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80%+ possession, 2,981 attempts on goal, a set piece concession, Danny Ings making a first team appearance. Which one of these is not like the other?
In as dominant a display as a 2-0 loss can be, Liverpool once again managed to turn a match that was played almost entirely on the edge of the Leicester box into another fruitless outing. The end result of course was the 2016 Premier League champions unceremoniously escorting the Reds from what is now being called the Carabao Cup.
Reds manager, Jürgen Klopp was at a loss for words after another exasperating display:
"It's actually easy to explain [the defeat] - we played good football in the first half and missed big chances.
"That's football—it's at least 90 minutes. The goals we conceded are a second ball from a corner and a throw in again. I'm sick of [conceding] goals like this to be honest, you cannot play football and do that."
A heavily-rotated side saw first starts of the season for the likes of Marko Grujic, Dominic Solanke and new boy Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as well as competitive debuts in the Klopp era for the Dannys’ Ward and Ings, and yet the Merseysiders still managed to be consistent in their wastefulness in front of goal and softness at the back that has characterized too many Liverpool sides in recent years.
“The Leicester team somehow survive in the game as we aren't clinical enough,” the German continued. “That is okay but then you need to stay concentrated. They scored too easy. With the first goal we don't push up together. I've said it 1,000 times."
Having ignominiously exited one of the four competitions up for grabs this term, the Reds head back up to the King Power stadium at the weekend to take on the Foxes again in Premier League action. With the suspended and increasingly-valuable Sadio Mané still one more league game away from a return, Klopp will be hoping that he can find his current squad a cutting edge and stop a worrying dip in form.