Fruitless night for Liverpool as Klopp rotates squad again
The full-time march from the touchline to referee is becoming frustratingly familiar to Jurgen Klopp. If a contentious penalty decision irked him after Sunday’s Merseyside derby, a handball ruling to deny Dominic Solanke his first Liverpool goal left him cursing another home draw.
It is difficult to know who had most trepidation at the final whistle at Anfield: referee Paul Tierney as the Liverpool manager sought his attention; or TV interviewers seeking Klopp’s assessment.
In fairness to West Bromwich Albion, they were deserving of their point and would have been considered unlucky had Solanke’s 83rdminute strike stood. Replays showed the ball bounce off the striker’s chest and then appear to divert past Ben Foster off his arm. Tierney consulted with his assistant before awarding a free-kick.
“Brave but right,” was Alan Pardew’s observation, echoing the words of Sam Allardyce after a similarly debated call four days ago.
“For me, it’s twice deflected and I’m still not sure if the hand was with the ball. It looks like chest,” said Klopp. “In the game it looked 100 per cent like chest. Afterwards I had a few replays, there’s an arm but not sure if he touches the ball. Is it a penalty in the other box? I’m not sure, it’s not on purpose.
“It must be a really good assistant that made the decision. He will be happy probably if there was a hand involved. That’s another moment where we had no luck, because if he doesn’t see it, or he’s not sure, as he obviously was, it’s a goal.”
It should be noted Klopp was more exasperated than furious with the officials’ intervention, although the greater cause of his bewilderment was that only four minutes of added time – one in the first half, three in the second – was afforded to his increasingly desperate side.
The focus on the key incident deflects from West Brom’s excellence in not only nullifying Liverpool’s attacking quartet, but showing more enterprise going forward than previous Anfield visitors.
Hal Robson-kanu came closest to a winner when he struck the crossbar in the first half, and Loris Karius – surprisingly preferred to Simon Mignolet – made two excellent saves at the start of the second, the latter from Claudio Yacob.
Liverpool looked more threatening in the final stages as Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Alex Oxlade-chamberlain spurned opportunities, and Roberto Firmino somehow struck wide early on. But most of the evening was a vindication, rather than undermining, of Klopp’s rotation policy. The game was a replica of the Merseyside derby in terms of attack versus defence, but the personnel so craved over the weekend faced the same obstacles. Having been accused of rotating too much against Everton, there were another six changes here. Philippe Coutinho and Firmino returned and Salah, who was told he will be rested soon, continued. Sadio Mane looked like he needed a break.
Pardew repeated and embellished the Allardyce master plan, dropping his defenders so deep goalkeeper Foster was in danger of playing beyond them. Yet it was not all a rearguard action, even if Jonny Evans and Ahmed Hegazi shone.
Salomon Rondon was alone but diligent up front and the rarely used Grzegorz Krychowiak looked a class act in possession.
“It has made me feel a lot better than I was feeling last night,” said Pardew, acknowledging the psychological importance of moving out of the relegation zone.
“Since we have come in, we have had a great reaction from the players. We sensed we were in a great place before Swansea. It did not come out in the game, but tonight it did. We gain a lot of confidence. There were great individual displays.” West Brom look better than a bottom-three team, while Klopp’s Premier League ambitions for the foreseeable future are focused on returning to the top four.
His side have extended their unbeaten run to 11 games. They are a good team that rarely loses – possibly the most underrated side in recent Liverpool history – but keep losing momentum with draws.
The most immediate concern for Klopp is some of his players appear to be feeling the effects of their schedule. Rotation is not the problem.
The ceaseless Anfield cycle of excellence followed by deflation is.
Liverpool
Subs Booked West Bromwich Albion Referee
Subs Booked