The Huge Mistake Jurgen Klopp Made Against Man United
For the second time this year, Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool failed to win at Old Trafford despite looking in total control. But this was a far cry from the total chaos of their FA Cup tie, and needed a disaster from Jarell Quansah to allow Manchester United back into the game.
However, while many may point the fingers at the young centre-back, Liverpool's real problem lay in a decision made prior to kick-off. Adam Clery looks at the game to see if this could be the mistake that costs Liverpool the league...
However, while many may point the fingers at the young centre-back, Liverpool's real problem lay in a decision made prior to kick-off. Adam Clery looks at the game to see if this could be the mistake that costs Liverpool the league...
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00:00 Alright, so this is the Liverpool side that started against Manchester United and the
00:06 only way I could describe their first half performance would be to use some incredibly
00:10 violent and borderline problematic imagery.
00:13 Now you may recall just a few short weeks ago this Liverpool side went to Old Trafford
00:17 in the FA Cup and the description I had at the time was that they were about as open
00:22 as Will Smith's marriage.
00:23 But Jurgen Klopp, ever the student of the game to quote Roy Keane, clearly learned from
00:27 this and set them up this weekend in a way that was far more likely to exploit Manchester
00:31 United's big weaknesses and not leave them as vulnerable to the kind of open transitional
00:37 game which is the only time Man United ever looked good.
00:40 And the main way Klopp looked to address this was by making it very difficult for Man United
00:44 to press them and pulling certain players into areas where they metaphorically just
00:49 wither and die.
00:50 Now Man United, like a lot of teams, will try and press you in a 4-4-2 shape, will just
00:54 overlay some of the key players there so what Liverpool decided to do, rather than moving
00:58 the defence around to get extra numbers in this area, they instead dropped McAllister
01:03 into sort of a double pivot with Endo.
01:05 And what this means is that Liverpool had a lot of control of the ball in quite a deep
01:09 area of the pitch.
01:10 Like normally they would invert a full back and they'd have someone here instead so Man
01:13 United can defend a bit deeper but by having that control with the defenders and two midfielders,
01:19 they've got to push up on you a lot more.
01:21 The main problem this caused for Man United is that Hoyland couldn't press both of these
01:24 two centre backs so Fernandes had to join them and by him jumping forward one, that
01:29 then pulled Casemiro to make sure they weren't leaving a two-on-one here.
01:33 And straight away you can see why that was so effective because now you've got Dominic
01:36 Sapozlai just having a party all his own in the space behind Casemiro who, if you've watched
01:42 him play any football at all this season, he is going to struggle to cover all this
01:47 area.
01:48 So I'm not saying the guy's legs have gone.
01:49 No, I am, I am actually, yeah, his legs have completely gone.
01:53 And you can see how effective that was in his heat map.
01:55 Sapozlai was normally the right-sided number eight but look at how frequently he was able
01:59 to get into central areas of the pitch.
02:02 Like obviously he did a lot of his work out here in the build-up and whatnot but when
02:05 Liverpool were able to create the scenario to isolate Casemiro, create that space, Sapozlai
02:10 was just having a field day in there.
02:12 And with Salah and Diaz pinning the two full backs nice and high up, it meant that Harry
02:16 Maguire either had to completely sit off him and let him have the ball or push out onto
02:20 him and leave like an eight-year-old centre-back he was in there with completely alone with
02:25 Darwin Nunes.
02:26 To the shock of absolutely no one, Liverpool finished the half with just here's some select
02:30 stats I found on the internet.
02:33 They battered them, they dominated them, they put their face in their own birthday cake
02:38 and laughed as their hair caught fire on a camel.
02:41 So what the hell, Adam?
02:42 What's your problem?
02:43 Where do you get off criticising Jurgen Klopp?
02:45 Clearly he's made a really good set of decisions here that led to them dominating the game
02:50 and he did.
02:51 It's actually a really good way to set up but the problem was that they went at a half
02:55 time only one nil up.
02:57 Combination of wasteful finishing from Liverpool and also some good individual defending from
03:01 Man United when they desperately needed it meant that the game was still in the balance.
03:07 This was effective but it wasn't decisive.
03:09 And the thing is the mistake Jurgen Klopp made was not in this eleven, it was in this
03:15 eleven.
03:16 It looks slightly different because this was the side that lined up against Sheffield United
03:20 during the week.
03:21 And the problem is this man.
03:23 Kennate is undoubtedly Liverpool's best defender who is not currently called Virgil van Dijk
03:29 but he can't play more than one or two games in a week.
03:33 They've got to be really careful managing his minutes and he started against Sheffield
03:37 United but not here.
03:39 Instead Jurgen Klopp put his faith as he has done several times this season in Gerald
03:44 Kwanzaa who almost never lets Liverpool down.
03:46 There's no real drop off in terms of ability.
03:49 Part of the reason they're still in this title race with the injury crisis they're having
03:52 is because these young players have come in and done so well and he deserves as much credit
03:56 as anybody for them being where they are.
