Breaking up the Fab Four didn't cost Jurgen Klopp the Merseyside derby
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Liverpool went into the Merseyside derby off the back of a 7-0 Champions League win, facing an Everton side arguably at its lowest ebb in years, and ended up with one of those draws that feels like a defeat.
Should fingers be pointed at manager Jurgen Klopp ?
The game in midweek against Spartak Moscow featured Liverpool’s irresistible strike force, the ‘Fab Four’, going about their business in ruthless style and cutting through the Russian defence with ease.
On Sunday Klopp made big changes, and not just to the front four, the net result being that Liverpool’s cutting edge looked blunt.
(Image: John Powell)
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
The possession stats were so ridiculous that if you saw them on a console game, you’d be reporting it as a bug – especially if the game ended 1-1. Yet possession stats don’t bring points, goals do, and Liverpool struggled to turn the possession into any real kind of threat.
After the game, the focus was all on whether the penalty that Rooney equalised from should have been awarded in the first place or not. Klopp didn’t think so.
The German seems to be finding it harder to hide his frustrations of late and found himself having to apologise after losing his cool in front of the TV cameras after the game.
He said Calvert-Lewin was “smart” in winning the penalty and that the referee “opened the door” but turning on the interviewer: “We can stop the interview, because I only want to speak with someone who has a little bit of understanding of football.”
(Image: LIVERPOOL ECHO)
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
The debate will no doubt rage on about the decision but the game is over and the goal stands. Goals happen against the run of play all the time in football and, whether they happen through good play, bad luck or unsighted referees, once they are given they count all the same.
What Klopp and his staff should be debating at Melwood this week is how the Reds managed to cause so little trouble to the Everton goal. Even after the equaliser Everton had little need to panic.
Sadio Mane won’t need telling that he should have passed instead of shooting, but the form Liverpool have been in of late he should have had another chance to do so soon after.
A one-goal lead never feels like enough for Liverpool and, once Sam Allardyce had shown his hand with two half-time substitutions, it would have been the ideal opportunity for Klopp to show his own and bring on his reinforcements.
Liverpool could have had the game killed off quickly, instead of falling to Big Sam’s tried and trusted strategy.
(Image: Action Images via Reuters)
Sam Allardyce arrived at Goodison Park in rescue mode. All the excitement Everton fans had in the summer, their predictions of finishing up in the European places after their crazy spending spree, had been replaced by the fear that it might be a different dotted line they will be fighting to stay the right side of in the table.
In rescue mode Allardyce will be happy with a single point against teams up near the top of the table, it’s the teams around his side he’ll be looking to take three from. It’s hilarious for Liverpool fans to hear Evertonians talking about Merseyside being blue after a performance like that, but that’s just Everton, isn’t it?
The problem for Klopp is that it isn’t just Everton with that kind of mentality. It’s a problem that Liverpool have struggled to contend with for years and one that Klopp seemed to have started to find the answer to of late.
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He’ll have to contend with it again on Wednesday, with newly-appointed Alan Pardew bringing his West Brom side to Anfield, and maybe it was having one eye on that game that made Klopp take his eye ever so slightly off this one.
Like Allardyce, Pardew will be trying to make the most of the change of momentum that often comes with the introduction of a new manager, like Allardyce he’ll celebrate a point like it was enough to earn a place in the World Cup final.
In Klopp’s defence, despite it being the derby – and taking into account the sense it was an opportunity missed given the other results over the weekend – Liverpool are still on track to finish higher in the league than last season. They are already into the last 16 of the Champions League. They are, usually, very exciting to watch.
(Image: Getty)
All of that is far more important to the Reds than the result of one match.
To continue in Klopp’s defence, he has to keep an eye on the whole of the fixture list, at a time of year when the English game capitalises on the European break by squeezing in as many games as it can. This is the time of year when players pick up knocks and strains because of the lack of recovery time between matches.
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The criticism of Klopp would have been far greater had he gone into the hectic Christmas period with half of his ‘Fab Four’ out injured through overuse.
Top-scorer Salah wasn’t substituted because Klopp thought it was ‘job done’, he went off because Klopp wanted him ready to be used again at some point on Wednesday. He’ll need him.
What Liverpool must do now is bounce back – it wasn’t a defeat, whatever the blue half of the city might be trying to say – and find that ruthless streak from last week. Ruthlessness will be the difference, as a team and as individuals, and that applies to any of the Reds side the manager decides to make use of.