Everton supporters are wrong with Liverpool chant as next manager truth still clear

No wonder Jurgen Klopp emphatically declared he won’t miss the Merseyside derby.

The last of his 19 games against Everton saw his Liverpool side deliver one of their worst performances in the fixture at precisely the wrong time to effectively end hopes of becoming Premier League champions.

The mathematics suggest the Reds are still very much in with a chance and, if they’ve shown anything under the German, it’s that they won’t throw in the towel.

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But the reality is there are too few games and too much momentum with Arsenal and Manchester City for Klopp’s side to have anything but the remotest of chances of claiming the title.

“You lost the league at Goodison Park” sang the home crowd as the final stages were played out with the realisation having long been clear that Liverpool, for the third time in five games, were simply never going to score.

That chant, of course, is not strictly true. Instead, this is a title challenge that has slowly ebbed away ever since Liverpool returned from the international break a month ago, the monumental efforts of a new-look team to continue challenging for a quadruple amid a relentless injury crisis ultimately catching up with them.

Indeed, with only five points still required for Champions League qualification and the League Cup in the bag, this is a Reds squad that has far surpassed expectations and one that offers the new manager – and that increasingly appears to be Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot – a strong foundation on which to build.

Not that it makes this dire defeat any easier to take. Having not won a home derby in approaching 14 years, the law of averages suggested Everton – buoyed by easing their long-held relegation fears – were due a victory. Liverpool can’t avoid defeat every time.

But what will irk is the seeming lack of heart and aggression shown from too many players, particularly in dealing with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and being outmuscled in midfield during the game’s formative stages. This was always going to be a huge test for Liverpool’s title credentials and they failed miserably, not helped, it must be said, by some questionable Klopp decisions both in terms of the starting line-up and substitutions. It wasn't his night.

Yes, the Reds have come a long way in Klopp’s final season. But this needless reverse underlined how far his successor will have to go to keep Liverpool competing with the Premier League elite.