03:58 But the problem with him is that he is 21 years old, spent last season at Bristol Rovers
04:04 and up until the start of this year had only started two Premier League games for Liverpool.
04:09 And if you think I'm about to start digging him out there and saying that he cost Liverpool
04:12 this game and his mistake could be so decisive in the title race, that's not where I'm going
04:17 with this at all.
04:18 I thought he was really good in the Man United game.
04:20 I thought he recovered from that mistake so, so well.
04:23 But the fact is he did make it.
04:26 With the score still at 1-0 and Liverpool understandably feeling very comfortable in
04:30 the position they had in this game, they pushed on, they pushed further, they looked to get
04:35 that second goal but they took more risks in doing so.
04:39 And then midway through the second half, Kwonca finds himself on the ball.
04:43 There's no imminent danger but he is being pressed by Rasmus Hoyland.
04:46 He has a quick look, sees that Virgil van Dijk is an option but in the few seconds between
04:51 him seeing him and making the pass, the situation changes.
04:55 Rasmus Hoyland has actually done brilliantly here to both press Kwonca and leave Endo in
05:00 what is known as his shadow cover.
05:02 He's not marking him, he's nowhere near him but he has cut off the pass.
05:05 So Fernandes knows there's no danger of it going here so he jumps quickly from Endo to
05:11 van Dijk.
05:12 And van Dijk clearly recognises this situation here even before it's happened because if
05:15 you look at him, he is pointing all the way back to Kelleher.
05:18 He's telling Kwonca this isn't on anymore, you've got to go all the way back but it's
05:23 a big game and he is an inexperienced player.
05:26 It's not his fault he makes this decision but he does make it.
05:29 The pass is a little bit short but Bruno Fernandes is not a little bit good.
05:34 First time he rifles this ball from fully 60 yards over Kelleher and into the back of
05:40 the net.
05:41 Now I will say Kwonca could make that mistake 10 more times in his career.
05:44 It's unlikely it would land at the feet of a player capable of doing that but that's
05:51 football baby.
05:52 So the question is, would Canate have made that mistake?
05:56 And the answer is simply, nobody knows.
05:59 That is the beauty of football.
06:00 Canate is way more experienced, he's unlikely to make that decision but he still could.
06:06 Everybody's capable of dropping a bollock every now and then or he could score an own
06:09 goal or he could do something even worse, he could get himself sent off.
06:12 We just don't know but you play the probabilities.
06:16 Kwonca's lack of Premier League experience relative to what Canate's got means he is
06:21 more likely to make that mistake than his teammate is.
06:25 Doesn't guarantee you anything, doesn't assure you of anything but if one of them's
06:28 going to do it, it's more likely to be the younger player.
06:31 And the warning signs of this were there from the very start of the match by the way.
06:35 Like I know Man United didn't officially have an attempt on goal in that first half but
06:39 they had a quite narrow-ish offside one ruled out that's created entirely by Kwonca getting
06:45 isolated.
06:46 When you've got Conor Bradley on this side you know he's not going to come into the middle
06:49 too much, he's going to push right the way up so Salah can get nearer the centre forward.
06:52 So leaving this space here, you can see Kwonca gets attracted over into it.
06:57 That in turn pulls Van Dijk into this sort of area, leaving all this space here that
07:02 Garnaccio's able to get into.
07:04 Again, does that happen if Canate's in the back four?
07:07 We simply will never know but I would argue it's less likely to happen if he is.
07:12 Now just hang on, this is the internet so I do feel the need to clarify this before
07:15 we continue.
07:16 If you've been watching 442 on YouTube this season, first of all, thank you, but you will
07:20 know that we have heaped praise in bucket loads on Jurgen Klopp for the faith he has
07:26 shown in these young players and likewise we have heaped praise, bucket loads, on these
07:31 young players for how they have never let him down, how they have sustained Liverpool's
07:36 title charge in this vital season.
07:39 But what I just cannot get my head around, right, and if you're a Liverpool fan and you
07:43 have an answer to this I'm begging you please explain it to me in the comments, is that
07:47 the match prior to this when Klopp felt the need to use Canate wasn't some European crunch
07:53 game or some cup tie or some tricky away fixture, it was Sheffield United at home, which no
08:00 disrespect to Sheffield United, is mathematically Liverpool's easiest game of the season.
08:06 They won it relatively comfortably and had 80% of the ball.
08:10 Like if you're fairly sure you're going to have to rotate Kwanzaa and Canate across two
08:14 games in that short space of time, for the life of me I can't figure out why you would
08:19 do it this way round and not have Canate start here instead.
08:23 Now look, maybe I'm being slightly unkind here, maybe I'm like catastrophising that
08:28 situation, but this feels like a Premier League title race, that is, I mean just look at the
08:32 table, look how close this is, it's going to come down to which of these teams just
08:37 occasionally don't get things quite right and this is a small thing surely, like Kwanzaa
08:43 was really steady other than this, but just feels like a situation that didn't have to
08:49 happen and it's one Jurgen Klopp could have completely avoided.
