A former Anfield winger has aired his frustration in the wake of Jurgen Klopp’s side’s damaging defeat to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium
Liverpool have been “in holiday mode” since winning the title, according to Jermaine Pennant, who was left “raging” after seeing the Reds let the Premier League points record slip away.
The Reds were named champions of England for the first time in 30 years when Manchester City suffered a 2-1 loss away to Chelsea on June 25.
Jurgen Klopp’s men picked up an elusive piece of silverware with seven games left to spare, but have been guilty of taking their foot off the gas amid city-wide celebrations over the last few weeks.
Liverpool lost heavily to City at Etihad Stadium a week after their coronation, and also dropped points at home to Burnley last Saturday, with wins against Aston Villa and Brighton wedged in between.
They were still on track to set a new standard in terms of points won in single-season heading into their final three fixtures, but a 2-1 humbling at the hands of Arsenal on Wednesday officially put the record beyond their reach.
Sadio Mane gave the Reds the lead at Emirates Stadium, before the Gunners completed a stunning turnaround before half-time thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson.
Pennant has criticised Klopp’s side for throwing the game away, while accusing the players of allowing complacency to creep in at a time when a place in the hall of fame beckoned.
The former Liverpool winger told Talksport: “Look, if we had got beat, I’d have accepted it. Fair enough, we’ve gone to Arsenal and we lost. But they didn’t beat us, we handed it to them on a platter!
“They had three shots on our goal and scored two, we had 24 attempts and scored one… I’m raging!
“It’s about making more history. I get it, 30 years not winning the league and now we’ve won it, but what, then we get complacent?
“Let’s go on to win a bit more, let’s be a great team like Man City have been over the last two years.
“They’ve won the league and everyone’s human so they feel they’ve got nothing to play for now.
“But it’s like, subconsciously, they’re in holiday mode and they’ve just come off the boil a little bit, but they should keep on going!
“We’ve won the league and we haven’t really been allowed to celebrate it properly, so why not create a little bit more history to give the fans something to cheer about a little bit more?”
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