LIVERPOOL // Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp berated his side’s “passive” defending after a 3-2 loss at home to Swansea City dealt a major blow to their Premier League title hopes.
Relegation-threatened Swansea became the first away team to win a league fixture at Anfield for more than a year as Fernando Llorente scored twice on Saturday before Gylfi Sigurdsson struck the winner 16 minutes from time.
Once again Liverpool looked good going forward in a match where two Roberto Firmino goals saw them recover from a 2-0 deficit.
But German manager Klopp was infuriated by the Merseysiders’ display at the other end of the pitch as they missed the chance to close to within four points of leaders Chelsea.
“We showed again that when we are on track, we are a strong side and can really create chances and score goals,” he said.
“But the defending around all three goals today was not good enough – 100 per cent. That’s a very important part of the game and it was very disappointing today.”
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Klopp was particularly unhappy with the slack marking from a Sigurdsson corner that left Llorente, who stands at 1.93 metres, unattended to score Swansea’s opener.
“We lose the first challenge after the corner and I didn’t see how Llorente could be completely alone in the six-yard box and score the goal,” Klopp said. “It’s pretty difficult to overlook him, huh?”
As for Swansea’s winner, Klopp added: “There was nearly everything wrong around this goal. I think it started with a long ball that was not really a surprise. They played a few of these.
“We strolled back. We scored and we couldn’t switch to the defensive mode. That was the biggest mistake in this situation.
“We were passive. They took the opportunity. In the end, there was a Swansea player free in our box. That makes no sense.”
Swansea’s first league victory at Anfield was a huge boost in their battle to beat the drop.
New manager Paul Clement said he hoped Llorente, who has been linked with a move to Chelsea, will stay at the Liberty Stadium after arriving from Sevilla in August.
“I think his performance was very good,” said Clement, who was particularly impressed with the Spaniard’s hold-up play and ability to bring other Swansea players into the game.
“If you get the right kind of service into him, he’s also a goalscorer. But you have to give him service. That can come from set-plays or from crosses.
“Am I afraid to lose him? I want to keep him here. And the reason I want to keep him here is what he showed today.”
Swansea’s win was only their fifth in 22 Premier League games this season, but Clement believes they have the resolve to stay up.
“I think the mindset of the group, certainly since I’ve been here, has been that anything is possible,” he said.
“But our main objective is that we’re not going to look at the table, we’re not going to talk about how many wins we need, how many points we need.
“Let’s just focus on delivering some performances.”
* Agence France-Presse
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
