper Alisson, who is suffering from a shoulder injury, will likely miss upcoming games against leaders Everton and Manchester City when the league returns after this week’s international break, Klopp is determined to get to the bottom of the collapse.
The disappointed German adds: “Is it a one-off? I would like to think so but the proof of that will be in the next couple of weeks or months.
“These boys… they know everyone has his hand in this result. We have to deal with it – and we will deal with it.”
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