THIS WAS trick or treat night at Anfeld and Crysencio Summerville walked away with all the goodies
And his 90th minute strike left Jurgen Klopp horror-stricken a couple of days before Halloween.
The German’s side gifted a lifeline to opposite number Jesse Marsch and his struggling Leeds United side.
First thanks to a howler from Joe Gomez.
Then with seconds ticking into time added on diminutive Dutchman Summerville stole in to plunder victory as Liverpool’s season.
Anfield boss Klopp Was looking for a win that would announce Kop problems were easing, instead they only got worse after the defeat that followed the 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest a week earlier.
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Marsch tried to laugh off comparisons between him and the tactically useless American manager Ted Lasso in the build- up to this clash.
Lasso somehow succeeded in the TV show that depicted his success with fictional Prem side AFC Richmond.
He thinks such jibes are unfair yet the defending of his side just 41 seconds in was a true joke.
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson fired forward a long ball for Mo Salah to chase although he had little hope of catching it.
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Yet for no reason anyone at Anfield can have imagined Alisson’s opposite number Illan Meslier charged 30 yards from his goal just as Liam Cooper sent back what should have been a simple header to clear the danger.
Meslier was caught in no-man’s land and Salah was able to deliver the shot that a relieved Pascal Struijk just managed to hook off his line.
So, all a bit of a laugh, then.
Except that crazy moment, no doubt based on tension and nerves, had nothing on what happened next with Gomez taking kamikaze defending to a new, surreal level.
Less than three minutes after Meslier’s moment of madness the Liverpool centre back neatly robbed midfielder Brendan Aaronson on his side’s right touchline.
Then, without looking, he sent the ball backwards towards Alisson, who was so stunned by the blunder that he slipped trying to get to the mis – placed pass.
Enter into the pantomime Rodrigo, centre stage, who could have done a lap around the Kop before touching the ball home to put Leeds in front after four defeats in a row.
Hollywood scriptwriters would have been laughed out of the studios had they tried to make up that bizarre start.
Yet the fun had only just begun.
Salah forced a ball right across the Leeds box and Andy Robertson just managed to connect with a running cross.
Marsch’s defenders reacted like stuffed dummies, mere extras in the plot as Salah was allowed to hook a 14th minute equaliser home – even he looked surprised that he was able to do so without any challenge.
That should have been the cue for stability within Klopp’s ranks.
Not a bit of it.
A side struggling desperately for some sort of foothold in a season that had seen them winless in eight with Marsch’s position as manager under growing threat simply walked through the Anfield defence.
Klopp’s men got lucky as Aaronson got on the end of a cross from Rasmus Kristensen but volleyed against the bar.
Seconds after that 21st minute surge through Liverpool’s non-combative midfield, Alisson dropped in desperation to touch away a fierce low drive from Jack Harrison.
Liverpool legend and TV pundit Graeme Souness called it all a “great advert” for the Premier League.
But in his managerial days including a stint at Anfield, he would have been spitting blood.
And Klopp, stunned on the touchline as one of his predecessors looked like he was doing exactly that.
Meslier made up for his earlier nightmare with a series of late saves yet nobody could deny Marsch and his men deserved the points as Summerville celebrated on the eve of his 21st birthday.
It was Leeds’ first win since the start of August – and this game might be the first that suggests Klopp now needs to make major changes going forward.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
