Liverpool have lost their mojo

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes his side never hit their full stride during Tuesday night’s Group C UEFA Champions League soccer 2-0 defeat to Red Star Belgrade.

A brace from Milan Pavkov helped the Red-Whites to a surprise victory at the Rajko Mitic Stadium. The result could be a set-back for the Reds as they are currently on six points after four games, tied with Napoli in first place.

Paris Saint-Germain are in third on five points after they drew 1-1 with the Italian side on match-day four. Meanwhile, the Serbians are at the bottom on four points in the group.

Champions League finalists just six months ago, Liverpool hoped a summer of heavy investment could take them one step further to a sixth European Cup, but a shock 2-0 defeat to Red Star Belgrade leaves them struggling to even make it out of the group stages.

While Anfield remains a fortress on European nights for the Reds, a worrying trend is emerging for Klopp on the road, particularly with a visit to Paris Saint-Germain to come next in three weeks’ time.

Liverpool didn’t manage a single shot on target in losing 1-0 at Napoli last month and were also opened up in a 4-2 defeat to Roma in the second leg of last season’s semi-final, progressing only thanks to a 5-2 first leg win.

“I saw, unfortunately, a few games like this already and it’s really difficult to find your mojo back,” surmised Klopp as Belgrade rocked to Red Star’s first win in the competition for 26 years.

All is far from lost. Liverpool remain tied with Napoli at the top of Group C on six points. Four points from their last two games would be enough to guarantee the Reds’ progress to the last 16.

However, losing to what should have been the whipping boys of the group has made their task a much harder one.

“We need to make sure it will not happen again, otherwise it will be difficult because the next game is an away game again and the last one is a very difficult home game against Napoli,” added Klopp.

“We have to make sure in Paris we do better. There were a lot of moments when we could get in control of the game and we didn’t do it, we made the wrong decisions.”

Liverpool’s start to the Premier League season has been a different story. Still unbeaten after 11 games, the only points they have dropped came in draws against other sides in the top five in Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.  AFP.