KEOWN TALKS TACTICS
LIVERPOOL’S CLASS OF 2020 COULD LEARN A LOT FROM ARSENAL IN 2002
IN SEPTEMBER 2002, we felt untouchable at Arsenal and Arsene Wenger told us we were capable of seeing out the entire season without losing in the Premier League. Then a month later, after going 30 games unbeaten, a 16-year-old Wayne Rooney gave Everton a 2-1 win against us. Suddenly that aura we had been carrying disappeared and what followed was a spate of defeats in England and Europe. Three days after losing to Everton: Arsenal 1, Auxerre 2. Four days after that: Arsenal 1, Blackburn 2. Another four days: Borussia Dortmund 2, Arsenal 1. Everything unravelled. We went from being unbeatable to losing four matches on the trot. Now Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have lost back-to-back games against Watford then Chelsea, and all eyes are on how they react. This is new territory for their players — suddenly they’re turning up at the training ground and having to hold inquests into defeats. We managed to pick ourselves back up by becoming the Invincibles in 2003-04 instead, and that losing spell the season before definitely helped us. We wanted to be crowned champions and were afraid of what might happen if we lost a match!
It made us determined to be even better. Liverpool need to get back into that zone they were in, too. Right now they are looking more like mere mortals than the superhumans they were. Bournemouth may be looking at them and thinking: ‘Well, if Watford can do it, why can’t we?’ How did Nigel Pearson’s side upset the champions elect? The hosts at Vicarage Road had only 29 per cent possession but when they didn’t have the ball they built a wall. Wingers Ismaila Sarr and Gerard Deulofeu, with the latter replaced by
Roberto Pereyra before half time because of injury, sat deep and it made the back four more of a back six. Yet that is not to say this was a purely defensive performance from Watford. Sarr made superb runs behind the Liverpool back line and when Watford won the ball they were quick in trying to hit their opponents. That was the worst performance of the season from Klopp’s side and they missed Trent Alexander-Arnold in their subsequent FA Cup defeat at Chelsea. He had a poor game against Watford but his
range of passing and crossing ability was missed at Stamford Bridge. Has there ever been a better deliverer of the ball by a full back than this 21-year-old? I’m not sure there has and his absence let Chelsea off the hook. He now needs to come back in, because he is key to Liverpool’s set-up, and they could do with a win before tackling Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid at Anfield. What a mammoth contest that will be on Wednesday. Becoming the Invincibles has gone for Klopp, and so is the chance to lift the FA Cup. Liverpool’s boss will not want a Champions League exit to cap an awful two weeks. Beat Bournemouth today and get back on track.