LAME OLD STORY
Klopp can’t solve his side’s set-play fragility as Britos earns Hornets a late point
NO matter how hard Liverpool fight to keep Philippe Coutinho, it will not address the frailties which undermined them at Watford.
Indeed, no matter how hard they fight to prise Virgil van Dijk from Southampton, it is hard to see how a centre-half can cure all the ills.
It may be a new season but it opened with familiar old problems for Jurgen Klopp and his team and they were hit by the equaliser in stoppage-time by Miguel Britos.
It was certainly not pretty and it was probably not fair given Britos was offside when Richarlison’s effort from a near-post corner was diverted against the bar by the right hand of Simon Mignolet.
Any offence escaped the attention of the officials, however, and the Watford centre-half had the strength to keep Mignolet at bay as he nodded the rebound into the net from a matter of inches.
Vicarage Road erupted to acclaim the sixth goal of another breathless game in the Premier League and the rightful heir to the pulsating chaos of the opener between Arsenal and Leicester on Friday night.
Liverpool had started badly, going behind from a set-piece but recovering, going behind to another goal with a strong hint of offside and then taking control with two goals in two second-half minutes.
For half-an-hour or so, Mohamed Salah, so often untidy and wasteful, was cast as the goal hero on his return to the Premier League.
Then Liverpool conceded again from a corner and the points were shared.
‘That’s really not fun,’ fumed Klopp. ‘It was offside and that’s hard to accept, but we know we can do better and we have to do better.
‘You cannot expect perfection in the first match but I was not happy in the first half when it was obviously very physical and Watford were the winners in these situations. They didn’t create too much with the ball but they scored two and everyone will say: “Oh, it was a set-piece”.’
They will because it was — and it is so often the case with Liverpool.
Jose Holebas sent an inswinging corner with wonderful pace and Stefano Okaka ran away from one red shirt and past another to meet it.
Okaka was only four yards out when he made contact but Mignolet stayed rooted on his line and was powerless to keep the header out.
‘I’m not fed up talking about set-pieces,’ said Klopp. ‘I have to talk about it. We defended most of them really well, but at the end is it enough if we concede one goal? No.
‘We have to work on it but there are a lot of things to work on. No direction in the first half. Much better in the second half, playing football but it leads to nothing.’
Going forward, Liverpool can be quick and dangerous and they made it 1-1 through a slick passing move which revolved around Sadio Mane, who eased the ball to Alberto Moreno and continued his run.
Moreno zipped a pass into the feet of Emre Can, who found Mane with a flick and the Senegal striker finished past Heurelho Gomes.
Watford’s second was scored by Abdoulaye Doucoure amid more comic capers from Liverpool and another appeal in vain for offside.
Doucoure found Tom Cleverley on the right and his low cross was fired by right-back Trent AlexanderArnold into centre-half Joel Matip, who was in a heap on the floor.
The ricochet dropped kindly for Doucoure to sweep it into the net.
This time, the offside call concerned Okaka, who was a yard off when Doucoure passed to Cleverley and, although he did not touch the ball, his presence was key to the tangle between AlexanderArnold and Matip.
Whatever instruction Klopp gave at half-time had the desired effect on his team and, in particular, Salah — who turned the game in a matter of minutes soon after the interval.
First he was simply too quick for Gomes as he burst onto a through ball and was toppled by the Watford goalkeeper. Referee Anthony Taylor took his time before awarding the penalty but he made the right call.
Roberto Firmino beat Gomes from the spot and, within two minutes, Liverpool led for the first time.
Britos played Firmino onside and the Brazilian latched on to a long pass out of defence by Dejan Lovren and lobbed the goalkeeper to leave Salah with the task of beating Britos in a race to score his first since a £34million transfer from Roma.
Liverpool turned up the heat, Matip glanced a corner woodwork, Lovren forced a save from Gomes and Salah sent another effort well over the bar when he ought to have hit the target.
These chances took on an extra significance when Britos made it 3-3 and gave Marco Silva something to celebrate on his first game as manager of Watford.
‘It was a good result and fair,’ said Silva. ‘I didn’t like the first 25 minutes of the second half but we reacted well. We left it to the end but it was important and deserved.’