LONDON: Liverpool failed to finish off a slew of chances and conceded a sloppy goal in a 2-0 loss at Leicester in the English League Cup, arousing the ire of their frustrated manager Juergen Klopp while Tottenham edged past Barnsley on Tuesday.

Since beating Arsenal 4-0 in the Premier League before the international break, Liverpool have been thrashed 5-0 by Manchester City and drawn 1-1 at home to Burnley in the league, conceded late to draw 2-2 with Sevilla in the Champions League, and have now been eliminated from the League Cup.

Coutinho was instrumental in eight-times winners’ superiority but he went off at halftime with the score still level and after the break Liverpool paid dearly for failing to take their chances.

Shinji Okazaki came on in the 53rd minute for Leicester, scored 12 minutes later with a deflected shot after the Liverpool defense was beaten to two headers, and then laid the ball on for Islam Slimani to drive home a stunning second goal at King Power Stadium.

“Second ball from a corner and a goal from a throw-in I’m sick of goals like this, to be honest. Unbelievable,” Klopp said. Referring to the first goal, Klopp added: “We didn’t push up together I say it one time, I say it a thousand times. It’s not nice to concede these goals.”With White Hart Lane being redeveloped, Tottenham had been suffering from home sickness after failing to win any of their three Premier League games there.

Mauricio Pochettino admitted this week that his priorities are the Premier League and Champions League, with success in the English domestic cups largely irrelevant for the Tottenham boss.

But Pochettino still sent out a strong side featuring Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min, Mousa Dembele and Jan Vertonghen, while Argentine defender Juan Foyth made his debut and Fernando Llorente got a first start.

ottenham once again looked uncomfortable in their new abode as second-tier Barnsley held out for 65 minutes before succumbing to a 1-0 defeat in a front of a sparse 23,926 crowd.

England midfielder Alli finally broke the deadlock with a smart finish from Kieran Trippier’s cross to give Tottenham win number two at Wembley following last week’s Champions League success against Borussia Dortmund.

Elsewhere in the third round, Premier League side Stoke slumped to a surprise 2-0 defeat at second-tier Bristol City.

Famara Diedhiou headed City in front in the 50th minute and Matt Taylor added the second on the hour.

Burnley also bowed out after losing 5-3 on penalties following a 2-2 draw with second-tier Leeds at Turf Moor.

Roy Hodgson got his first win as Crystal Palace manager as Bakary Sako sealed a 1-0 win against Huddersfield.

The former England coach’s first game had ended in a 1-0 home defeat against Southampton in the Premier League at the weekend.

But Sako nabbed the first goal of the Hodgson era with a close-range header from a 13th-minute corner at Selhurst Park.

It was Palace’s first goal since August 22 and Mali forward Sako’s first since August 2015.

West Ham beat Bolton 3-0 with goals from Angelo Ogbonna, Diafra Sakho and Arthur Masuaku.

Alfie Mawson and Jordan Ayew scored in Swansea’s 2-0 win at Reading.

Bournemouth beat Brighton 1-0 just four days after defeating their south-coast rivals in the Premier League.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017