Liverpool are back to winning ways but the same old problems that have troubled them all season show no sign of letting up.
The Reds on Thursday claimed their first Premier League victory of 2021 as they got the better of Tottenham.
Goals from Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane sealed the 3-1 win, which saw Liverpool move back into the top four.
Tottenham had plenty of injury setbacks, including a worrying ankle injury to star striker Harry Kane.
But Liverpool have their own problems, particularly in defence, which only got worse with Joel Matip being forced off at half time.
The nature of Matip’s injury wasn’t specified but Jurgen Klopp’s words after the match suggest Liverpool will be without a recognised senior centre-back for a while.
Klopp also dismissed any suggestions his side are back in the title race despite the Spurs scalp.
“We lost another centre-half at half time. It really looks not good with him,” a worried Klopp told talkSPORT.
“If people cannot understand our situation then I cannot help you.
“We have to collect points and be as successful as possible, but a title challenge? If we come close in a specific moment then our situation is that and it’s all fine and we are there. But until then we just fight.
“You cannot only play good football to become champions. The only advantage other teams have against us is that they were not champions last year so they want to be it desperately.
“We don’t think about that, we just try to sort our situation and that’s what we did very well and we try to sort it on Sunday [against West Ham].”
Minus Matip’s injury, it was a very pleasing performance from a Liverpool perspective, with their midfielders dominating proceedings while the front three of Firmino, Mane and Mohamed Salah looked sharp once again as they netted their first league goal in over a month.
And Klopp suggested some celebrations were on the cards following the win.
“In an away game it’s the only moment where we have a beer. I don’t remember the last time I had a beer on the bus after an away game,” he added.
“The relief and the joy is really big tonight. It was a really good game from us… we defended really well, we played good football against an organised side.”