Ex-Liverpool defender labels Atalanta performance 'worst ever' under Jurgen Klopp

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock labelled Thursday evening’s defeat to Atalanta as one of the worst performances under Jurgen Klopp. The Reds are facing a huge uphill battle in next week’s second leg after suffering a shock 3-0 loss to the Serie A outfit on Merseyside.

Former West Ham forward Gianluca Scamacca scored either side of half time, as he was left unmarked in the penalty area on two occasions before Mario Pasalic added a third seven minutes from time to give Atalanta a huge advantage ahead of next week’s return leg in Italy.

Liverpool struggled to impose themselves on the game and despite creating a handful of chances, never caused too many problems while they had to rely on Caoimhin Kelleher to pull off a handful of strong saves to avoid a larger scoreline. The Reds appeared to lack urgency and Warnock, who took in the game, believes the display was Liverpool’s worst under Klopp as he lamented individual errors.

"They were arguably the worst I have ever seen them [under Klopp]," said Warnock on BBC Radio 5 Live. "Liverpool were poor. Wasteful in possession, so many mistakes all over the pitch."

Klopp was in agreement with the sentiments from Warnock, as he reflected: “It was a really bad game, oh my God. We started well, really well and then didn’t continue. They broke, they scored and we just lost the plot a little bit. We were here and there in midfield, I didn’t recognise it.

“It was really strange but in football terms it was tactical discipline. There was a big chance for Darwin (Nunez) and then it was unlucky with Harvey, but they scored and we kept playing into their hands. We played a bad game and we we deserved to lose. We must feel that now but we have exactly this night to feel bad about it and then we have to build up for Palace.”