KLOPP’S AWAY
Manager bags first win thanks to gamble on youth
WE have had lots of talk, some halfdecent jokes and some running — lots of running — from his players. Now, though, Jurgen Klopp has something more tangible to reflect on at Liverpool, a victory.
Given his club’s barren recent run in terms of trophies — one in nineand-a-half years — Klopp may come to sense opportunity in a League Cup competition already shorn of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.
For now, though, this win — narrow as it was — will serve a more short-term purpose. Any manager needs one before he can really start to move forward and the German will have slept more easily last night.
This was a brave Klopp team selection. His first team are arguably weak enough at the moment so this line-up were certainly vulnerable to a Bournemouth team who arrived to play on the front foot.
The first half was tight as Bournemouth imposed themselves on a Liverpool team who had developed a weird habit of continually drawing. The second half, however, was rather more to Klopp’s liking as his young team pressed and passed and created some opportunities that they couldn’t take.
Ultimately, they left the field happily, Klopp embracing his players with a toothy grin that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a father at a graduation. The winning goal had come in the first half from full back Nathaniel Clyne, and the save goalkeeper Adam Bogdan made in the second minute of added time from Matt Ritchie was his fourth good one of the night.
So, it was that kind of night. Some good, some bad, as another foreign manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, used to say but ultimately more of the former than the latter.
Had things not gone his way last night, Klopp would have faced some questions. This is a competition that holds an opportunity for a Liverpool side desperate for a trophy and to field a team here featuring only two of the players who started at the weekend against Southampton might have looked careless had Bournemouth taken early opportunities.
The most notable inclusions in Klopp’s team were the young trio of full back Connor Randall and midfielders Cameron Brannagan and the Portuguese Joao Teixeira. Neither had started previously for the club and had only 18 minutes of Liverpool football between them before opportunity knocked last night.
‘I had seen these players train for two weeks and I knew I would play them the first chance I had,’ was Klopp’s explanation. ‘I was completely sure they had the qualities they need.’
With the likes of Roberto Firmino — the expensive but confidenceshy Brazilian — and erratic central defender Dejan Lovren also in the team, it was no surprise that Liverpool started uncertainly, even if both later showed themselves as two of their team’s better players.
Early on, though, it was the Hungarian goalkeeper Bogdan who impressed and for Klopp that was just as well.
Had Junior Stanislas found the net after profiting from Joe Allen’s mistake in the fifth minute and then turning Lovren inside out, it could have been a long night for the hosts. As it was, Bogdan advanced smartly to block.
That served as a warning to Liverpool and they did improve, even if the winning goal arrived at a time when their football was patchy at best.
Firmino had brought a save from Adam Federici with a shot from 20 yards but the move that led to the goal came from a rare moment of fluency as Liverpool advanced down the right, Firmino played in Teixeira and when his audacious back-heel was hacked from the line by Adam Smith, Clyne raced in from the left to score.
On the touchline Klopp celebrated with enthusiasm. He likes to do that. Just as they had been on Sunday, his team were ahead against a team from the South Coast. This time, they knew they had to make the most of it.
For a while an equaliser looked distinctly possible, if not inevitable. Bogdan saved well from a Stanislas header that came at him from close range and then palmed away a free-kick from the same player that looked destined for his right-hand corner. The goalkeeper, signed from Bolton in the summer, was enjoying an almost faultless night and his efforts provided his team with a platform from which they could go on and play some better football in the second half.
A header from Bournemouth’s Shaun MacDonald worried Liverpool a little at the start of the second period but from that point on the visitors’ challenge waned and Liverpool improved dramatically with Firmino and young Londoner Jordon Ibe at the heart of much of what was good.
Firmino lacked a little composure in lashing two chances wide but at least he was dangerous and this was a good night for him.
‘Roberto worked really hard and he is ready,’ said Klopp.
‘He has prepared for this league. He’s strong, a technician.’
Klopp will hope for the return of Christian Benteke for Saturday’s game at Chelsea and that, obviously, will be a different kind of test.
Bogdan’s late save from Ritchie ensured that this one ended the right way at least.
‘It was the best they could do, so I am completely satisfied,’ concluded Klopp.
‘I feel much better. The result is the big difference.’