Liverpool's post winter-break blues continued as they suffered their 3rd defeat in four games away at Chelsea.
8,000 fans made the trip to Stamford Bridge but were met with another blustering performance - after a misfiring first 30 minutes Liverpool failed to register another shot on target.
Klopp selected a half-hearted line up. Seven changes, but Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho and Mane were all kept.
However, Mane's partnership with Robertson was altered to make way for Origi and Minamino in the starting line up and Sadio missed a host of chances in the first 10 minutes.
In arguably his only major involvement in the 90 minutes, Minamino had threaded a ball through to Mane in a great position - but he stumbled over his feet and failed to give Liverpool a lead.
At the other end, Chelsea were probing as the reds started to look sloppy at corners. Adrian made a brilliant reaction save, but seconds later Willian's attempt bounced out of his hands and into the net. The Chelsea forward was handed the ball on a plate by a giveaway by Fabinho.
The reds got themselves into a great goalscoring position only for 3 players to consecutively fire straight at Kepa from within 10 yards.
As it happened: Chelsea 2-0 LFC
Chelsea had picked a strong line up but ironically it was youngster Billy Gilmour who impressed the most in his midfield role.
Ross Barkley rubbed salt into the wounds when a Liverpool attack broke down and he took control of a Virgil van Dijk header to power through on goal and fire past Adrian.
Fabinho had a few yard advantage on Barkley but couldn't catch him and the Brazilian endured another poor nigh. His return from injury has been less like a new signing and more like What did you do with that Fabinho who used to play for us?
Both Pedro and Olivier Giroud could have added further goals in the final period to humiliate Liverpool but the score remained 2-0.
It’s not been good enough from us the past couple of games but we’re going to keep putting in the hard work and come back better! The fans were incredible again. We’ll hopefully repay your support! pic.twitter.com/RhzUk94EQo
— Andy Robertson (@andrewrobertso5) 3 March 2020
Klopp hadn't deemed this competition important enough to even attend the last round, so this result was hardly a surprise. There must have been problems motivating when he has little genuine desire to go on to win this competition.
However, this was still a trophy Liverpool could have won and it has been 35 years since the reds last had an opportunity to win the treble. These opportunities do not come round very often.
The 8,000 Liverpool fans inside Stamford Bridge this evening will be hoping to see two wins in the upcoming week to rectify these results.
Highlights - Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool
