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Liverpool have lost their ability to play at a high level for 90 minutes

Liverpool need a lot of work to get back to competing at the highest level after another abysmal showing on Tuesday night.



Irish journalist Dan McDonnell joined The Football Show to discuss Liverpool.

Liverpool had another memorable Champions League night at Anfield against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.

Memorable for the wrong reasons.

Real Madrid scored five, the first time Liverpool have ever conceded five goals at home in the Champions League. And that happened after they took a 2-0 lead early in the game. Liverpool played well for the first 30 minutes, but after that they became second best by a distance.

Madrid enjoyed some fortune in their goals, but they were a class above all over the pitch. Liverpool's midfield was overrun, the defence made individual errors and the attackers were wasteful. Jurgen Klopp's side are likely out of the Champions League before they even make it to the Bernabeu.

Dan McDonnell suggests it's time to hit the reset button.

"If you have a team that has been dismantled a number of times this season, [there's a real problem]," McDonnell said.

"This sounds contradictory because they started really well last night, but the amount of early goals they concede...they reset and yet they don't have whatever it might be. The structure or the physicality or the whole package to sustain a high-level game like that."

Klopp has not changed his tactics dramatically at any point this season. Liverpool are still trying to play the same way they have always played. But the players involved often look confused or exasperated. There's a clear lack of athleticism but also a lack of identity.

That suggests the team needs to be aggressively refreshed.

"Some of the goal were fantastic. But the third goal for example was just a routine set piece. It's almost an embarrassing goal to concede. That comes down to again some kind of malaize that creeps through.

"That can be broken down very simply...but when teams rack up those number of errors it's more a case that you've just lost something."

Darwin Nunez can follow in the footsteps of Marcus Rashford.

 

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