Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KLOPP NEEDS TO ADJUST THE AERIAL
Sharp Blades easily exposed Liverpool’s Van Dijk-less defence with their strength in the air.. and it’s a failing that Reds must solve FAST
This time it didn’t cost Liverpool, but it could easily have done against a Sheffield United side who gave them plenty of problems.
Liverpool were far from their f luent best but at Anfield on Saturday they had an ace up their sleeve – mental strength.
The champions came into this game without their two firstchoice centre-halves, Virgil van
Dijk and Joel Matip.
They were facing opponents who, through the combative skills of Ollie Mcburnie, posed a real threat. The makeshift centre-back pairing of Joe Gomez and Fabinho did not win a single header against him in the first half, and that tends to lose you games.
Somehow, though, Liverpool won, despite another ridiculous VAR decision which gave the visitors a penalty – converted by Sander Berge – and despite an aerial frailty that will have the rest of the Premier League licking their lips.
For manager Jurgen Klopp, it is a sign that his team will keep finding a way. This wasn’t just a fight against Sheffield United, it was a fight to show they still as champions have the necessar y hunger to mount a st e r n d efen c e of their title.
“We had to dig deep,” said Klopp. “The boys did and that is so important. It’s nice to win a football game 3-0 and stroll through it, but that only happens when you are ready to fight in games like this, to really fight hard. On nights like this you earn the right to win those other games. And that is why I love this game so much.”
The point the manager is making is that Liverpool had to pass the test posed by the Blades to ensure that future opponents still fear them.
And, on the occasions that Liverpool went forward, they showed there is still plenty to fear.
Klopp (above) employed almost a 4-2-4 formation to accommodate the talent of Diogo Jota, whose winning goal, after Roberto Firmino had levelled before the break, repaid the faith of his manager. But it’s not a system Klopp is likely to use again because Liverpool looked wide open, even
after Berge had put Blades ahead from a penalty awarded for a foul by Brazilian star Fabinho that looked neither a foul nor in the penalty area (left).
The German said: “We had four players wanting the ball behind the last line and it was like we had no midfielders!”
And Jota himself, while delivering the winner, looked some way off understanding what is required of him, as Klopp gently pointed out.
“Yes, Diogo scored a super goal and was really involved in the game. But he can be much better, 100 per cent, and that’s good news,” he said.
“He is still adapting. At the moment a lot of things we do are not natural to him but that’s only because his former club Wolves play differently – but a lot of things he did for Wolves are exactly what we want him to do.
“That he is close already is just a sign of how good a player he is. If he stays fit, the future is bright, let me say it like that. We will need his quality and I am really happy that he has settled nicely so far.”