11 Dec 2017 12:12:22
Yesterday was the first match I’ve seen in a while after being away and, whilst the result was disappointing, it was a fascinating match.

Hindsight makes us all seem like geniuses but there was an air of hubris in Klopp’s team selection. I’ve long believed that Klopp has a level of arrogance in him, a belief that his ideas are better than everyone else’s (see his reaction to being told in the post match interview that the interviewer and pundits agreed with the penalty decision), his team selection reflected that. Liverpool’s recent (excellent) form convinced Klopp that he could pick any team and things would be fine. It’s easy to question Milner’s selection but the bigger question is Solanke. Solanke has tremendous good will at the moment but a lot of fans have expectations of the player which aren’t really justified by anything he’s in done in a red shirt so far. Yesterday he was ineffective, he wasn’t creating anything himself and he wasn’t making space for our other players. This was a real problem as Allardyce’s team was doing exactly what was expected, they played deep with great discipline and Solanke wasn’t capable of troubling them. For all our domination of play Salah’s goal was the only time we put Pickford under pressure, he had an easy day at the office.

As for Allardyce he set up exactly as we all expected and he was rewarded with a point for it, why he doesn’t get more respect for being so good at what he does I’ll never know. The penalty was Everton’s only chance to score but when a game plan is built around taking limited chances then you have to give the away team credit. A lot of people are making excuses about that penalty but it was the correct decision to give, it doesn’t matter if the lad went down easy or not, it matters what Lovren did and his actions gave Calvert-Lewin an excuse to go down. If the penalty hadn’t been given it would have been a case of Lovren getting away with it rather than the correct result.

As for the rest of the team I thought Gomez had an excellent game, the limited defending he had to do was excellent and his play going forward was dynamic. At the start of the season fans were excited by TAA but Gomez is leagues ahead of his rival at the moment. I was surprised to see people having a go Henderson, he had an good game, what his detractors fail to understand is that he’s doing the job that Klopp wants him to do rather than the one fans want. He is there to recycle possession and he is hugely reliable in that role. He’s got the ability to burst forward or to go for the killer pass but that’s not his job. I was pleased to see Ings get a run out, it will be interesting to see if that was a ‘putting him in the shop window’ exercise or whether Klopp is bringing him into the first team, on paper he's the perfect understudy to Bobby.

What we mustn’t forget is that we’ve been excellent since the Spurs game, we’re unbeaten, we’ve dragged ourselves up the table and, on current form, we’re the best of the rest after City. As I alluded to above, I do have some problems with Klopp but I do believe that when he gets it right Liverpool are sensational, sadly yesterday wasn’t one of those times.

1.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 12:31:53
if mane had passed when he had 3 players free, we go in 2-0 up and kloppps line up never gets questioned, his only mistake was bringing off salah imo.

2.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 12:40:25
Putney, you are using the very same hindsight reasoning you are criticizing. Klopp has been rotating for weeks now and it has worked and the results bear that out. So if that is the case, my question for you is was he arrogant when he was doing this rotation thing then or was he arrogant now cos both of those cannot be true at the same time?

Also, all managers are arrogant even those who haven't won a sausage to their name. Pep, Mou make Klopp like a choir boy in the arrogance dept. as they apologize for nothing BUT when Klopp seems arrogant, some start getting triggered and insecure. There was NO arrogance in his selection as he picked the team he knew was fresh and ready to give 100% in the game as it was a rivalry game and you cannot keep fielding the same team during this busy period as Conte has realized after his loss vs WH. So if Conte was moaning about tiredness, by that standard, Klopp was right to rotate so as to mitigate against that, right or do the rules change cos it is Klopp?

Also, Had Everton battered us then your point would be valid. They did not so it is not. We were on top from start to finish and would have been out of sight had mane not done a boo-boo. The lineup had nothing to do with Mane having a boo boo. The lineup had nothing to do with a ref getting conned by a diving player. Those for me, were the two facts that influenced the game. Not the lineup or any arrogance (or lack thereof, IMO) .

3.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 12:42:07
Putney, it may seem churlish after your excellent post but I never thought I would see the words "Henderson" and "burst" in the same paragraph.

4.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 12:50:11
I don't believe Klopp is in anyway responsible for yesterday's result. The team he picked blew Everton away, and other than scoring more and conceding a ridiculous penalty that was an absolute walk in the park.
There are players at the club who need replacing to take us to the next level. I'm not klopps biggest fan, not by a long way but his players decisions are costing him severly.

5.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 13:09:42
I think the decision to play dominic solanke was the most logical. He is a tall target man. When you play a deep lying defence you need a target man to aim crosses at. Solanke played well and showed good touches but the crosses into him weren't great. The midfield was a problem for me. I love Henderson and he played well. Milner didn't offer much and Oxlade is ok but I would not trust him to be the creative force in the midfield. Countinho should have been given that role and Can in for Milner but it's Klopp's decision and maybe he just wanted to rest players to keep them fresh. I agree you should not be doing this against your rivals though.

