THE GOLD ONE-TWO
Gaffer in no doubt who takes Reds’ penalties
JURGEN KLOPP won’t allow penalty- kick anarchy at Liverpool – and is sticking by his policy of having a prearranged system that must be obeyed.
Liverpool head to Stamford Bridge today just four days after Ross Barkley was involved in a row with fellow Chelsea star Willian over who should take a late penalty against Valencia in the Champions League.
England midfielder Barkley missed – condemning Chelsea to a 1-0 defeat and sparking debate on the process of deciding spot-kick takers.
Row
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba missed a penalty at Wolves earlier this season, taking the kick ahead of Marcus Rashford, who had scored from the spot on the opening weekend against Chelsea.
There was no row on that occasion – but recent seasons have seen Fulham star Aboubakar Kamara miss after refusing to let designated taker Aleksander Mitrovic have the ball.
And, two seasons ago, Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke apologised after ignoring instructions by wrestling the ball off Luka Milivojevic, who had already scored from the spot in the match against Bournemouth, before missing his kick.
For Klopp, however, there’s no grey area.
He’s nominated James Milner and Mo Salah for penalty duty – and has hinted he may go deeper to find a three or even four. “The rule for us is Milly (Milner) is the taker. When he is not on the pitch, Mo is the taker. So far, we’ve had no situation when both were not on the pitch. That’s it,” he said.
“We would probably think about it if both were not on the pitch, but, so far, that’s not happened.
System
“We have a couple of other good penalty takers, too.
“But very often, if you don’t make a decision, it should normally be the guy who feels the best.
“The thing about it, though, is the first one who takes the ball isn’t probably the guy who feels best – that is when the discussion starts.
“It’s never with the first guy with the ball,” laughed Klopp. “But it always starts with the others around saying, ‘Do we really feel he should take it?’
“Of course, it can happen, we are all people, but I am not a really big fan of that kind of system. We nominate our takers and the players know that.”
Liverpool are unbeaten in the league this season with a 100 per cent record after five games – and Klopp aims to make it six of the best against Chelsea.
Last season, Liverpool dropped points with away draws at Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Manchester United – results that cost the title.
“Of those games, the one we should have won was at Arsenal because of the chances we created,” he said.
“But you cannot always go for the result because the league is so strong that, if you open up in the last 20 minutes, you give the other team a chance.
“Sometimes when you want to win, you can lose. It makes no sense.
“But you have to be solid and you have to be sensible.”