Liverpool’s new manager Jurgen Klopp got off to a decent start as the Reds held the in-form Tottenham Hotspur to a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane. We look at three positive signs to emerge out of the tie for the Anfield outfit.
Liverpool travelled to White Hart Lane with Mauricio Pochettino’s men in great form, having not lost a game since their opening day defeat at Old Trafford and having won three out of their last four tie going in the game.
However, Liverpool FC, playing under new manager Jurgen Klopp, started fantastically and dominated the early proceedings and finished the game well to earn a good point against a strong and in-form Spurs side.
We look at three positives to emerge from the game.
Emre Can’s resurgence
Can had been played in many different positions under the reign of former manager Brendan Rodgers, the national side and his previous club Bayer Leverkusen.
However, it looks like Can has been given a new lease of life under Jurgen Klopp and will be deployed in his preferred midfield position, if the last game’s performance is anything to go by.
The German looked to drive the midfield forward and was playing the box-to-box role with much more conviction, driving forward at the right time and tracking back to tackle opponents, too.
His work-rate was impressive and the Turkish born German international won 64 percent of his duels, created two chances and made four key tackles to round off his impressive performance.
Relentless work-rate and pressing
Spurs had outran every single opponent of theirs until last night when Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool FC came at White Hart Lane.
Klopp’s Dortmund side were known to squeeze the life out of their opponents with their relentless pressing, and more of the same was visible as Liverpool FC ran 10km more than in their last game against Everton under manager Brendan Rodgers.
While it will take time for players to reach their peak fitness to play under the demanding pressing routine Klopp asks for, once they reach it, we will see even more relentless pressing and teams will come to hate playing against Liverpool FC.
The signs are ominous for visitors to Anfield.
Solid defending
One problem throughout the reign of Brendan Rodgers at Anfield was the failure of the defence.
While Rodgers was also let down time and again by individual errors, the set piece defending as well as collective defending as a team was pretty ordinary most of the time.
The first thing that Klopp said when he took charge at Anfield was that he wanted to improve the defence of Liverpool FC, claiming that no side in the history of game have been able to achieve success if they do not have a good defence.
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The Reds kept a clean sheet against a good Spurs side on Saturday. And while there were nervy moments, the Merseyside outfit were very organized in general, leaving little or no gaps in their defence.
While there were some nervy moments in terms of individual defensive errors, as Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho threatened to commit hara-kiri, the side looked more assured in defence in general, with Simon Mignolet in great form in particular, pulling off some incredible saves.
Half of the problems at Anfield can be resolved if Liverpool FC can sort their defence out, and if the Spurs game is anything to go by, the Reds defence will only become better.