Former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca scored a brace before ex-Chelsea man Mario Pasalic added a third to inflict Liverpool’s joint-heaviest home defeat in major European competition.
For Liverpool, it was only the second time that Jurgen Klopp’s side had failed to score this season as their 34-match unbeaten run on home soil came to an end.
“When you rest players and a lot of your key ones on the bench, sometimes your mentality shifts and you think ‘are we taking this seriously?’,” Crouch told TNT Sports.
“If you come off the gas two, three, four or five percent, you get punished at this level.
“I think Atalanta came with a game plan and I didn’t realise the size of their players, as their physicality was very good. They were fantastic and their game plan worked to an absolute treat.”
The former Reds striker analysed La Dea’s tactics in more detail, and criticised Klopp’s men for being far too open on the night.
“They pressed them, they harried them and were relentless in their play,” he explained.
“They made better use of their possession and took their chances.
“Some of the spaces between [Ibrahima] Konate and [Joe] Gomez were the undoing of [Liverpool] them at times.
“Sometimes you were wondering if the Atalanta players were offside because they had so much space.
“Defensively, the gaps were too big. You talk about teams being compact, narrow and difficult to beat, but Liverpool weren’t like that tonight and Atalanta exploited it.
“Although Liverpool very disappointing, I thought Atalanta were fantastic.”
The Reds will now turn their attention back to the Premier League title race on Sunday when they welcome Crystal Palace to Anfield.
Meanwhile, Atalanta resume their quest to secure European football again for next season with a Serie A match at home to Hellas Verona on Monday.
The two sides go head-to-head in the second leg at the Stadio di Bergamo in a week’s time on April 18.
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