Hull City 2-0 Liverpool
- Published
- comments
Liverpool have won one of their past 10 games in all competitions
Alfred N'Diaye scored on his Hull City debut as Liverpool's terrible start to 2017 continued with a fourth defeat in five league and cup games.
Senegal forward N'Diaye, signed on loan from Villarreal, tapped home unmarked after Simon Mignolet dropped the ball at his feet.
Despite striker Sadio Mane's first start since 2 January, Liverpool failed to force a single save in the first half and were poor throughout.
Hull, who have won all four home games under new manager Marco Silva, sealed victory when Oumar Niasse, on loan from Everton, kept his composure after the Reds defence had been carved open.
Silva lining for Hull
Silva praises 'fantastic' result
Hull were bottom of the table and three points from safety when former Sporting Lisbon and Olympiakos boss Silva took charge on 5 January.
Fast forward four weeks and the Tigers have a win over Liverpool and a draw at Manchester United, as well as an EFL Cup semi-final home win over United under their belt.
Hull are an organised and well-drilled unit at the back while the arrival of N'Diaye, as well as Poland winger Kamil Grosicki, has provided them with an added threat.
They overcame the loss of captain Michael Dawson, who was injured in the warm-up, to produce their most complete performance so far under Silva.
Hull are 18th in the table - one point from safety - and now have seven points from a possible 12 under Silva's reign.
Liverpool's title hopes vanish after tame defeat
Klopp 'angry' after shock loss to Hull
With Arsenal losing earlier in the day and Tottenham kicking-off late, Liverpool would have climbed to second in the table with victory.
Yet they ended the day 13 points behind leaders Chelsea. In the last 14 days Jurgen Klopp's side have been knocked out of the FA Cup and the EFL Cup, and seen their hopes of a first league title since 1990 all but vanish for another season.
While Jurgen Klopp remains unbeaten in seven games against the top-six, the German has now seen his side lose to Burnley, Bournemouth, Swansea City and Hull City.
This was as bad as any of them; an abject, disjointed performance sprinkled with individual errors and a lack of cutting edge.
Liverpool's defenders were as much to blame for the first goal despite Mignolet's mistake, leaving N'Diaye completely unmarked when he steered the hosts ahead.
The Reds enjoyed 72% possession but as Klopp said afterwards: "Possession is only good when you create something from it."
Man of the match - Andrea Ranocchia (Hull City)
Hull's deadline-day signing from Inter Milan only started after captain Michael Dawson was injured during the warm-up. The defender rewarded his manager with a commanding display at the back as Hull recorded a first top-flight clean sheet at home this season. He also provided the assist for Oumar Niasse's goal
'No excuses'
Hull manager Marco Silva: "It is a fantastic afternoon for us. Our supporters were fantastic, we need them and they support our team always.
"I am sure in the future we will play better, but at these moments we need to keep our focus and our organisation, because every game it is possible to get valuable points.
"In the Premier League it is fantastic to get clean sheets, to do that against Manchester United and Liverpool is fantastic."
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "I don't want to find excuses, it is hard to think of intelligent things to say after a match like this.
"It is not the time to talk about these things [qualifying for the Champions League], we have to show our best and then people can judge us.
"We all know how good we can be, and it's still there, but not if we play like we did in the first half today."
'Hull flourishing under Silva' - the stats
Marco Silva has now taken seven points from his first four games in the Premier League, as many as Hull City managed in their 18 league games prior to his arrival.
The Tigers kept their first home clean sheet in the Premier League this term, having conceded in each of their previous 11 league games at the KCOM Stadium in 2016-17.
Jurgen Klopp has now lost five of his past eight games in all competitions; as many as he had in his previous 32 games in charge of Liverpool beforehand.
Klopp has also gone five consecutive league games without winning for the first time since February 2015 (with Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga).
Alfred N'Diaye netted on his Premier League debut for Hull; this after scoring just two goals in 134 appearances within the top five European leagues beforehand (PL, La Liga & Ligue 1 combined).
Liverpool have conceded the opening goal in each of their past three Premier League games - only between May and August 2016 have they suffered a longer such run under Jurgen Klopp (four games).
What's next?
Hull will make the journey to face Arsenal next Saturday (12:30 GMT) with confidence sky high. Liverpool need to find some confidence for their home game with Tottenham on the same day (17:30) in a game which could go a long way to deciding who qualifies for the Champions League.