Whatever you call it, high-octane, "heavy metal football," gegenpressing – it was on full display today. There are many ways to win football matches: you can be more creative, more clinical, or more organized than the other team, but clearly what gives Klopp the greatest pleasure is winning games just like this: pressing the shit out out of the opponent, a whirlwind of relentless energy that his teams can conjure up better than anyone else on the planet.
It was revealing how happy Klopp was with the performance; in one of the post-match interviews he said something like "against a team like Spurs today, you cannot win just passing the ball nicely here and there, you have to really go for it." This game, like Bayern away last season and several others, is a perfect illustration of why Klopp trusts the Fabs-Gini-Hendo midfield in big games. It's also revealing that he elected to bring on Milner rather than Ox or Keita to freshen up the midfield – when 120% intensity is what is required, at the moment there are only 4 midfielders he fully trusts.
It was really interesting the way we attacked: as soon as one of the midfielders (including Trent and Robbo) got the ball close enough to make a precision pass into the penalty area, they would cross or float or ping the ball towards one of the 3 strikers who would always be in or near the box. All of these deliveries would ask questions of the defense, but they are not usually high-percentage; rather than trying to put the ball on a plate, the way we play requires quite a bit of work from the receiving striker to make something out of the episode. They would fail 90% of the time, but then our magnificent midfield and defensive shield would usually win the ball right back and then try again, and again, and again – until we find a breakthrough or collectively fall down from exhaustion. This style of play is hard on our players, but I imagine it must be fucking brutal on the opponents. You're not being outplayed or out-thought, you're just being pounded into submission.
So, a question for all of you: do you enjoy this style of play as much as Klopp does? Or would you rather see Liverpool that is more slick and elegant, possibly at the expense of some of the energy? Or is it all about results no matter how they are achieved? Personally, I'm torn on this: I very much enjoy seeing technical skill and creativity on the pitch, but whenever I get to watch other teams, I really miss the intensity of the Liverpool games. And on a practical level, I think Klopp knows that while there will always be a few teams that are better than us in other aspects, his team is the best at what they do – so you simply have to use your biggest strength.
It was revealing how happy Klopp was with the performance; in one of the post-match interviews he said something like "against a team like Spurs today, you cannot win just passing the ball nicely here and there, you have to really go for it." This game, like Bayern away last season and several others, is a perfect illustration of why Klopp trusts the Fabs-Gini-Hendo midfield in big games. It's also revealing that he elected to bring on Milner rather than Ox or Keita to freshen up the midfield – when 120% intensity is what is required, at the moment there are only 4 midfielders he fully trusts.
It was really interesting the way we attacked: as soon as one of the midfielders (including Trent and Robbo) got the ball close enough to make a precision pass into the penalty area, they would cross or float or ping the ball towards one of the 3 strikers who would always be in or near the box. All of these deliveries would ask questions of the defense, but they are not usually high-percentage; rather than trying to put the ball on a plate, the way we play requires quite a bit of work from the receiving striker to make something out of the episode. They would fail 90% of the time, but then our magnificent midfield and defensive shield would usually win the ball right back and then try again, and again, and again – until we find a breakthrough or collectively fall down from exhaustion. This style of play is hard on our players, but I imagine it must be fucking brutal on the opponents. You're not being outplayed or out-thought, you're just being pounded into submission.
So, a question for all of you: do you enjoy this style of play as much as Klopp does? Or would you rather see Liverpool that is more slick and elegant, possibly at the expense of some of the energy? Or is it all about results no matter how they are achieved? Personally, I'm torn on this: I very much enjoy seeing technical skill and creativity on the pitch, but whenever I get to watch other teams, I really miss the intensity of the Liverpool games. And on a practical level, I think Klopp knows that while there will always be a few teams that are better than us in other aspects, his team is the best at what they do – so you simply have to use your biggest strength.
