Liverpool's hopes of delivering a Premier League crown at Anfield in Jurgen Klopp's final season took a hammer blow on Wednesday night with a 2-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.
Goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin secured a first home derby win for the Toffees in 14 years, though Liverpool will be wondering how on Earth they did not convert even a single one of the 23 shots they managed on Jordan Pickford's goal.
Klopp's side have faltered in recent weeks, winning just two Premier League games since the beginning of April, and suffering FA Cup and Europa League exits at the hands of Manchester United and Atalanta respectively.
Much of their struggles of late have been down to a shockingly open defence, as well as a lack of clinical finishing up front - both issues which led Klopp to admit Liverpool had become "too easy" to play against, after their Europa League defeat to Atalanta.
After Wednesday night's defeat, captain Virgil van Dijk slipped in a mention of a contentious scheduling issue which has hung over Liverpool all season. The skipper's decision to mention the issue in light of such a poor defeat did not go down well with Sky Sports pundit Wayne Rooney.
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Everton 2-0 Liverpool: Wayne Rooney questions van Dijk's "12:30 kick-off" comments in post-match interview
Virgil van Dijk admitted that Liverpool had been subpar at Goodison Park on Wednesday, and stated that they were on the verge of slipping out of the title races if such performances continued.
The Dutch centre-back then went on to subtly reference the issue of Liverpool repeatedly being scheduled to play in the 12:30pm Saturday kick-off slot, with their weekend fixture against West Ham again falling at that time:
If we play like we did overall in the game like today, not winning challenges and giving the ref opportunities to give free kicks like he did many times, then we have no chance to win the title.
It's a tough one, obviously we have to do much better against a side that's playing against relegation.
It's time to focus on the 12:30 kick-off again.
It is an issue which has been raised throughout the season by Liverpool fans, with the team repeatedly scheduled to play in the spot immediately after players returned from international breaks. Jurgen Klopp has been vocal on the topic and earlier this season slammed a reporter for questioning why he had such an issue with the repeated 12:30 kick-offs.
Nonetheless, Wayne Rooney was unimpressed with Virgil van Dijk's choice to bring the matter up in his post-match interview.
"That Liverpool team should be wanting to be on the pitch tomorrow" 🗣
Wayne Rooney says Liverpool need to get on with it 👀 pic.twitter.com/jKyiPQQYOJ— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 24, 2024
The Manchester United legend was a guest pundit at Goodison Park on Wednesday night alongside Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Carragher. The former Everton striker could not understand why van Dijk chose to slip in a mention of the 12:30 kick-offs in his post-match interview and questioned what it meant about Liverpool's mentality:
I think a worrying thing there is - and it's happened a lot throughout the season - as Daniel [Sturridge] said, he's the captain and he's talking about Liverpool being outfought.
But, again, we're hearing about 12:30 kick-offs after he's just lost a derby. He should and that Liverpool team should be wanting to be on the pitch tomorrow morning to get the next game going.
When you lose a game, especially a derby game, you want the next game to come quick. We've heard it so many times about Liverpool this season with 12:30 kick-offs. Get on with it! That's part of your job, get on with it and you should be ready to play.
The frequency of early kick-off slots received by Liverpool both this season and last has undoubtedly been unusually high, especially at periods of the season when teams would have preferred to avoid it.
Nonetheless, it is hard to argue with Rooney's assessment of van Dijk's post-match interview and inquisition as to why he chose to mention the matter in the heat of the moment, minutes after a crushing derby defeat.
The loss to old rivals Everton could spell the end of Liverpool's title challenge, with Arsenal three points ahead of the Reds, and Manchester City a point behind with two games in hand.
Liverpool return to action on Saturday at (you guessed it) 12:30pm, away to David Moyes' West Ham. Anything other than a win will unequivocally end their hopes of claiming a 20th league title this season.
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