If nothing else, Jurgen Klopp proved in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Genk that he still retains the ability to shake things up and surprise people with his team selection. With one eye on Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City, the manager opted to make some rotations of his starting eleven – no surprise there.
’Don’t Expect Reds to Have Things All Their Own Way in the West Midlands’ was the headline of our preview for the Aston Villa game, and in the end we couldn’t have been any more accurate.
Behind for 66 minutes and never ahead inside the regulation 90, there can be no doubt that while Liverpool were the better side, the Villains deserved something from the game. But football can be a cruel old sport at times, while winning is a habit and other such clichés.
When you pitch two teams of fringe players and youngsters, desperate to impress, against one another, you’re always likely to witness an energetic and chaotic spectacle.
“Our mentality has improved. That’s grown over the last few years and the gaffer has changed that so much.”
What a difference 72 hours can make. We were poor on Sunday at Old Trafford, there’s no doubt about it, with a lack of attacking ingenuity the main cause of a failure to break down Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s innovative take on parking the bus. But at Genk on Wednesday night, our old joie de vivre in attack was very much clear and present.
We can say it through gritted teeth, but the fact remains: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got his tactics spot on in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Let’s face it: there’s NO good time for an international break in the calendar, whether you support Liverpool or enjoy a bit of a bet every now and again. But it’s an especially bad time when you are enjoying the power of eight, as the Reds are. That is, we’re on an eight-game winning streak and enjoy an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table over Manchester City.
We were shown in glorious technicolour the perils of getting complacent on the football pitch at Anfield on Wednesday night. Liverpool had romped into a 3-0 lead in barely half an hour in the Champions League game against Red Bull Salzburg, with goals from Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson and Mo Salah giving us the most comfortable of leads.
That’s another stern test of our title credentials passed. Make no mistake: plenty of teams will flounder at Bramall Lane this season, where the Sheffield United fans are able to whip up a raucous atmosphere and make their opponent’s afternoon work rather difficult.
When you thrust your fringe players and a bunch of kids into the limelight for a tricky away tie in the cup, as a manager you must always fear the worst. But you couldn’t take the smile off Jurgen Klopp’s face as his makeshift Reds side grabbed a deserved 2-0 win at MK Dons in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.