Milner spot on ...but Klopp’s flops struggle
So ALL the boxes were ticked: a win, a clean sheet, a place in the europa League’s last 16 and no new injuries.
Liverpool’s players enjoyed receiving Anfield’s acclaim at the final whistle and those supporters who had managed to secure an early exit from work for the 6pm kick-off left the stadium singing about the impending trip to Wembley.
A good evening, then? Jurgen Klopp certainly thought so. But the reality? Very different.
Liverpool’s adventure in europe continues but they made heavy weather of this. it was not the performance of a team who look primed to deliver silverware.
Sluggish in parts and erratic in front of goal, Liverpool’s passage was secured thanks to James Milner’s first-half penalty but their profligacy was almost costly and Manchester City, Sunday’s opponents in the Capital one Cup final, will not be losing sleep.
‘it is better than if we had been knocked out,’ Klopp argued. ‘this is not relevant to Sunday but the team has benefited from a good performance — but you could say the same about City in Kiev last night.’
the evening could hardly have started better. When Dominik Kohr handled Jordan Henderson’s cross, referee Clement turpin had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Milner (right) held his nerve, thrashing his penalty beyond the grasp of Marwin Hitz.
For some reason,
though, building on that advantage proved dreadfully hard work. Liverpool had plenty of possession but didn’t give the impression they would do something significant with it and the chances they created were all snatched.
Philippe Coutinho, the team’s creative spark, shot straight at Hitz after exchanging passes with Daniel Sturridge while Roberto Firmino’s instinctive side-footed effort following a cross by Alberto Moreno was palmed away by the Augsburg keeper, who finished the half thwarting Sturridge.
the lack of cutting edge led to some restlessness among the natives. there was also anxiety, particularly when Augsburg left back Kostas Stafylidis forced a save out of Simon Mignolet and Caiuby fired into the side netting.
Sturridge had a chance to ease the tension in the 49th minute, when Coutinho picked the pocket of right back Paul Verhaegh, but, on this occasion, the england striker got his angles wrong and rolled his shot wide of the upright. Lacking sharpness, his night ended shortly after when Klopp decided to save Sturridge’s legs for Wembley.
Much to the manager’s irritation, however, Liverpool started to become even more ragged. He patrolled his technical area, frequently barking out instructions, occasionally turning to his lieutenants, to see how some calm could be restored.
Sensing they had a chance to pilfer a killer away goal, Augsburg began to push forward. only a brave tackle from Mignolet to deny tobias Werner, who scampered through the middle on to a basic, straight ball that alarmingly dissected Liverpool’s defence, prevented them being flattened.
As the home fans became increasingly mute — and Klopp became increasingly irate, at one point screeching at Milner to get into position — it seemed likely Augsburg would torpedo Liverpool’s ambitions. they could not have come closer than they did in the 89th minute.
Lucas, playing as a central defender, gave away a free kick on the edge of his area. Stafylidis hit a left-footed curler over the wall but it drifted inches wide and Liverpool were through. if they are to go further than the last 16, Klopp privately will know improvement is imperative.
‘if you can’t decide the game early enough it’s always like this, especially against a team like Augsburg,’ said Klopp. ‘At the end they had long balls and the free kick was a big challenge for us. But it was absolutely deserved. We were the better team.
‘We caused our own problem by not scoring enough. We forgot to make the decisive goal but i am completely fine. now we will try our damnedest to get a good performance on Sunday.’
Deep down he will know something better than ‘good’ will be needed to provide a silver lining.