5 things we learned: Liverpool come crashing down at Swansea
By Dan Voicescu
Liverpool suffered a shocking loss to Swansea, Chelsea thrashed Brighton and more this week in the Premier League. Here’s what we learned.
Premier League matchweek 24 ended with a massive upset, as Swansea beat Liverpool 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium. Elsewhere, Chelsea put an end to their winless run in emphatic fashion against Brighton and Marco Silva got the axe as a result of his early-season flirtation with Everton. Here’s what we learned over the weekend.
Liverpool come crashing down at last-place Swansea
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — the tale of two Liverpools, the story of the 2017-18 season continues. After an impressive victory against a then-unbeaten Manchester City, Liverpool came crashing down in the worst way by losing to bottom dwellers Swansea. Going from one extreme to another in terms of quality of play and results is nothing new for Jurgen Klopp’s team, although this type of disparity in performance from one week to another is literally unsurpassable.
Liverpool had the of the better run of play and better scoring chances but had nothing to show for it in the end. Just as everything seemed to go their way against City last week, absolutely nothing went their way this week against Swansea. If there was one thing Liverpool were sorely missing it was the ability to unlock the defensive wall set up by Swansea’s Carlos Carvalhal.
This was precisely the type of game in which a player like Philippe Coutinho could have made a difference. As much as Liverpool ran rampant in the acres of space generously left open by City last week, they now seem to lack that wizardry in midfield to pry open the disciplined setups of teams that are intent on defending the space around their own area with eight or nine men. It will be interesting to see how Klopp approaches games like this following Coutinho’s departure.
Unfortunately for Liverpool fans, this loss fits perfectly into the narrative of this season: a tale of impressive ups promptly followed by embarrassing downs. A recipe for hardware chasing this is not.