08:52 And the thing is as well, while it's only one mistake that led to one goal, Liverpool
08:56 should still have had way more about them to go on and win the game, this goal going
09:00 in had a direct impact on the rest of the match which enabled Man United to get ahead.
09:05 Like you can see from the way Klopp set up at the start, he was determined to be very
09:09 good at playing through Man United but not being too open at the same time and even when
09:13 they were sort of operating this way with Salah sort of moving in and Bradley bombing
09:18 up down that side, they were in a degree of control of the game because of the way they
09:23 were set up here but now the game is level and they were forced to push McAllister further
09:28 and further up to get him involved in other areas to try and get that second goal.
09:34 And as a result, in what might honestly be one of the most savage instances of poetic
09:38 irony I've seen this season, it inadvertently turned Liverpool into Man United.
09:44 Like as with the first goal, don't get me wrong, you let Man United have this exact
09:47 scenario 100 times.
09:49 I don't think they score too many of them but it's a scenario created by Liverpool pushing
09:54 up way too far and leaving that kind of trademark gap in the middle that Man United are known
09:59 for.
10:00 Casemiro blindly whacks the ball over his head, it could go absolutely anywhere but
10:04 it lands at the feet of Kobe Maneu and just look at the room he's managed to find between
10:09 the lines.
10:10 Like Endo is here because Endo is now having to cover the entire central area of the pitch.
10:15 He's gone where the danger is correctly but that's left a man unmarked.
10:20 And yes of course there is loads that has to happen between Maneu getting the ball here
10:23 and him sticking it in the back of the net but it's a scenario that only exists in the
10:28 first place because Liverpool are over committing, they're over stretching late in the game,
10:32 when their legs are tired they are leaving gaps and why are they over committing and
10:35 over stretching late in the game when legs are tired leaving gaps?
10:38 Because they gave away the lead in a really stupid way.
10:43 And the caveats to all of this are numerous and obvious.
10:47 Like if Liverpool just take their chances in the first half that Kwanzaa pass doesn't
10:52 really matter.
10:53 If Keller has like five yards closer to his line it probably doesn't matter.
10:56 If it falls to the feet of anyone but Bruno Fernandes it probably doesn't matter.
11:01 But this is a title race of such fine margins little things like this can prove fatal.
11:10 I know I've already said this like five times as well but I am not lumping the blame for
11:15 this result in any way shape or form at the feet of Gerald Kwanzaa.
11:19 And it's just you want good decisions to be made at these just crucial crucial moments
11:26 and it's unfair to expect a player with his lack of experience to be able to make them
11:31 all the time.
11:32 I'll put it this way right if that exact same thing happened to Canarde which it could very
11:36 well do the one thing all the commentators would have said is why is a player with his
11:42 experience making that mistake.
11:44 The implication there being if you do not have that experience it's totally fair to
11:50 make those mistakes because that's the only way you learn.
11:53 And the mad thing is it almost doesn't even feel fair to give Klopp a hammering for this
11:58 because he makes so many unbelievably improbably good decisions.
12:03 He's by a mile the best in-game manager in football right now.
12:08 Just to show you two quick graphs here this is the amount of goals Liverpool score late
12:12 in games and wow that's a lot and this is the amount of goals they get from substitutes.
12:18 And if you've been watching them a lot this season you will know that the vast majority
12:21 of these are from changes he's made as the game has developed and he has recognized things
12:26 he ever been there and he's adapted to get the best out of them.
12:30 They even got one here the Harvey Elliot introduction really did help open things up down that side
12:35 and got them their equalizer.
12:36 So it seems weird to be like oh I got this one badly wrong but again this Premier League
12:43 is going to come down to these tiny little mistakes and for the first time I think he
12:49 made one.
12:50 So yes am I being too harsh I always try and find a really positive thing to talk about
12:54 in games because fans like to hear what the team is doing well but just analyzing this
12:58 and watching it back this is the one thing that really really jumped out at me.
13:02 They did not need to let Man United get back into this game at all and the way they did
13:09 came from something that felt completely avoidable.
13:12 But to criticize I have and I know how the internet works so I will gladly take my medicine
13:16 in the comments if it is needed.
13:18 Please let me know how decisive do you think that change was have I got that completely
13:22 wrong I haven't had a chance to talk about this game with anybody yet so this could just
13:26 be me so I would like it to also be you in the thing below and of course you can subscribe
13:30 to us here on 442 where we do videos like this every most of the days when I can.
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13:40 Trenton Alexander-Arnold is our cover star from last month the interview is really good
13:44 if you've not read it already check that out in all good news agents although it won't
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13:58 corner of the video and until whatever happens in the Man City and Arsenal Champions League
14:04 games I've been Adam Cleary this has been 442 I still think you're great Kwanzaa and
14:10 Klopp and I'll see you soon bye.
14:13 Bye!
14:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]