(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Jurgen Klopp slammed Liverpool's careless defending as his side's Premier League title challenge suffered a damaging blow in a shock 3-2 home defeat against Swansea yesterday.
Reds boss Klopp was furious Swansea striker Fernando Llorente was allowed to score twice in quick succession in the second half after lapses in concentration from the Liverpool defence. Roberto Firmino struck twice to draw Liverpool level, but the hosts switched off again as Gylfi Sigurdsson secured lowly Swansea's first ever league win at Anfield.
'The defending around all three goals wasn't good enough, 100 percent. It's a very important part of the game, Klopp said.
'I don't know how Llorente could be completely alone to score the first in the six-yard box. Their second goal, I can accept the header but we needed to stop the cross.
'For the third goal there was almost everything wrong. It started with the reaction to the long ball.
Liverpool remain seven points behind leaders Chelsea, who can extend that gap to 10 with a victory over Hull today.
Liverpool, who welcomed back Philippe Coutinho for his first league start since November, dominated proceedings from the opening minutes but found Clement's side, including new signings Tom Carroll and Martin Olsson, compact and organised.
Emre Can should have done better with a free header from Jordan Henderson's pinpoint delivery and Adam Lallana ballooned an extravagant mid-air volley high.
Yet for all of Liverpool's domination of possession, these were rare openings and the nearest to a first-half goal was when Carroll, signed from Tottenham Hotspur in midweek, saw his shot from a narrow angle deflect off Dejan Lovren and strike the post.
Still, there was no sign of the drama immediately after halftime when Llorente struck twice, his second after 52 minutes being a magnificent, soaring header from Carroll's cross.
Liverpool roared back, Firmino heading in James Milner's 55th minute cross and then producing sublime skill to take Georginio Wijnaldum's looped cross on his chest before half-volleying home a thunderous left-foot strike.
With Anfield baying for a comeback winner, it seemed just a matter of time but when Carroll made a rare foray towards the heart of Liverpool's defence, the ball fell kindly for Sigurdsson and the Icelander was typically cool with his precision finish.
Liverpool came desperately close to equalising when Lallana's deflected shot hit the bar and his follow-up header flew over but this was a dreadful setback for a team that has lost momentum, having won just one of its last six matches in all competitions.
That would leave Liverpool's title hopes hanging by a slender thread and Klopp challenged his players to prove they can bounce back quickly after such an embarrassing loss.
'If this defeat influences us, then it could be (damaging). We have lost, but it has to feel really bad. And it does. We have to react, he said.
'I don't look for luck. But it's obvious we didn't have a lot today. There was frustration and disappointment. You could hear in stadium it wasn't most entertaining in first half.
'We couldn't score, and then after half-time we need to be spot on immediately, but we weren't.
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