Liverpool Lost the Plot in Atalanta Defeat, Says Klopp

 Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
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Liverpool Lost the Plot in Atalanta Defeat, Says Klopp

 Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - Europa League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Liverpool v Atalanta - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 11, 2024 Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)

Liverpool lacked tactical discipline against Atalanta on Thursday and fully deserved their 3-0 defeat in the Europa League quarter-final first leg match, manager Juergen Klopp said.

Gianluca Scamacca struck either side of halftime before Mario Pasalic capped an impressive win for the Italians at Anfield as Liverpool slumped to their joint-heaviest home defeat in European competition.

"It just was a really bad game, oh my God. We started well, really well, and then didn't continue. I think even before they scored, we just lost the plot a little bit, we were everywhere and nowhere," Klopp told reporters.

"(The) midfield was spread like that, right midfielder left side, left midfielder, striker. I didn't recognize that, that was really strange. In football terms that's tactical discipline.

"We played a bad game, we deserved to lose and we must feel that now."

Liverpool will seek to overturn the deficit in the second leg in Italy next week, but before that they host Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday.

With the Merseyside club involved in a tight title race with Arsenal and Manchester City, Klopp said the players had to move on from Thursday's defeat quickly.

"The boys have exactly this night to feel bad about it and then we have to build up again for the Crystal Palace game, that's how it is," he added.

"This was a low point for us performance-wise tonight, I would say, for a long time."



Former Brazil Coach Tite Taking Break to Take Care of Mental, Physical Health 

Flamengo's coach Tite gestures during a Copa Libertadores Group E soccer match against Colombia's Millonarios at El Campin stadium in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP)
Flamengo's coach Tite gestures during a Copa Libertadores Group E soccer match against Colombia's Millonarios at El Campin stadium in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP)
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Former Brazil Coach Tite Taking Break to Take Care of Mental, Physical Health 

Flamengo's coach Tite gestures during a Copa Libertadores Group E soccer match against Colombia's Millonarios at El Campin stadium in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP)
Flamengo's coach Tite gestures during a Copa Libertadores Group E soccer match against Colombia's Millonarios at El Campin stadium in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP)

Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.

The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalized due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.

"I realized that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger," Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi's Instagram on Tuesday.

"I'm passionate about what I do and I'll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.

"As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralyzed by a difficult but necessary decision."

Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.