Pass & Move – A New Red Dawn
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Liverpool
Even after a week and more of press conferences, fan jubilation and opinion pieces, it was still beyond surreal to see Jürgen Klopp take his pre-match interview in a Liverpool jacket. You almost expected to see a dancing dwarf beside him feeding clues about formations and stuff in a weird backwards-reversed voice.
Instead there was just a smiling man with a German accent. Looking pleasant and excited, speaking humbly and generously. It was almost like… he was enjoying himself? After Brendan Rodgers’ defiant media games, Klopp must have looked like a knight in shining armour to Liverpool fans. A new manager needs to be refreshing and Klopp is certainly that. As to how he actually goes with this team, though, that’s gonna take a while to figure out. But this was his first test, away to Tottenham.
It almost felt like a pre-season game in the build-up. Not because of the stakes but because of the circumstances. He’d hardly had the chance to train with a lot of these players during the international break and the ones he got, half of them are injured. In fact he lost two first team regulars to season ending ACL injuries within 24 hours, Danny Ings and Joe Gomez.
But he’s also spent hours studying tape at the training ground. Jürgen Klopp didn’t take this job lightly. When asked about the problems of getting his squad organised in a new style of play within such a short amount of time, he laughed at the idea. Of course he couldn’t perfectly implement a new philosophy upon this team. Not in a couple training sessions. But he could give them their belief back and have them working hard as a team. For anyone who’s seen this LFC team stuttering and confused over the last month or so as the Rodgers Regime wore out (most of all against Manchester United – such a passionate rival!), this was exactly what needed be done for the first step.
“We have to open our chests. Let’s run and fight and shoot, defend together and attack together, like your best dream about what football looks like. I want to see more braveness, more fun in their eyes. I want to see they like what they do.” – Jürgen Klopp
His first proper footballing issue as Liverpool manager was a knock to Dan Sturridge that left him out of this game. Instead the notorious Divock Origi started up front, Klopp doing well to deflect from the player’s recent reputation by mentioning how he tried to buy him at Dortmund but was priced out of range. That does two things, a comment like that. First, it’s a pat on the back to a player that needs one; second, it’s a pat on the back to a club that needs one.
James Milner joined Liverpool under a promise that he could play centrally more often. Looking at the high pressing game that Klopp loves though, he’s not likely to see that much time there. But it’s not that big of a blow to Milner, Klopp asks his attacking mids to work extremely hard in the battle, closing down players, covering ground, cutting passing lanes, winning possession and distributing it forward. All the things he probably likes about CM except for the comfort of sitting in the middle of the action. Those duties went to Lucas Leiva and Emre Can. Roberto Firmino was out for LFC, so Coutinho and Adam Lallana got the jobs next to Milner, Coutinho in the middle and AL on the left. The back five was as expected, Clyne and Moreno on the flanks, Skrtel and Sahko in the middle with Mignolet in goal. Sahko’s been a player that’s been on a fine run of form the last few weeks, one of the few in this team. Very similar to a team Rodgers may have named, at least on paper. No back three today. About what you’d expect from a manager who likes stacking his midfield high up the park.
As for Spurs - the overlooked home team - they were about as expected too but for a few injuries of their own. No Son Heung-min or Eric Dier meant starts for Nacer Chadli and Mousa Dembele. Spurs came in unbeaten since the first week of the season but with a poor recent record against Pool. They also happen to be the closest thing to a gegenpressing team that there is in the Premier League right now.
Which is telling, because at times it was hard to tell the difference between the two teams. They could have all swapped jerseys at half time and nobody would’ve been able to tell the difference. Each worked incredibly hard and neither quite seemed the finished product, for whatever reason.
Like Klopp himself said, this is not a bad team that he’s inherited. Not a title contender yet but 12 points from 8 games isn't a haul likely to get many managers sacked. So however much he could teach them in the three or four days he had he full squad for wasn’t all that important. Managers have to be able to adapt if they want to survive and Klopp consistently adapted at Dortmund, just as he will here. His style changed as he was able to find more effective ways to play and score. When Robert Lewandowski arrived it meant more crosses into the box, which may well continue when Christian Benteke is fit again. Plus when he had guys like Marco Reus and Ilkay Gündogan at their best his team played to keep possession much more. Likewise, the Liverpool players will adapt under Klopp as well. They won’t be the same players as before, they’ll learn and develop within what the new boss asks of them. All to varying degrees, of course.
