Klopp faced by a spot of bad news
AS James Milner stepped up to take the penalty which would have all but secured Liverpool’s Champions League qualification Jurgen Klopp went through his usual routine in front of the dugout.
Standing upright and still, with his back to the field of play and hands wedged firmly in his pockets, he trusted the faces in the stands over his own eyes to deliver the news.
On this occasion the sight that greeted him was an unfamiliar one.
It was not the usual hands punching air but hands grasping heads as Milner’s effort was saved by Fraser Forster. Klopp’s stand-in captain had failed him from the spot for the first time in 11 attempts.
If Milner missing from 12 yards was rare, the feeling of Liverpool missing another great opportunity to secure their top-four spot has become all too familiar.
For all the disappointment in the stands at Anfield, Forster’s heroics were not a hammer blow to Klopp’s hopes of Champions League football.
This goalless stalemate was still enough to lift them back over Manchester City into third place in the table and Liverpool fans travelling home were further warmed by hearing of defeat for Manchester United against Arsenal.
But it once again left those same fans pondering on the TEAM HERE ability of Klopp’s side to handle the pressure in crunch situations.
For all that Liverpool’s season has included many highlights and some thrilling football it now comes down to West Ham away and Middlesbrough at home on the next two Sundays. And given the positions they have been in several times, the feeling that they should have put it to bed by now is inescapable.
Klopp smiled when asked where this left his side.
“Before this we needed three wins and now I would say two would not be bad,” he said. “We tried until the end but today was one of those days. We have one point more and we wanted three, but it is not the end of the world. We will keep going.”
The afternoon undoubtedly pivoted around the penalty given to Liverpool when Jack Stephens, perhaps inadvertently, appeared to help the ball back to Forster with the back of his upper arm when challenging Divock Origi just after the hour. It was contentious enough for two minutes to elapse between the award and Milner’s kick and for two Saints players – Cedric and James Ward-Prowse – to be booked for getting in referee Robert Madley’s face with over-enthusiastic protests.
Forster was lucky to escape a caution, having twice delayed proceedings by standing on the penalty spot directly in Milner’s way.
It will frustrate Klopp that Claude Puel’s men have now lined up against his side four times this season and won 1-0 twice in both legs of the EFL Cup semi-final and drawn 0-0 twice in the league.
Puel declined to gloat but said that not giving Liverpool good positions from which to shoot was key – a tactic that led to most of their chances coming from speculative hits from outside a packed area.
Marko Grujic was thrown on by Klopp as his final substitute with three minutes left – and nearly won it for them with a header from Milner’s diagonal.
Milner fronted up about the penalty miss after the game.
“Obviously the penalty is my fault and the fact we didn’t get three points is definitely my fault,” he said. “You have to take those chances.”
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Mignolet 5; Clyne 6, Matip 6, Lovren 6, Milner 6; Can 5, Lucas 5 (Lallana 69, 4), Wijnaldum 4 (Grujic 87); Firmino 5, Origi 4 (Sturridge 69, 5), Coutinho 5. Booked: Lovren. NEXT UP: West Ham (a), Sun PL SOUTHAMPTON (4-5-1): Forster 8; Cedric 7, Stephens 7, Yoshida 6, Bertrand 6; Tadic 5, Davis 7, Romeu 9, Ward-Prowse 7, Boufal 5 (Redmond 61, 6); Gabbiadini 5 (Long 69, 6). Booked: Cedric, Ward-Prowse, Bertrand. NEXT UP: Arsenal (a), Wed PL Referee: R Madley (W Yorks).