Pre season game 4: Huddersfield
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Haha! It was only said in jest mate. I was waiting to see if he did the same celebration tonight...
Your post about goal celebrations was a bit 'dick' like though Ryan. He was only playin' you big handsome spaz X
I enjoyed this from James Pearce: "The youngster's reaction when he scores a goal which really matters is going to be a sight to behold."
Some short observations from the game:
- Liked what I saw from Ejaria; he had a quiet-ish game at Wigan, but in this game he again caught the eye. In terms of speed and intensity of the game, Huddersfield was by far the biggest test we've had so far and out of all the youngsters Ejaria looked the most first-team ready to me. The only criticism were a couple of reckless challenges that could have seen him booked.
- Karius finally had something to do – and made one superb save and a few clean takes and catches under pressure. So far the signs are good.
- I liked Stewart's defensive work in this game – he was alert all game and was also willing to sacrifice his body for the cause. I'm not convinced by him yet, but this was a positive performance.
- Like I wrote at half-time, Grujic seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable at the speed and intensity of this game – which is to be expected, coming from a much slower-paced league. Still his quality shone through and once again his finish was cooly taken and unstoppable. We didn't have a midfielder like him for a long time.
- Coutinho looked frustrated at times and his decision-making was poor – not only for the penalty. On the contrary, Mane showed why his pace can be such an asset for this team during the season – in the first 3 games he seemed to be playing a different game to his teammates, but tonight I saw first signs that he is starting to settle in and understand his role. Won a penalty and had a goal wrongly disallowed.
- Markovic was once again on the periphery – particularly frustrating when you're already a player down. I was hopeful about him before the pre-season, but seeing him for 4 games I must say he doesn't have the air of a Klopp player.
- Moreno deserves some praise for taking responsibility for the penalty at a crucial stage. His energy and attacking runs were good throughout; however in every game he's played this preseason, he seemed to produce some avoidable defensive mishaps – more than any of the youngsters auditioning for the role of full-back! I don't want to sell him, but surely Klopp must sign a more defensively sound alternative? Or is Ragnar/Gomez enough?
- Finally, this might have been the last we've seen of Lucas in a Liverpool shirt – or at least that's how it felt when he came off clutching his hamstring. It will be a bit sad if it ends like this – and if it does it will feel like an end of an era (not the best era in our history, it must be said). YNWA Lucas.
After watching Liverpool defeat Huddersfield Town 2-0 on Wednesday evening, Jürgen Klopp reflected on another successful pre-season outing, the efforts of stand-in outfielder Shamal George and the club's upcoming trip to the United States - read on for a full transcript.
No goals conceded, 10 scored so far in pre-season - happy with that?
This game was different. In the first half we should have scored more - maybe we [did] score more with the second goal disallowed and then we missed a penalty and had a few chances. We played some wonderful combinations so it was really good. But I was not too happy with the first 20 minutes, with the concentration level we showed. It's not bad, of course not: when you are 1-0 in the lead against a Championship side then it's not bad. But if we trust a little too much in our skills, it's not the best decision to make. The second half was a little bit lively and we were under pressure. Then, unfortunately, the injury of Lucas [meant] we changed the formation to have Shamal as a striker - he did wonderful - and we scored a second goal. That was OK, but defending a little bit deeper we had to do it, and it was really hard for the players.
Whose idea was it [to bring Shamal on]?
They told me from the bench after I'd organised the system with 10 [men] and they said, 'Come on, we have Shamal!'
Alberto should have given him the penalty at the end there, shouldn't he?
Even though it doesn't look like it all the time, for us these games are quite serious, so we don't want to make a joke of it! It's nice for the crowd but in no game in the world should we make funny decisions. If it's 4-0, 5-0, we can think about it, but even then it's a lack of respect for the opponent.
Will the training strategy change in America compared to the home friendlies? These seem to have been treated as warm-ups, whereas you'll be playing better opposition in the US?
No, it's a good chance for us to bring our two groups together. Some have trained for three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, one week - so it's difficult to bring our fitness levels together. In our first friendly game in the US I think we'll have 15 or 16 players who could play 90 minutes then we'll see how the English boys, the Welsh boys and so on are and make a decision. The coaches will have a lot of work with the different groups in how they play and train, but that's how it is, it's no problem. That's the good thing with a training camp, you have nothing else to do. We've organised it very well so we can be fully concentrated on the things we have to do.
No goals conceded, 10 scored so far in pre-season - happy with that?
This game was different. In the first half we should have scored more - maybe we [did] score more with the second goal disallowed and then we missed a penalty and had a few chances. We played some wonderful combinations so it was really good. But I was not too happy with the first 20 minutes, with the concentration level we showed. It's not bad, of course not: when you are 1-0 in the lead against a Championship side then it's not bad. But if we trust a little too much in our skills, it's not the best decision to make. The second half was a little bit lively and we were under pressure. Then, unfortunately, the injury of Lucas [meant] we changed the formation to have Shamal as a striker - he did wonderful - and we scored a second goal. That was OK, but defending a little bit deeper we had to do it, and it was really hard for the players.
Whose idea was it [to bring Shamal on]?
They told me from the bench after I'd organised the system with 10 [men] and they said, 'Come on, we have Shamal!'
Alberto should have given him the penalty at the end there, shouldn't he?
Even though it doesn't look like it all the time, for us these games are quite serious, so we don't want to make a joke of it! It's nice for the crowd but in no game in the world should we make funny decisions. If it's 4-0, 5-0, we can think about it, but even then it's a lack of respect for the opponent.
Will the training strategy change in America compared to the home friendlies? These seem to have been treated as warm-ups, whereas you'll be playing better opposition in the US?
No, it's a good chance for us to bring our two groups together. Some have trained for three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, one week - so it's difficult to bring our fitness levels together. In our first friendly game in the US I think we'll have 15 or 16 players who could play 90 minutes then we'll see how the English boys, the Welsh boys and so on are and make a decision. The coaches will have a lot of work with the different groups in how they play and train, but that's how it is, it's no problem. That's the good thing with a training camp, you have nothing else to do. We've organised it very well so we can be fully concentrated on the things we have to do.
The way he took his goal was superb, controlled the cross with one touch and then hitting it on the half-volley, not with so much power but well-directed (if meant). Not surprising his technique is excellent considering he comes from the Balkans though.
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