Not the dream Anfield start Jurgen Klopp would’ve been wishing for. But, a few positives at least. I thought some of the changes Klopp has already implemented in his short time on Merseyside were evident. I think you’d be stupid to believe that we were suddenly going to become world-beaters. Every manager needs time… Even Klopp.
Klopp has often used the term ‘heavy metal football’. While it wasn’t as heavy as Liverpool fans were hoping for, the quicker tempo is clear. The side played much more one-touch football against Rubin Kazan, much more. Under Rodgers, particularly this season, players seemed to dwell on the ball too much. Sometimes, it’s alright, when you’ve got ‘ball-carriers’ such as Lallana and Coutinho, but it can become frustrating as sometimes it’s not particularly hard to defend. Klopp has obviously told the side to try more of these one-touch moves and I think when executed successfully, will be a nightmare for opposition defenders. I think that’ll come with time.
Rodgers was often criticised for being too stubborn with his formations, as he used to keep things the same sometimes in a game, even though they were clearly not working. Klopp made a very smart change at half-time today with Lucas coming on for Joe Allen, who wasn’t playing particularly badly, but I think Klopp wanted to offer a shield to his defence.
Width was severely lacking in the first-half due to the formation. Coutinho and Lallana were playing just behind Origi, rather than either side of him. Clyne and Moreno did their best to get forward but were perhaps more reluctant to because there wasn’t really a defensive midfielder, with Joe Allen looking to attack, too. The introduction of Lucas meant they were able to get into better crossing positions and that little tweak benefited the side in the second-half. Just wasn’t quite our day in front of goal.
As far as pressing goes, it looked a lot better against Spurs, but there were stages against Kazan where it looked as if Klopp’s instructions were being worked on by the players. It was interesting how much the defenders pressed. Rodgers played a style that was also heavily reliant on the side pressing – however, it never really involved the centre-backs pressing as much as they were against Kazan. Skrtel has always done it at times, but Sakho did it plenty of times against the Russian side. It’s a risk, obviously, with the chance you could be turned and they’re through, but it’s all part of the counter-pressing system that Klopp had at Dortmund. And it seemed to work there.
Bit of an underwhelming result, as we seem to love the 1-1 scoreline at the moment. But I saw some positives from the system and the side’s setup, I hope you did, too.
