Klopp was incredulous at their sloppy first-half display against Wolves

Jurgen Klopp was asked his thoughts on Liverpool’s first-half display. ‘W…T…F,’ he said, pausing for effect between each letter.

‘What the f***,’ is not exactly family friendly but Klopp was right to be incredulous. His team were lethargic, sloppy and toothless, on and off the ball.

It is not the first time this season Liverpool have been severely below-par early on. Against Bournemouth, they were lucky to be only 1-0 down after repeatedly losing the ball in their own half. At Newcastle, Eddie Howe’s men threw away a fine chance to win.

Even in drawing at Chelsea, Liverpool were limited to one shot on target and 35 per cent possession. But here we are after five matches and Klopp’s side have 13 points from a possible 15. It is no exaggeration to say that tally could have been three.

They carved Wolves open time and again in the second half to overturn that 1-0 deficit and go home with a 3-1 win. They have been 1-0 down in three of their four wins. So, how do we assess this Jekyll and Hyde team? At times, they look like the side who dropped points in eight of the first 12 games last season. At others, Liverpool have given their fans reason to believe they can lay a glove on Manchester City again.

‘The good thing about the first half is that it was so bad I knew we couldn’t play the second half like that,’ said Klopp. ‘Low energy levels, Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) and others struggled as well. We changed pretty much everything about the game at half-time.

‘The second half was really good. In the end, it was a massive, massive three points.’

And Klopp is right. He was furious until Andy Robertson put Liverpool ahead on 85 minutes. The German would have blamed international travel and kick-off times, with Mac Allister the