Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes have gone up in smoke just as Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah started to run on empty, writes DOMINIC KING

It was the afternoon when a mighty blow had been inflicted to Liverpool’s title challenge, the day Crystal Palace had rattled Anfield’s foundations.

Those who work at the stadium have seen many guises of Jurgen Klopp post-match: the ebullience and energy that follow big victories, the outpouring of emotion that followed when things hadn’t gone to plan. Liverpool’s manager is an imposing figure, physically, and you always know he’s there.

But after that 1-0 defeat to Palace on April 14, Liverpool’s first at home in the Premier League for almost two years, Klopp’s demeanour was noticeably different. Before you would have characterised him as a volcano, full of fire, now it was easy to see he had become a lighthouse.

Yes, he was present but underneath that black quilted jacket and baseball cap he seemed hollow. Not broken – it would be disingenuous to suggest that – but here was a man whose fuel tank has run so dry that only fumes are left.

You saw it again at Goodison Park on Wednesday, when Everton swung their axe to send a Liverpool team billed as a mighty oak toppling over. As Red shirts ran down blind, blue-alleys and lost tackles and second balls, Klopp moved back from his technical area and found a temporary perch.

The Liverpool boss’ demeanour was notably different after their home defeat to Crystal Palace

Everton effectively ended Liverpool’s title hopes by earning a 2-0 win at Goodison Park

The symbolism was huge. Like a boxer going back to his corner, unable to lift his arms for the final round, Klopp had no more left to give – nor did his team. It will be viewed in some quarters, given the time of year, as Liverpool choking when it mattered but the answer is much simpler.

To make an analogy, a Premier League season is like the route on the Tour De France known simply as Puy De Dome. The climb to the summit, where the stage in the Massif Central ends, is lung-burning and leg-bending and asks the hardest emotional and physical questions of participants. 

There will always be a rider who thinks he can breakaway and make history but the one that goes for home first will always get caught: Liverpool, in working so hard just to get into a position to challenge, have nothing to offer when they needed something for the final attack.

What happened against Everton had been coming. You can trace everything back to that chaotic FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United, when they failed on countless occasions to put their opponents away, but it is too easy to draw that conclusion.

Since beating Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final, we can now see that Liverpool were running at full speed just to keep alongside Manchester City and Arsenal, who were moving with gears four and five still in reserve.

There has not been a clean sheet in the Premier League since March 2, when they secured a last-gasp win at Nottingham Forest. The performance they subsequently produced against City, to secure a draw in the second half, has proven to be an exception rather than the rule.

Sheffield United could have beaten Liverpool at Anfield in April, Brighton had opportunities of their own to cause mischief. All the while, you looked at the run-in, and the peak they had to scale, and wondered if they ever really believed they could do it. At Goodison it all came asunder.

‘You have to fight through these periods,’ said Klopp, as sifted through the wreckage of his first defeat in the neighbours’ backyard. ‘It was never different. People ask about the mentality but mentality has different aspects. It is not a problem of attitude or what the boys want.

Liverpool’s recent struggles can be traced back to their chaotic FA Cup defeat to Man United

Mo Salah has become a headline grabber but he has arguably been let down by others

‘No one is doing it on purpose. It’s my job to bring them into a situation where they feel confident to do it. That part I am responsible and I’m responsible for what happened (here). It’s not that I feel great, that’s the trickiest part of football. In the moment it didn’t work out. We must keep trying.’

He wouldn’t have it any other way but you looked at the squad on Wednesday and, for the first time, you saw vulnerabilities around those who have been totems and began to wonder whether some who have recently arrived can truly live up to past traditions.

Mo Salah has, for some reason, become a headline grabber. This was his most ineffective performance at Goodison Park and it would be nonsense to suggest that this campaign will rank in his Anfield highlights.

There is an argument to say, though, that he has been let down by others. On social media, a clip has been put together of key passes Salah has made in games. It begins with the chance he created for Darwin Nunez at Goodison, the one which the Uruguayan blasted straight at Jordan Pickford.

From there, it goes on to Nunez missing from eight yards against Crystal Palace then Luis Diaz fluffing his lines against Manchester City, when clean through, then onto Trent Alexander-Arnold hitting the bar against Arsenal at Anfield when, again, he was clean through.

Still there is more: a pass to Dominick Sbozoszlai at Old Trafford: wasted. A knockdown for Nunez at Luton: over the bar. A cross for Nunez at the Etihad Stadium? Saved. Another through ball to Nunez at Luton. Blocked. Say four of those chances go in, Liverpool are four points clear at the top.

Salah isn’t Liverpool’s biggest problem. He’s running on empty and hasn’t been the same since returning injured from the Africa Cup of Nations in mid-winter; he’s been like his manager, too, having barely missed a game, home or away, for seven years and having given his all.

Of course there was always going to be a point when his remarkable numbers and consistency dropped off but it’s been a perfect storm in the fact that his dip has coincided with the injury to the club’s best finisher, Diogo Jota. Nobody else has stepped up.

Darwin Nunez is among those to have passed up big opportunities laid on by Salah this season

Dominik Szoboszlai started the season superbly but is yet to show the consistency required 

Take Szoboszlai. His initial months in England were blistering, with cannonball shooting, wonderful pressing and passing. Liverpool went the extra mile financially to get him last summer and the terms of his transfer meant his £60million fee needed to be paid within 12 months.

Be in no doubt that a fine player lurks within but he has not yet mastered the consistency required and that is something he must change when the new guard arrives with Arne Slot. Like so many at Goodison, he looked totally lost.

‘Everyone has to look in the mirror and look at their own performances and ask if they really gave everything,’ said Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool’s captain, who was more emotional than normal. ‘Do they really want to win the league?

‘Honestly, we are fighting and still have games after tonight but I think if we play like the game we did against Everton, not winning challenges and getting the referee the opportunity to give a free-kick like we did many times then we have no chance to win the title.’

Fine words but the reality is different. Nobody is expecting Liverpool to become champions now and the focus now is what happens down the line once Slot is confirmed as the man who will take over Klopp’s mantle.

There is going to be change and big decisions must be made, by Michael Edwards – who is in now in charge of running the club on a day-to-day basis – and new Sporting Director Richard Hughes. Salah, Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, for instance, all require new contracts.

None of that will come cheap and history has shown not everyone will be happy with what gets offered in negotiations. Van Dijk and Salah are beyond 30 and James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum will all testify that service doesn’t matter when the bottom line is being discussed.

Big changes could be made with Feyenoord’s Arne Slot poised to succeed Klopp this summer

Virgil van Dijk is among the Liverpool stars heading into the final year of their contracts

It is Liverpool’s way to wheel and deal and money will be raised by offloading players such as Kostas Tsimikas, the Greece left-back. The scouting department is already looking at options to provide back up for Andy Robertson, with Sergi Cardona of Las Palmas being monitored.

Perhaps the nature of the upheaval has not yet been full appreciated. Klopp has an army of lieutenants around him, from Pep Lijnders, Vitor Matos and Peter Kraweitz, to a number of compatriots in key technical areas. The vast majority will all leave.

Change won’t be easy but change, certainly, is required and for Klopp, change will be restorative. He has taken Liverpool on a joyride since 2015 but it has taken its toll: one year managing Liverpool is like two anywhere else and, in recent weeks, the toll it has taken has been obvious.

You could see it for yourself on Wednesday, as he did his debrief with Sky Sports. He picked at his fingers, bit his nails, his eyes had sunk. Usually he comes alive in front of a camera but this was different. The end is coming. Goodison proved why the decision he made in January was right.