Pundit crows that he was right about Liverpool after ‘the worst half of football under Klopp’

Liverpool’s season has gone from bad to worse after Robbie Savage teased Jurgen Klopp about reading one of his columns.

Savage wrote that ‘this could prove to be a season where Liverpool are in transition’ in late August and the Reds have since thrashed Bournemouth 9-0, beat Newcastle with a stoppage-time winner, drawn with Everton and been humbled by Napoli.

Their start has left them six points behind the Premier League leaders after as many games and the defeat in Italy was as bad as anything ever served up during Klopp’s reign.

But Savage has rubbed salt into the wound by pulling the ‘I told you so’ card after getting ‘hammered’ for suggesting the Reds might be in the middle of an adaptation period.

‘I said three weeks ago that Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool needed a rebuild, a reinvention. I got hammered for that, but it is true. Perhaps Jurgen reads the column!’ he wrote for the Daily Mirror.

‘I have watched their games, and see their midfield. I am a huge fan of Jurgen Klopp, but every team has a cycle. I wonder about the body language and desire.

‘Klopp’s teams are supposed to play heavy metal football with intensity from back to front, and aggression. Against Napoli they were not right defensively. Even Virgil van Dijk. The positioning, the body language. The recovery runs are lethargic.

‘I ask: have Liverpool been worked out? That performance at Napoli was the worst half of football under Klopp.

‘The standards they have set are there to see. So is what they have achieved. They are one of the greatest Premier League teams.

‘Something needs to be done quickly. Klopp is an unbelievable manager and I hugely admire him. But now he needs to call on all his managerial skill. It’s a fascinating test.

‘The title is gone in my opinion already. Will they win the Champions League? Magical Anfield can get them over the line, but it’s tough.

‘They played in every game they could last season, and now look lethargic other than 9-0 against Bournemouth. It’s a worry.

‘When I say worry, the worry for Liverpool is staying in the top four. Man City will win it. Look at Arsenal, Chelsea refreshing, Spurs right in the mix, Man United winning their last four. Then you see Liverpool.

‘I had them down for second in the league. Can we contemplate them really being outside the top four? It’s not a given. I hope they do because I love watching them in the Champions League but it will be tough.’

Graeme Souness wonders if…