The current Liverpool squad has certainly spoilt the fans. We'd gotten so used to winning that Diego Simeone's men giving us a taste of humble pie at Anfield ended up being a real eye-opener.
In the first-leg encounter with the La Liga club, we lost 1-0 and since then, our fortunes appear to have taken a turn for the worst. To suggest that we've been hit by a wave of bad luck would just be sheer ridiculousness but there hasn't been much for us to cheer about lately.
After the first-leg against Atletico, we narrowly registered a 3-2 win against West Ham United. And then came the shock 3-0 loss to Watford, which ended our unbeaten run in the Premier League.
A turning point, of sorts, came in the 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Chelsea, as we once again failed to score a single goal. We did get to breathe a sigh of relief as we won 2-1 against Bournemouth in the Premier League but our PTSD became worse following Atletico's 4-2 win on aggregate in the Champions League recently.
While it would be easier to adopt a Fight Club-esque policy and simply not talk about the defeat, let's take a look at four problems that were exposed by Atletico Madrid.
1. A difference in mentality
They say a picture can say a thousand words but sometimes, one word is enough to make all the sense in the world.
After the game, Jurgen Klopp bemoaned that Atletico did not play "proper football" and even argued that their approach isn't necessarily the best.
This was brought up to Simeone and when asked how his side plays, he simply had a one-line answer. “To win,” he said. “With all our soul.”
This might not amount to much but the underlying hunger and determination to succeed were more than apparent as far as the La Liga side are concerned. That is not to say that Liverpool lacked anything on the field; it is merely a difference in mentality between the two teams and perhaps that is where Klopp needs to make some changes.
2. Lack of attacking depth
There are many advantages when a team boasts of a deadly attacking trio comprising the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. However, in most cases, all of their good work can be undone if there is a lack of quality back-up options. And that is exactly what happened against Atletico.
For example, in the first-leg, Mane was substituted at half-time since Klopp felt that he was becoming an easy target for the opposition. And as a result, we did not have a like-for-like replacement for the Senegalese. We ended up without scoring a single goal that night.
Had we been able to score then, perhaps we wouldn't have crumbled like a pack of cards under pressure in this one.
What makes Mane and even Salah so unique is that they essentially play as inside forwards tasked with acting as on-the-shoulder strikers in an inside channel. Their responsibility is to link-up with Firmino but at the same time, they are also afforded the freedom to charge ahead and finish chances.
Divock Origi is a central striker by trade but is capable of playing out wide. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been performing well when deployed on the left-wing and he even put in a spell-binding performance in the second-leg. Regardless, Klopp must consider bringing in some solid back-up attackers in the summer.
Liverpool tried to work with a haphazard 4-2-3-1 system towards the end but Atletico's 4-4-2 formation managed to keep them at bay. And interestingly enough, this is a set-up we have struggled against in the past (remember Napoli and PSG?).
3. Another Champions League game, another goalkeeping blunder
Prior to extra time, Adrian did a decent enough job between the sticks and there wasn't much to complain about. But as time stretched from 95 minutes to 120, things went downhill before anyone could say Loris Karius.
It was a bitter reminder of our fateful Champions League loss to Real Madrid in 2018. Back-up keeper Karius was in charge of the goal that night but a couple of blunders gifted the game to Los Blancos on a silver platter.
Adrian did something similar. It is important to note that Atletico are renowned for being a team that exploits the weaknesses of their opponents. And once Adrian made the error that led to Marcos Llorente's first goal, they changed the tone of their attack and went all in to use his nerves to their advantage.
Llorente's second goal only tightened the noose before Alvaro Morata ended the game - and, effectively, our hopes of qualifying further - with a wonder strike. And in all three cases, Adrian let us down.
The Real Madrid defeat somewhat set the stepping stones for us to secure a deal for Alisson Becker. And he has been a revelation for us between the sticks. However, it is truly ironic that we are back to square one even after splashing out a sizeable fee for the talented Brazilian's services.
4. Defensive conundrum
With a superstar like Virgil van Dijk in the mix, one might wonder as to why this is even an issue. However, Liverpool's high line defence has been criticized time and again lately.
Last season, we only conceded 22 league goals but in the ongoing campaign, we have already shipped in 21 goals in 29 games. It is almost as if it has become easier for our opponents to penetrate our defence and that is further illustrated when one takes a look at the number of times we have been dribbled past this season.
For example, in the opening few games in the Premier League, we were dribbled past a whopping 36 times (15 against Chelsea, 10 against Norwich City and 11 against Manchester City).
Returning to the game in question, Adrian did commit a grievous error during Llorente's first but Liverpool's highly-controversial high line defence was once again a talking point as Van Dijk and Andrew Robertson failed to return to their positions in time to prevent Llorente's second.
Although we retained 71% possession, Atletico made a whopping 72 clearances compared to our 10. It could be argued that played a defensive game from the get-go but the gulf in class is more than apparent.
What now?
To be fair, our players did well for a good majority of the game. The likes of Georginio Wijnaldum and Oxlade-Chamberlain did their best and Jordan Henderson did a good job as well. While the defence could have done better in the final minutes, it is now water under the bridge.
The biggest positive from the game has to be the fact that we did not let Atletico walk away with an easy win, despite trailing 1-0 from the first-leg.
We got a chance to lift the Champions League trophy last season and it was indeed magical. But as we have reiterated throughout the ongoing term, it is not time to get our hands on the elusive Premier League title.
What do you say, Reds? Now that we left all emotions behind, what do you think went wrong against Atletico Madrid?
