Well, above is the current official UEFA association coefficient. Do you remember my posts predicting the Italians and English finishing top two and picking the extra Champions league slot reserved for the first two associations? Okay one of the posts was titled, SPAIN IN TROUBLE, so you can peruse. Well greetings to them of the Spain like @iamchuks them.
FIRST OF ALL, LET ME CONGRATULATE 🎊 ITALY BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE OR LESS ALREADY ASSURED OF AN EXTRA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SLOT.
Yesterday had a lot to do with this congratulatory message above. An Italian team travelled to England and dismantled an English side, nay a top English side. It was Atalanta against Liverpool. It ended with three unreplied goals against Liverpool. Liverpool's fans were shattered.
TWO THINGS
There's such a thing called psychology.
For me, right from the onset, I've always felt that it would be difficult for Liverpool to truly embrace playing in the Europa, since it's below the Champions league. They stumbled a bit in the group stage and I expected that.
But in the last round of 16, they surprised me with the large scoreline as they dispatched Sparta.
Now, it seems Liverpool has reverted back to my initial suspicion.
Furthermore, right now it's not just about the humility to embrace the Europa League, it is also about the heat of the EPL title race.
Look at that lineup today, can't you see something about Klopp's thought process?
I think Liverpool fans need to go study Klopp's thinking at this crucial time of the season, so they don't get unnecessary heart-breaks.
The Main Thing
I think the most crucial factor that affected this loss is the lack of total respect of the current status of the Italian league.
Wait, as a passer-by will you blame Klopp? Where is Atalanta on the Serie A table? Just 6th. So what's wrong with a top of the table team in the giant EPL, resting a few players hun? It shouldn't be such a risky venture. Afterall Manchester United is 6th in the EPL and same team fielded against Atalanta will give Manchester United problems. Well that's passers-by talk.
The reality is that this is a team from the CURRENT ITALIAN LEAGUE! When people scoffed at me when Inter Milan were dumped out by Atletico Madrid. They asked, isn't Inter Milan from the Italian league? Have they not been dumped out? I smirked at their ignorance.
I have been advertising the improved strength of the Italian league since last season.
Therefore, I think that beyond benching one or two key players, Liverpool came out with a poor mentality, they failed to acknowledge the new found prowess of the Italian league.
They paid a huge price for that slackness in understanding yesterday. It has become such a huge mountain to climb now. And it is not good news for the EPL coefficient too.🤷♂️
Cheers