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Sunday Night Takeaways: Watford's commanding display suggests the honeymoon is over for Klopp

Liverpool were well and truly beaten in Sunday's early kick off, while Swansea and West Ham could...



Sunday Night Takeaways: Watfor...
Soccer

Sunday Night Takeaways: Watford's commanding display suggests the honeymoon is over for Klopp

Liverpool were well and truly beaten in Sunday's early kick off, while Swansea and West Ham couldn't muster a goal between them. 

Liverpool outclassed by brilliant Watford

Even Harry the Hornet celebrated the third goal à la Odion Ighalo as Jurgen Klopp helplessly watched his team play themselves into trouble over and over again. 

His side's defending was more comical than it was competent, as a howler from Adam Bogdan gifted the opener to Nathan Ake with the game less than three minutes old. Although the ball was kicked out of the 'keeper's hands at one point, he came to claim the ball and haplessly bounced it down in front of his own goalmouth, heaping trouble on himself and the defence. 

The second goal saw Ighalo and Troy Deeney combine as the Nigerian latched on to a through ball from the captain, and he fired past Bogdan with no hesitance. The third, however, was the pick of the bunch as Deeney, Ighalo and Behrami were all involved in the build up.

It could have been many more: a poor decision to try a Lovren-esque drag back and roulette with his own defence exposed saw Watford break through again but miss; a great save from Bogdan denied Ighalo when he was clean through, atoning somewhat for his previous error.

A litany of other close calls and chances spared Liverpool from a real humiliation however, and they never created any opportunities of note for themselves with a number of players looking completely anonymous. 

An injury to Skrtel will add to his headaches now, but with the January window approaching Klopp may be able to convince the owners that they need to back him and get Liverpool's leaky defence in order: they've conceded seven goals in their last three games in the league.

Image: Andrew Matthews / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Sakho inspired no confidence, neither goalkeeper in the team seems to command the area and the best player in the fold defensively at the minute seems to be Nathaniel Clyne. 

Klopp hasn't been able to bring in the players he would like to the squad, but he has had time to impose his ideas on them in the months since taking over. As they are now without a win in four games, there's no doubt that the honeymoon period is over. He had a full week (no Europa league exploits) to prepare for this game, and yet his side looked to be completely clueless when they went out on the pitch. 

Now that the manager has more stature and power than most of the players, there could be a number of names shipped out in January. The team looked revitalised under him in his first weeks in charge, but the spell appears to have worn off. 

A word on Watford too; were it not for Leicester's amazing run more would be made of the job being done by Quique Sanchez Flores. There was no doubting who the better side were today, nor over the course of the season, and the table reflects that. 

This win provided them with their eighth clean sheet of the season, and although they had trouble finding the back of the net in the opening weeks, they've found their scoring boots as they've scored nine in the last four, and leaving them in a great position to push on even further. 

Swansea and West Ham give a masterclass in the bore draw

Neither side impressed all that much as a managerless Swansea showed the same lack of direction that they had when Garry Monk was in charge. 

Although they still pass the ball freely and have some talented players in their ranks, there was no penetration about their moves as they repeatedly shuffled it around outside the box only to resort to a shot from distance that cannoned off a defender. 

Image: PA Graphics / PA Wire/Press Association Images

There were a couple of vague penalty shouts for both sides, but when those are the points of the game that make the highlight reel, there really was little to talk about. West Ham set up to try and catch the home team on the break at pace, but without some key figures, chief among them Dimitri Payet, West Ham have also tailed off. 

Since he was injured and taken off in a 4-1 loss to Spurs, they have only scored one league goal and gone without a win in that period also. They have been keeping clean sheets however, suggesting that they will continue to be difficult opposition to beat. 

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