06 May 2016 10:33:24
What a night, what a performance. I was one of the vocal critics last week and I'll stand by everything I've said but last night Klopp got everything right. Before the match I think he had three big questions:

1. Should Sturridge Start?
Every journalist and the majority of fans questioned Klopp for not bringing Sturridge off the bench last week and after playing 90 minutes on Sunday it looked like he might be on the bench again. Klopp has an arrogant streak and I'm sure there was a voice in the back of his head saying 'ignore everyone else, you didn't get it wrong last week, stick to your guns'. If he were a lesser man he may have been stubborn and not played him but he's better than that, Sturridge started and gave the performance we all hoped for. Studge was a long way from his best but he was instrumental in all three goals and missed a handful of further chances. His celebration showed how much it meant to him (proving a point perhaps? ) but what really struck me was when he came back onto the pitch after the final whistle to celebrate with everyone. He looked sheepish at first but the team grabbed him and for the first time in a while it looked like he was happy.

2. Should Can Start?
In hindsight this doesn't look like a question at all. I wanted him to start but thought he would only get 60 minutes or so but Can looked like one of the fittest guys on the pitch, he's a beast. What I thought really interesting was a comparison to the Utd game at Anfield. That day Sakho was given the responsibility to distribute the ball from defence but our set up last night was very different. When looking to bring the ball out of defence Can dropped between the CBs and the full backs pushed forward effectively creating a 3-4-3. I don't know if this is going to be our thing going forward or it was just for last night's game but it gave us a lot more options both in terms of passing and in Can dribbling the ball forward (which he did with great effect) . I think we're often too quick to anoint our next great player but Can looked imperious last night.

3. How should the team be set up?
Last week's result made this a real quandary, go all out attack and we'd risk playing into Villareal's hand and ship an away goal, something which would have completely changed the game. Play too cautiously and we risked repeating last week's performance. Because of Can's injury I thought Klopp may go with a three man midfield but I was delighted to see he went for his plan A, the 4-2-3-1 high press. The down side of the high press is that if it fails it leaves you exposed to a counter attack, last night it didn't come close to failing, how we played was the archetype of Klopp's vision, I do not believe that Villareal have ever been under as much pressure as we put them. I saw people on the live chat questioning what Lallana bring's to the team, I'll tell you what he brings, the ball. The number of times he nipped in to steal it was unreal, Villareal were shaken from the start and they never recovered.

Assorted musings:
I haven't talked about Firmino, Milner, Toure or Lovren, there were all sensational. I haven't talked about the atmosphere, Klopp's brought it back with a vengeance. I haven't talked about the 18th, Sevilla must be terrified. Last night was the most Klopp I've seen this team and I loved it, I'm absolutely buzzing.

1.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 11:25:33
Muscatred you and me both. I don't make any apologies either as I to stand by what I said BUT last night vindicated all in my opinion. It just looked like we had been told to just go out and play and we thrived under that freedom. Villarreal just had no answer. All we need now is a squad capable of playing like that for a full season. I know he's had his critics but I also thought Moreno played well last night, push in the box not withstanding of course. Looked the promising young fullback I was looking forward to seeing when he first arrived. Moreno came from Seville of course so should know our final opponents well. On a side note, how satisfying is it to watch opposition capitulate under your teams dominance? Lol.

2.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 12:22:49
So basically what you are saying is damning the manager. Last week we did the job required. The goal we conceded at the end gave you the opportunity to call his tactics.
A lot of fans kept repeating that we could easily turn over the 1-0 result and to keep faith. I don't think your opinions over the last week are vindicated. The Manager got it right over the 2 games because we are in the Final.

3.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 13:30:36
Terry, our opinion of how we played last week is not dependent on the result of the tie, they are completely independent of each other. The fact that Klopp fixed his mistake with a great performance last night does not mean he didn't make a mistake in the first place. Furthermore, I was one of those fans saying we could overturn the 1-0 result but we made our task much harder than it needed to be. Don't forget that right up to the 81st minute we were one goal away from going out of the competition and we came close to conceding that goal on more than one occasion. The idea that we won so Klopp must have got everything right is very naive.

4.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 13:53:44
Completely incorrect. If we hadn't have shipped the last minute goal, people would be calling the first performance genius. There's an element of luck in the game and I think we were unlucky to concede and not score in the first game.

I think the strategy was keep it tight away at Villarreal and then try to blow them away at home. It worked perfectly. If we had gone with the line-up last night at Villarreal we might have been spanked 3-1.

5.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 14:27:13
RedHands, I'm people, I was upset with our performance long before they scored.

6.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 14:32:19
Im with red hands, it can't always be balls out in your face football. Over the tie he got it spot on. let's hope his footballing acumen lasts to the final and we blast sevilla away and claim another european trophy.

7.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 17:18:13
The first leg we were completely gutless and showed no drive to win the game at all. I can understand keeping it tight and being patient but playing for a nil nil draw was wrong and we actually got from the game what we put in, which was nothing. I felt disappointed because I thought we had the talent in our team to do what we did last night in both legs. Maybe not so emphatically. By your argument you may as well say that Rogers poor for is okay because he got LFC 2nd place. Both seasons were independent of each other as were both games. I too like Muscatred said that I had every confidence Klopp could turn it around but in my opinion playing for the bore draw got us what it deserved.

8.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 19:21:36
Totally agree with Terry Mc.
If we'd had played the same way 1 week ago as last night we'd have shipped 3 goals on the counter.

Last night showed the doubters and critics were completely WRONG last week and they are short-sighted in tactical terms. This was a 2 legged tie and you base your assessment of the manager's tactics and team selection over 2 legs. Loads of people called out Klopp last week saying he'd ended our season with his "mistakes". Now they're claiming credit! Ridiculous. Get a bit of backbone and support the club to the end!

9.) 06 May 2016
06 May 2016 22:48:38
Ron, not a single person said Klopp ended our season.