Are Liverpool set for a season to forget?

LONDON. — Last season Liverpool were so close to an unprecedented quadruple of major trophies. Yet four months on from defeat in the Champions League football final, Jurgen Klopp is now asking whether his side need to “reinvent ourselves”.

Wednesday night’s 4-1 humbling by Napoli meant Liverpool have now picked up just two wins in their first seven games in all competitions this season.

Former England defender Jonathan Woodgate told BBC Radio 5 Live how Napoli had ‘’destroyed’’ Liverpool and the Reds lacked energy. Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand described the defeat as “embarrassing” on BT Sport, while ex-Liverpool striker Michael Owen said it could be “shaping up to be a season to forget”.

Klopp has overseen success at Liverpool since his arrival in 2015 but after a worrying start to the campaign is it time to make changes?

Liverpool were 3-0 down at half-time as they slumped to their joint worst defeat in the Champions League.

“We played bad in the first half but usually we don’t concede three goals,” said Klopp, who has seen his squad hit by injuries this season and lose Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich in the summer.

“With Alisson in goal, you have to be really bad for that to happen. It looks like we have to reinvent ourselves. There is a lot of things lacking.

“We have Wolves on Saturday and they cannot stop laughing probably. They would say – and I would too – it is the perfect moment to play them (Liverpool). We have to set up better in pretty much everything.

“In football there are always solutions. We don’t play good enough, that is obvious and that is why we lose games. There is a job to do, my responsibility and I need time to think about it.”

Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson said the players needed to “get back to basics” following a defensive debacle.

“We were miles too open. You can’t come to a place like this and not be compact,” he added.

“We deserved this result. You have to be ready to fight. We weren’t close enough to our mates. We have to wake up and quickly because we can’t perform like that.”

Individual errors were costly in Naples as Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold particularly struggled against the lively Italian side. — BBC Sport.

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