As kicks up the backside go, this one couldn’t have been any more pointed. And while hardly convincing, it at least allayed some of the pain being felt by Liverpool’s rear in recent times.
Jurgen Klopp could explain it away by referring to the need for fresh legs and rotation with this visit to Stamford Bridge the second of three pivotal games in nine days.
Yet the Liverpool boss was betrayed by his own pre-match words when stating the need for “new ideas” from his team. After three successive defeats sent a seemingly interminable season plummeting towards fresh depths, the Reds had become stale in both mind and body.
