THE first rule is not to draw any conclusions on the Jekyll and Hyde Scousers.
Yet carry on like this and there could be light at the end of this horror season after all
From the sublime to the ridiculous and back again, Liverpool – hopeless on the road all season – dispatched Leeds to keep their distant Champions League hopes flickering.
The Reds didn’t have to be and weren’t at their best to claim their first away win in two months and see off the docile Yorkshiremen’s comically generous defending.
Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah made it 2-0 after capitalising on Junior Firpo and Weston McKennie’s howlers before Ibrahima Konate conspired to hand Leeds a lifeline with his own shocker.
But Diogo Jota then ended his 32-game goal drought stretching back to last April before Salah bagged his brace – finishing a rapid counter where Liverpool really did purr.
Nine pints off fourth with nine games to go, it’s a hell of a mountain to climb.
Yet with rivals Newcastle and Tottenham slipping up you can bet Jurgen Klopp fancies his chances.
Then again, the Liverpudlians followed their last win – a 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United – with a pitiful defeat at Bournemouth.
They may have to win every game but with a nice looking run on paper, and signs of the old Liverpool returning, it can’t be ruled out.
Boos rained down from Leeds fans when Jota lashed home the fifth – with Darwin Nunez’s sixth making it 11 goals shipped in their last two.
Liverpool only needed six shots on target to hit the tanking Whites for six.
Still just two points above the drop, early hopes are fading fast that Javi Gracia is the man to drag them out of the mire.
Two capitulations on the bounce is sure to cause lasting damage, leaving United praying on the four sides below them – Everton, Nottingham Forest, Leicester and Southampton – doing them a favour.
Without a victory in five games in all competitions, Klopp was in danger of going six without a win for the first time in the Anfield hotseat.
The German resisted change and stuck with the same XI that came from 2-0 down to draw against Arsenal – giving Curtis Jones the nod over returning Thiago Alcantara in midfield.
Luis Diaz was back on the bench for a first sighting since October, while Gracia replaced the missing Patrick Bamford with Rodrigo up front.
Klopp has no idea what to expect from his scatty side these days but they were given the easiest ride here.
It was far from the usual fire and brimstone awaiting them at Elland Road as passive Leeds sat off.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, playing centre mid in possession, looked classy on the ball early doors – but there was no penetration.
The Reds eventually started to make inroads without any real openings… until Firpo delivered the first gift.
The error-prone left-back tried to play around Alexander-Arnold midway in his own half but the Liverpool man blocked and the ball moved to a free Salah.
The Egyptian played it back to the overlapping Trent, who put it on a plate for the unmarked Gakpo at the back post to tap home.
It was shocking from Firpo but the Whites were unlucky given the ball cannoned off Trent’s outstretched arm.
The officials didn’t spot it and VAR didn’t intervene, presumably deciding it wasn’t deliberate and wasn’t a clear and obvious mistake.
Liverpool’s second – just four minutes later – was another Leeds shocker.
Weston McKennie was the culprit, dawdling on it and having his pocket picked by Jota.
The Portugal winger steamed forward unopposed and slid Salah into the left, with their main man belting past Meslier at his near post.
So easy, and just like that it looked as good as done following two shots on target.
Yet then up stepped Konate with the worst gaffe of all, inside two minutes of the restart, to make a game of it.
Left hanging his head in shame, the defender was on another planet as he dallied on it on the edge of his box, allowing Sinisterra to nip in.
The Colombian was in and made no mistake, dinking brilliantly over Alisson.
But, just as Elland Road believed, Jota struck in the 52nd minute.
Curtis Jones charged through two challenges and played a great ball in behind right-back Rasmus Kristensen for the onrushing Jota to finish from the edge of the box.
And it really was game, set and match when Salah bagged his second with 27 minutes remaining.
Jota started it with a crunching tackle on the edge of the box, getting up to start the counter and play in the marauding Andrew Robertson.
The Scot pulled back to Cody Gakpo, and the Dutchman played right for Salah to open up his body and bend a beauty into the far corner.
And the Elland Road exodus started en masse when Jota grabbed his second nine minutes later, firing a zinger into the bottom corner from the top of the box.
And sub Nunez completed the humiliation in the 90th minutes – with Meslier now having conceded from each of his last 11 shots on target.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
