How did Liverpool not win that? Nobody will know. A tennis score would not have been an unjust reflection of play in Moscow, but in the end, Liverpool and Spartak Moscow had to share the points as the Reds failed to make their superiority count.
Philippe Coutinho cancelled out Fernando’s free-kick that gave Spartak the lead, but the Reds could see this game as one where it got away, at the end of the group stages.
Here are some major talking points from the game.
Second-string Spartak
Spartak were missing six regular first-team players. If losing to a second-string Leicester was bad, then this is worse. There is no way any Liverpool side should be dropping points against this Spartak Moscow side. Spartak set up defensively, wasted time where they could, and had their two goalkeepers in inspired form. BUt truth be told, Liverpool did not really work the Spartak goalkeepers anywhere near enough.
Can the goalkeeper experiment end?
Simon Mignolet played a big part in Liverpool making the Champions League. The Belgian put in a string of heavyweight performances towards the end of last season which enabled the Reds to finish 4th. It must be disgruntling for him to have to warm the benches in a competition that features Europe’s elite. Loris Karius did himself no favours either. His positioning for the free-kick was suspect and he didn’t really move quick enough to his left. That free-kick was nowhere near the corner, and it should have been saved. When the Reds head to Slovenia in three weeks time, Mignolet will hope to get the call from his manager, and he should.
Finish our chances, please?
Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Daniel Sturridge were all guilty of missing gilt-edged opportunities to score. Firmino had a free header in the first half, that he should have put beyond Artem Rebrov. He was caught napping soon after as Serdar Tasci missed Jordan Henderson’s cross and Firmino didn’t expect it. In the second half, Salah had a headed chance similar to Firmino’s and Sturridge would generally bury those kinds of chances in his sleep. Liverpool should have easily had at least four goals on the night in a game that they controlled, and that is why it is even more frustrating for them to come back to England with only one point.
Substitutions
They are allowed in football, you know, Jurgen? Three of them in 90 minutes. This was another game in which Klopp did not utilize his full quota of substitutes, even though the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner were available to bring on. Even the ones he made, Klopp got it wrong. Firmino was having an off day in all respects, and Sadio Mane would have been fresh having not played football in two weeks. But it was the Senegalese who made way for Sturridge to come on when it should have been the Brazilian.
Can we get the balance right?
This was one of those rare games when you can say that Liverpool’s centre-backs did not put a foot wrong. Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip did their jobs to perfection. Lovren, in particular, kept it simple – see the ball, whack the ball, was largely the mantra for the Croatian, and he was positionally very good. But you would not expect Liverpool’s attackers to draw the blank that they did tonight. This sort of defensive performance would give Lovren and Matip confidence, but the front four having too many games like this will destroy theirs. Firmino has not been the same player since he missed the penalty against Sevilla, and one can only hope that it is just a case of having a bad day than a recurring theme.
yesterday , i was ensure that Klop is not the right person to Manage that team , the match is ended in min 60 after change Mane with Sturage , Mane as you said was fresh but Firmenio was out of mode Plus replacing Mane came with changing also in Liverpool game plane because with change Mane , Klop played with coutinho as left wing instead of play maker so we lost our play maker so after that stupid change all team play with unorganized way until the end
Spot on. Crazy substituting Mane. He looked good. Firmino has a habit of going missing for multiple games in succession. Nothing new. Has done it since his arrival. Klopp has blinders for him – can’t see when he’s off apparently because he’s crushing on him.
And for f’s sake! Bench Karius. Send him down to U-23’s for the season. Ward is far better. I think Klopp feels he needs to justify his signing which is why he keeps giving chances to a sub-par goalie. Migs is not top class but he’s far better than Karius. Would have saved that free kick for sure and there wasn’t much else to do. Plus not playing him wears on his confidence and diminishes his sharpness. Ditto for Sturridge. Firmino was off at the weekend so start Studge last night. If he’s poor then bring on firmino later. Without playing time in regular top games Stidge will remain rusty.
Very disappointed. Juergen should step back and try to objectively analyze his connection to players. He is blinded by adoration for a few and can’t see the obvious times when he needs to change.
Klopp, what can i say, he refuses to learn, as a result our team cant defend andc let in soft goals continously.
Simon is not a world beater but he is our best keeper, better than Karius for sure, our 3rd choice keeper if you ask me. However just because he bought his Jerman countryman, Klopp is willing to continue this silly experiment of his, at the club’s expense of course just to prove a point. If this kind of keeper rotation works, i can assure you that top clubs from City to Barca would be using it. We know it does not work and just like Klopp, we have a fraud keeping goal for us.
Previously we can’t defend, now we can neither score nor defend, is that what Klopp calls progress? And he has no substitution know how either as we had witnessed so many times.
As i had said before, with Klopp we would win nothing.
Klopp is spiteful and stubborn. He sold Mama who gave his all for the team each and every game. We will win nothing with Klopp. Everyone sees where the problem is with the team except Jurgen. Three years and he still has not addressed the defensive problem. Time for the sack.