6.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 13:14:47
" I don't believe Klopp is in anyway responsible for yesterday's result. "

Sorry, you're wrong, the manager is responsible for all the results, that's his main responsibility.

7.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 13:16:35
Hi all, thanks for all your responses. To expand on your points.

I didn't mention the Mane chance as I think it's less relevent than most people are making out. If he'd passed it was by no means a guaranteed goal. I prefer to talk about what did happen rather than what might have happened.

As for whether Klopp was responsible for the result I have no doubt he was. The selection was wrong, the set up was wrong and the substitutions we wrong. If we'd got a result of would have been in spite of Klopp's plan rather than because of it.

8.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 13:28:06
Brover, to respond to you directly. My hindsight quip was just banter, Klopp's selection was questioned heavily before the game and the result showed that questioning was justified. Klopp wasn't arrogant to rotate, he was arrogant in who he chose to rotate. Allardyce would have been delighted to see Solanke brought in and, whilst I know he can't play every match, we sorely missed Coutinho's threat from deep.

I believe your wrong about Pep and Mourinho, I think their self belief is born out by their trophy cabinets, Klopp can't say the same. When I get time I'll write a post about Klopp and how sometimes's he's his own worst enemy.

Your also wrong that we were on top all match. We had all the possession but that's a different thing. Football's about scoring goals and we had few opportunities to do that. On balance we were better than Everton but we didn't batter them.

9.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 14:29:04
Thank you for your response, Putney. First of all, Cou had a knock and was not fit to start that game so there is that. You may think the selection was wrong BUT I disagree cos as I mentioned, Conte moaned about his boys being tired during their loss to WH so is it not rotation that could mitigate against all that? Also, Klopp has been rotating for weeks and to great success so again, was he right for rotating when it worked or was he wrong when on the odd case now, it did not? You did not answer that question which I don't mind as logically, both those statements cannot be right at the same time.

As for the arrogance thing, you may be right on one level BUT like it or not, Klopp has won trophies in his career against all odds, beating Bayern to win leagues and Cups and his way of playing got him the reputation he deserves. No one gave him a damn thing. He earned it from scratch. Klopp had the likes of Arsenal, Bayern, Real (rumours) and the great Man Utd wanting him and he rejected all of them including Fergie. You don't get those clubs after you if you do not have the resume and trophies to boot. You cannot belittle his resume just to make your argument sound better. That is unfair.

Those managers you mentioned respect him a whole lot (you should hear how Pep talks about Klopp) as he is the one who has beaten each of them the most. So why can he not be arrogant and believe in his methods cos they have actually worked for his career? My issue is that you claim he is arrogant and I disagree and shown why.

Pep and Mou have have rarely apologized for a things they say to the media no matter how ridiculous it is BUT Klopp does apologize cos he is an honorable man and has no grudges with anyone (listen to Ralph Honigstien who has chronicled Klopp's career) . Do not conflate that with him not being arrogant as every manager to some extent, is. Love your post, Putney. keep them coming.

10.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 14:35:24
in my opinion, Kloppy was arrogant in that he made six changes to the line up,
there were as we all know two Derbies yesterday, how many changes did the other three managers make, he changed our midfield way too much, Big Sam must have been smiling when he saw our team selection,
Kloppy, makes far too many basic errors,
yes I fully understand rotating players, keeping the team fresh, I saw a stat that says Kloppy has made the most changes in the Prem,
not being from England, I think that he does not realise how important winning the Derby means to the fans,
for me Kloppy will not win us the League, he will get us as high as third place, that's all .

11.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 15:47:15
Nailed it in one redhead.

12.) 11 Dec 2017
11 Dec 2017 19:12:09
Happy, Klopp made it a policy to rotate during this busy period and it has worked. The mistake you are making is that you are too hung up on The derby and what it means to the fans which I sense, you are prolly implying that he did not play his best team cos he looked past Everton. Klopp has feasted on Everton since he arrived here and he is not about to risk the team's future this season to prove a point that he cares about this or that game.

Klopp expects to win every game regardless of the team he put out. It may look wierd to the fans BUT to him in the end, beating Everton and not making top 4 will do us no good. The team he put out was good enough to win and created enough chances to win as Everton were dire. Mane fluffed his lines and the ref got conned itno giving a poor excuse of a penalty. The lineup did not influence any of those facts so it is just a false narrative in my book. Mane squares the ball, 2-0 and the penalty is a none issue. Do the job and we are home and dry. Mane did not do that so here we are. Cheers, mate.