Reds resume their title chase
KLOPP: IT’S BACK TO OUR MISERLY WAYS IN DEFENCE
Birmingham
Liverpool resume their Premier League title charge at Aston Villa today with Juergen Klopp hoping to avoid a repeat of the defensive mayhem that nearly wrecked their dramatic League Cup win against Arsenal.
Klopp played a reserve side for the fourth round tie on Wednesday, featuring a number of emerging stars, and saw them advance via a penalty shoot-out having twice overcome two-goal deficits to draw 5-5 in 90 minutes.
Liverpool conceded as many goals in one cup game as they have all season at Anfield in the Premier League so, while it was a memorable evening, Klopp will be banking on his regular defence returning to their miserly ways at Villa Park.
Klopp’s system is based on defending from the front and launching a devastating press whenever the opposition are in possession.
It is an approach that carried Liverpool to Champions League glory last season and has put them in pole position to win the title this term.
Klopp’s high-tempo game-plan also makes the most of the abilities of Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino.
The 28-year-old has scored just three league goals in 10 appearances this season, below his normal productivity rate.
While Firmino’s goal record may have come under scrutiny outside Anfield, within the club his status and reputation appears to be rising with every passing month.
Experts have described Firmino as the best player in the world at what he does, implementing Klopp’s complicated, but hugely successful, tactical, pressing system.
By comparison, Xherdan Shaqiri has been with Liverpool for nearly 18 months and is still not trusted by Klopp, in big games at least, because of his inability to carry out precise and demanding instructions.
The Liverpool manager requires his forwards, when out of possession, to constantly close down angles to prevent opposition defences passing the ball forward.
Many strikers may not have the discipline or worth ethic to carry out those demands, but Firmino and team-mates Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane fit Klopp’s identikit striker.
The pressure on Firmino to score goals is far less given the outrageous productivity of his two colleagues.
Salah and Mane both scored 22 goals in the Premier League last season and have five apiece in the league to date - figures that reduce the need on Firmino to score.
“He’s an incredibly important player. He enjoys it so much to play in this team, to be really there with all these super guys around him,” said the Liverpool manager.
Sometimes, midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has been placed at the middle of the trio.
For Villa Park, Klopp has no new injury concerns. –