And right from the kick off you could tell what Klopp had been working on with these guys. They pressed high and hard. James Milner is a guy we know has a high work rate and is very capable of doing the off-the-ball stuff but watching Lallana and Coutinho hounding after Vertongen, Alderweireld, Rose and Walker (plus Dembele & Alli when they got the chance) was pretty impressive. Two players not so well known for their defending. Spurs looked rushed in possession and that led to long balls out of danger, misplaced passes, tackles and, on one Kyle Walker example, poor touches that dribbled out of play.
One thing about that approach is that it takes a massive amount of energy out of you. Barcelona press hard and when they win it, they pass it around comfortably, saving their own strength while wearing the opposition down. Dortmund had trouble as the Klopp reign went on trying to balance this dogma across multiple games every week. Liverpool simply aren’t prepared to see it through yet. But even watered down it showed to be fairly effective (granted Spurs are a team that are a little more vulnerable to this than, say, Crystal Palace or West Ham).
It’s mostly that Liverpool weren’t fit enough. They were never gonna be. For the first 20 minutes they were well on top of this game, keeping their hosts from getting comfortable. Origi headed one onto the crossbar from a corner that was somehow kept out on the rebound by the combined efforts of Lloris and Kane. Lallana took a pop from distance. Nothing much else, though, and by the time the clock ticked by the half hour mark they looked tired and Spurs finally came into it.
An injury to Nacer Chadli meant Clinton N’Jie came on after only 11 minutes. That actually proved to be pretty helpful as his pace gave Nathaniel Clyne a few troubles as he tried to press forward on attack and left space in behind. His 40th minute shot over the bar was probably the closest Spurs came to scoring in the first half, having blitzed in to nick the ball from in front of Skrtel before unleashing his attempt.
For the most part this was a game of half-chances. Shots blocked or straight at the keeper. Passes not quite hitting the runner. Both sides threw men forward and met tight, organised defences. Plus the midfielders in front of them were all quite good, in particular Emre Can for LFC and Mousa Dembele for Spurs. Nope, not a typo, Dembele was actually outstanding. Having more skill at his feet than the others three guys playing as holders here, he was best suited to ducking and swerving out of danger and he distributed the ball well. Plus he’d make 8 total tackles, a mark only Danny Rose would match.
It didn’t take 45 minutes to realise that this was a game where both teams would cancel each other out, but games have been decided despite finer margins before. All it takes is a moment of genius or a moment of ignominy. Neither happened. Origi drove a powerful shot straight at Lloris, Kane smacked one goal-wards but Sakho took the heat off it with a superb diving block and Emre Can’s late shot went past the post. Both defences were unbreakable and it finished a very mutually acceptable 0-0. Liverpool with a big boost in effort and application, and Spurs with a solid showing at home against a team that’s given them some unhappy memories the last few times they’ve played. Tottenham probably feel like they should have won for the way they played in the second half but neither team went home too disappointed.
As games go on, we’ll see a more complete vision emerging from this Liverpool team. For now we’ve seen enough to know that they’re willing to fight and that’s already an improvement. There’s good reason to think that Klopp needs a full pre-season to really shape this team, the fitness side of things especially. Still, if you squinted your eyes (particularly in the first 20) you could make out the skeleton of what they could be. The problem was that they often didn’t know what to do after winning the ball back. Origi showed a touch in holding the ball up and completed his passes surprisingly well but he also got caught offside three times and didn’t shoot well for the few chances he got. Plus the attacking mids, for all their work, got lost in the final third. Coutinho only had one shot all game. His performance paralleled the team’s, really. A much bigger emphasis on not being turnstiles taking away from the attacking stuff. Like, under Rodgers Coutinho was a bonus player. It was cool to drift and disappear for an hour if he then came up with a piece of brilliance. He had a free licence. He won’t get that under Klopp.
