Klopp reign coming full circle after what Liverpool support did against Palace

Report from Ian Doyle after Liverpool's clash with Crystal Palace in the Premier League

Jurgen Klopp reign is coming full circle after what Liverpool supporters did against Crystal Palace

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With neat if deeply unwanted symmetry, so Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield reign is travelling full circle.

It was back in November 2015 when, while still getting his feet under table at his new club, the newly-installed Reds boss bemoaned the sight of the home supporters drifting towards the exit long before the final whistle of a home defeat to Crystal Palace.

“I felt alone,” said Klopp as Anfield emptied despite his team being only one goal behind, perhaps a first realisation of the size of his self-imposed task of turning doubters into believers.

The Liverpool boss emphatically succeeded in that regard. However, as his glorious tenure draws to a close, so the Reds faithful are again lacking faith.

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Such a feeling, first felt following the draw at Manchester United last weekend and glaringly evident during the Europa League calamity against Atalanta on Thursday, was once more painfully present as Klopp’s wasteful team allowed Palace to provide a reminder of those testing opening months for the German.

What's more, the players now seem wracked with doubt, too. In the space of three days, so Liverpool’s season has completely unravelled. As with their European aspirations, hopes of winning the Premier League are not quite fully extinguished just yet, and Klopp won’t throw in the towel when there’s still a chance.

But with four of their last six games away from home and both Arsenal and Manchester City battle-hardened from last year’s title tussle, few would be surprised if the Reds now fell away.

In truth, they’ve done well to hang on this long, particularly when the injury crisis began to bite hard in the New Year. But the sheer effort for an evolving team to keep pace at the Premier League summit has ensured tired legs and minds in the run-in. Liverpool largely look a spent force for this campaign.

And while Champions League qualification would represent a marked improvement for a team in the midst of a rebuild even before Klopp announced his intention to quit next month, none of those who trudged early out of Anfield want to consider positives at present.

They believed in waving off Klopp as a Premier League and Europa League winner. Now, though, his era is in danger of dawning to a limp and forgettable finale. It will take something remarkable, even by the manager’s standards, to now stop that from happening.

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