Jürgen Klopp denied masterclass as Liverpool robbed of Newcastle repeat and ‘Plan C’ nearly pays

Jürgen Klopp came up against the world on Saturday night, with the German coach almost delivering the impossible to Merseyside. Liverpool travelled to London to navigate a high-profile bout against Tottenham Hotspur, with both sides unbeaten in the Premier League after the opening six matches of the new season.

It promised to be a difficult clash between a pair of England’s heavyweights but after 25 minutes of competition, it is reasonable to suggest that Klopp’s men were coping just fine. By that stage of the match, Spurs had amassed a total of just one shot on goal, with Liverpool causing problems at the opposite end.

A red card controversially presented to Curtis Jones after 26 minutes changed the match, but the way in which Klopp reacted in a tactical sense was expert. He ditched his customary 4-3-3 shape on the defensive side of the game and moved towards more of a 4-4-1, with Liverpool proving to be difficult to break down.

READ MORE: Gary Neville makes Liverpool title prediction and names one thing Jürgen Klopp still needs

READ MORE: Jürgen Klopp knows ‘biggest problem’ after Spurs as Cody Gakpo Liverpool injury timeline emerges

In attack, the Reds still managed to retain a real threat despite suffering from a one-man disadvantage, with Klopp empowering his offensive players to drive their teammates up the field. Since his appointment in 2015, he’s leaned towards signing forwards who are very quick and capable of carrying the ball over large distances without support, such as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota, Darwin Núñez and Luis Díaz.

All of those players are mobile and energetic on the pitch, and their specific qualities allowed Liverpool to continue attacking in the same way as before despite losing Jones, with Spurs struggling to manage direct offensive moves. The Reds thrived on the counter-attack and even managed to take the lead, before the goal — scored by Díaz — was wrongly disallowed, with the PGMOL since accepting the blame.

A ‘significant human error’ was judged to have happened, with Liverpool scoring a perfectly legitimate goal that was not allowed to stand by the officials in charge of the contest. Nevertheless, Klopp’s outfit continued to compete and after conceding the opening goal after 35 minutes, the Reds incredibly managed to strike back before the half-time whistle was blown.

The score was 1-1 at the interval. Klopp seemed to benefit from 15 minutes with his players in the dressing room, reinforcing his tactical plan with Liverpool intent on sitting as part of a compact 4-4-1 block before breaking forward in numbers whenever opportunities to counter-attack emerged.

Everything was going according to plan until the 69th minute. Núñez was stripped on the sidelines, with Klopp ready to introduce his secret weapon as a means of potentially securing three impossible points, just like he did against Newcastle United in August after Virgil van Dijk had been sent off.

Before the South American striker could be introduced, though, Jota was presented with the second red card of the match after accumulating two yellows in quick succession. Liverpool was reduced to nine men for the first time during Klopp’s tenure on English shores, with the Anfield side presented with the impossible task of remaining defensively solid despite having two fewer players than Spurs.

The Reds boss reacted quickly. Klopp refrained from using Núñez and chasing the Newcastle repeat, instead focused on securing a draw, with Díaz, Salah, Alexis Mac Allister and Joe Gomez all substituted. Liverpool no longer had a single forward on the pitch as Klopp instructed his players to adopt a makeshift 5-3-0 defensive structure, a sort of ‘Plan C’ that the manager surely never expected to deploy.

Van Dijk and the rest of his teammates focused on blocking the center of the field and forced Spurs to make use of the flanks, with Ange Postecoglou’s outfit gradually running out of ideas as it attempted to penetrate the stubborn and organized block that Liverpool had created.

Up until the 95th minute, it looked like Klopp has delivered a true tactical masterclass. Despite being presented with a real handicap at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, he used the tools at his disposal with real expertise and almost managed to escape without losing until Joël Matip scored a late own goal.

Liverpool performed with 10 men for 44 minutes of the clash, and with just nine men for almost half an hour, yet it still took a player in red to put the ball in his own net for the Anfield side to succumb to defeat. Klopp was largely flawless in his execution of the plan, but as a consequence of the decisions made the officials during the match, his world-class management will now go unnoticed.

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Liverpool star Cody Gakpo expected to be out ‘for several weeks’ with injury sustained at Tottenham

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo is expected to be out ‘for several weeks’ having suffered an injury during their defeat at Tottenham.

The Reds suffered a controversial 2-1 loss against Spurs on Saturday, and are now set to be without the Dutchman.

Gakpo hurt himself as he netted his side’s equaliser at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He was then substituted at half time.

The 24-year-old is now expected to spend a lengthy spell on the sidelines having left north London in a knee brace.

“Cody Gakpo is expected to be out for several weeks at Liverpool. If all goes well, a few weeks,” Dutch journalist Rik Elfrink wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The Dutch matches in October do not seem feasible for the former PSV player at the moment.”

Liverpool take on Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League on Thursday, before facing Brighton in the Premier League with Gakpo likely to miss both.

Jurgen Klopp is likely to be without three key players for the trip to the Amex Stadium on Sunday.

As well as Gakpo, Curtis Jones, whose red card has been appealed, could miss the trip, whilst Diogo Jota will be absent having also been sent off at Spurs.

Luis Diaz had a goal wrongly not given for offside, before Joel Matip put the ball through his own net right at the death, as Liverpool’s night went from bad to worse.

Following the VAR error, the PGMOL issued a statement, which stated that a ‘significant human error’ took place.

VAR Darren England and assistant Dan Cook were since removed from their next scheduled Premier League outings, but this has done nothing to placate Liverpool.

In a statement released on Sunday night, Liverpool said: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.

“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.

“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.

“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.

“This is vital for the reliability of future decision-making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.

“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”

CONTINUE READING…….

HENDRICK: ‘DARREN ENGLAND SHOULD BE FIRED AND ALL HIS GAMES INVESTIGATED’

DAILY RED PODCAST – DAVE HENDRICK’S DAILY ROUNDUP OF ALL THINGS LIVERPOOL FC

MAINSTREAM MEDIA MOCKING LIVERPOOL MISSES THE ENTIRE POINT

Dave looks back at the game against Spurs as the reds suffer a 2-1 defeat, alas that’s not even half the story. Dave looks at the controversy surrounding the game, with the PGMOL admitting “human error” occurred during the game as Luis Diaz had a goal wrongly disallowed.

Liverpool released a statement, promising further action on the matter, which has sparked varying reactions notably journalists question said statement.

Liverpool released a statement, promising further action on the matter, which has sparked varying reactions notably journalists question said statement.

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