Yet while we could talk about all the things that Liverpool didn’t do in Klopp’s first game, maybe we should spend more time on the things that they didn’t let Spurs do. The defensive side of the game is like an invisible threat, so much of it is about being in the right place and not making mistakes and when that’s all running smoothly you don’t notice it. It only gets spotted when there’s a mistake. And nobody made mistakes. Shots came difficultly. This was really good, and for both teams to be fair. Vertongen and Alderweireld are building a superb partnership.
You get the feeling that Milner’s gonna love playing for Klopp (wherever he puts him). Lallana too if he can finally get fit enough to last 90 minutes. The attacking side of things will probably come as time goes by and players become more comfortable with the ideas their manager puts across, leading to better decisions with the ball. Emre Can is one who looked like he could use a little more refinement but based on what he did against Spurs, he’s about to become the most important player in this team. Under Rodgers his versatility became a crutch that saw him squeezed into an unsteady defence. Under Klopp it looks like a strength.
Maybe the best indication of the game was this: For the first time all season, Spurs did not cover more ground than their opponents. It was also Liverpool’s first clean sheet since the 0-0 draw with Arsenal in September. Hey, they weren’t creating much from open play before Klopp anyway, this game wasn’t such an outlier on that side. At least now you can see what they’re trying to do.
Man of the Match: Mousa Dembele, man. So good. For a player who can be so skilful, so pretty to watch, it’s a wonder why he can’t play like this more often. Dembele gave Coutinho nothing to work with and he knocked the ball around well. Quality stuff.
The Good
Steve McClaren, Finally – Well, you can’t say Newcastle weren’t due. McClaren’s a good manager with a good squad and it had to be a matter of time before something went right after decent but unlucky draws with Manchester United and Chelsea and a tight loss to Arsenal already. It could have been different had Norwich put away a couple chances (Nathan Redmond is very good, if you didn’t know) but the Toon deserved it. Wijnaldum is a heck of a player. Mitrovic too, now that he’s finally gone long enough without getting suspended to play a few games in a row.
Man City’s Relief Goal Scorers – No Aguero, no Silva… no bloody worries mate. Wilfried Bony bagged a double and Raheem Sterling scored the first hat-trick of his professional career in their win over Bournemouth (poor Bournemouth). Bony only ever needed time, Sterling needed to get better at finishing. He has, but there's a way to go yet. Not that you can complain after a hatty.
Jamie Freakin’ Vardy – Where are all of these goals coming from? Is he actually this good? Vardy’s scored in six consecutive games and he’s the League’s top scorer right now. The latest was an injury time equaliser against Southampton (after he’d scored the first goal already) in a 2-2 draw. Soton threw it away, sure, but jeez these Foxes are tough to kill.
The Bad
Upsets – For the first time this season, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea all won. And they did it by a combined score of 13-1. At least there’s a Manchester Derby next week so this won’t be repeated.
Harry Kane – This didn’t get a huge mention in the passages above because he wasn’t much of a factor. Kane’s going through the second season slump and while he’s been better since getting the goalless monkey off his back, he’s still not the unstoppable force of 2014-15. He may never be that player again, largely because he was overrated for being English and scoring heaps of goals at the same time, but he should be expected to be more influential as a leading man. There’s a touch of ruthlessness missing from his game. The effort’s there but he still needs to figure out how he can positively help his team when he’s not scoring. Smarter movement across the backline is probably the answer, that’s a strength of his game already so it’s worth getting back to. He gets dragged out to the left too often. He’ll sort it out in time.
Dropped Stars – It might be too soon to call Memphis Depay a star but ‘til this week he’d started every Premier League game. Van Gaal suggested he rested Memphis and Daley Blind after their international disappointment with Holland but you cannot deny he’s not yet settled into the team, and they certainly didn't miss him in despatching Everton 3-0. As for Eden Hazard, he most certainly is a star and seeing Chelsea cruise to victory without the defending Player of the Year isn’t exactly reassuring. He’s not been pulling his weight defensively, wandering all over on attack and giving no help to his fullback. Jose doesn’t tend to stand for that jive.
The Ugly
Taking Them Anyway You Can Get Them – Chelsea’s top scorer in the Premier League so far is a fella by the name of Goals. Own Goals. They’re all worth the same amount, right Mou?
Aston Villa – If you’re looking to make a quick buck, throw a tenner on Tim Sherwood to be the next manager sacked. 99% chance it’s gonna happen.