I think this game finally crystallized this for me: our main issue is that the league has figured Klopp's system out and so far he has refused to adjust. Earlier this season (and last season as well) Klopp took most teams by surprise by his unusual emphasis on playing centrally, on clogging the middle of the pitch in attack as well as defense. 4-3-3 is normally a system that emphasizes wing-play in attack – but in Klopp's unique interpretation, he had wingers play practically as strikers, and even a natural winger like Mane has played (and found joy) closer to the middle – that's how he has become our leading scorer this season. This was highly unusual for English football, with its historic emphasis on wing-play, and proved highly effective.
However, by 2017 even Championship teams got the memo – the way to beat Liverpool is to match them by also clogging the middle much more than they usually would against other teams. I think Burnley were the first team who did it this season and after it worked for them and a couple other teams, the blueprint of "anti-Liverpool football" has emerged and got gradually perfected by the collective wisdom of the rival managers. Now every half-decent manager knows exactly what to do: put 3 players in CM/DM position to take away any space through the middle and watch Liverpool bang their heads against this wall for 90 minutes, gradually getting frustrated and sloppy, and ever more vulnerable to the quick counter. There is plenty of space being left by both teams on either side, but somehow our players are never instructed to work in those spaces – there is almost never any wing-forward or midfielder going out wide to play some combinations with the full-back, it's always a full-back all alone in that space and none of our FB are good enough dribblers who could threaten entering the penalty area from the side, they all look to cross the ball.
Why has Klopp being so slow to adjust to this new reality? I wish I had a good answer; it does look to me like he has been in denial, finding all kinds of explanations for this growing problem – bad luck with finishing chances, fixture congestion, now even having a go at refereeing decisions a little bit, which is not typical for him at all. After the Saints loss he again – bizarrely – blamed the wind "creating problems for the football-playing side" (as if cutting teams to shreds on the counter is not "football-playing." It's strange to hear it from Klopp, who has specialized in this kind of football at Dortmund). Again, this is not at all typical for Klopp to search for silly excuses like that, it just shows how rattled and lost for answers he is at the moment. It has not just been words – his actions showed denial too, from playing Firmino on the wing in almost every game since Coutinho has been injured (ensuring the team doesn't have width on the left flank) to failing to replace Mane with a like-for-like player, to his baffling omission of Ojo today when he was the only player who could have provided that width – instead asking Woodburn to play at wing-back in the 2nd half.
This failing to address the fundamental tactical problem has now created a ripple effect of other problems – the attacking players gradually lost confidence (who wouldn't after banging your head against the wall for 90 minutes game after game?), the midfielders are being caught in two minds between trying to be patient and trying to force some kind of opening, the defense has been exposed for pace by teams deliberately stacking their attacking line with pacy players looking to hurt us on the counter (some of these players might not have even been selected otherwise, because they would not be nearly as effective in a normal game with 55/45 % possession instead of 80/20 % that has become the norm now). One point I want to make about the defense – sure, we don't have the quickest defense in football, but they are also not the slowest (although it must be close to that when Lucas is playing), it's not like fucking Gary Cahill or Rojo are particularly rapid. It's just that that in almost every game we are being lured into playing that 80/20 possession style, where our defenders are forced to cover way too much ground and are naturally getting horribly exposed – so again, the problem is first of all tactical and only secondly having to do with the individual qualities of the players.
I realize that might not be a popular thing to say – it's easier to blame players, some of whom are clearly not good enough – but at the moment our biggest problem is actually the manager and his decisions. He started amazingly well in England, but after about a year in charge the league has adjusted to him and so far he has failed to adjust back. If there is one positive thing that can come out of this debacle of a game, is that it will hopefully crystallize for Klopp and his coaching team the problems that they will have to address.
However, by 2017 even Championship teams got the memo – the way to beat Liverpool is to match them by also clogging the middle much more than they usually would against other teams. I think Burnley were the first team who did it this season and after it worked for them and a couple other teams, the blueprint of "anti-Liverpool football" has emerged and got gradually perfected by the collective wisdom of the rival managers. Now every half-decent manager knows exactly what to do: put 3 players in CM/DM position to take away any space through the middle and watch Liverpool bang their heads against this wall for 90 minutes, gradually getting frustrated and sloppy, and ever more vulnerable to the quick counter. There is plenty of space being left by both teams on either side, but somehow our players are never instructed to work in those spaces – there is almost never any wing-forward or midfielder going out wide to play some combinations with the full-back, it's always a full-back all alone in that space and none of our FB are good enough dribblers who could threaten entering the penalty area from the side, they all look to cross the ball.
Why has Klopp being so slow to adjust to this new reality? I wish I had a good answer; it does look to me like he has been in denial, finding all kinds of explanations for this growing problem – bad luck with finishing chances, fixture congestion, now even having a go at refereeing decisions a little bit, which is not typical for him at all. After the Saints loss he again – bizarrely – blamed the wind "creating problems for the football-playing side" (as if cutting teams to shreds on the counter is not "football-playing." It's strange to hear it from Klopp, who has specialized in this kind of football at Dortmund). Again, this is not at all typical for Klopp to search for silly excuses like that, it just shows how rattled and lost for answers he is at the moment. It has not just been words – his actions showed denial too, from playing Firmino on the wing in almost every game since Coutinho has been injured (ensuring the team doesn't have width on the left flank) to failing to replace Mane with a like-for-like player, to his baffling omission of Ojo today when he was the only player who could have provided that width – instead asking Woodburn to play at wing-back in the 2nd half.
This failing to address the fundamental tactical problem has now created a ripple effect of other problems – the attacking players gradually lost confidence (who wouldn't after banging your head against the wall for 90 minutes game after game?), the midfielders are being caught in two minds between trying to be patient and trying to force some kind of opening, the defense has been exposed for pace by teams deliberately stacking their attacking line with pacy players looking to hurt us on the counter (some of these players might not have even been selected otherwise, because they would not be nearly as effective in a normal game with 55/45 % possession instead of 80/20 % that has become the norm now). One point I want to make about the defense – sure, we don't have the quickest defense in football, but they are also not the slowest (although it must be close to that when Lucas is playing), it's not like fucking Gary Cahill or Rojo are particularly rapid. It's just that that in almost every game we are being lured into playing that 80/20 possession style, where our defenders are forced to cover way too much ground and are naturally getting horribly exposed – so again, the problem is first of all tactical and only secondly having to do with the individual qualities of the players.
I realize that might not be a popular thing to say – it's easier to blame players, some of whom are clearly not good enough – but at the moment our biggest problem is actually the manager and his decisions. He started amazingly well in England, but after about a year in charge the league has adjusted to him and so far he has failed to adjust back. If there is one positive thing that can come out of this debacle of a game, is that it will hopefully crystallize for Klopp and his coaching team the problems that they will have to address.
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