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At 75 minutes on Monday, Jürgen Klopp still had his three Liverpool substitutes to use in a tense 2-1 scoreline against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. At the same time tonight against the same opponent on the same ground, he had used all three.
In many ways, he personifies German in a way like no other. Quietly conservative to the point of being methodical and planned in advance. When he arrived at Liverpool, people wrongly assumed that spontaneity accompanied his reputation for heavy metal football. But Klopp usually holds his hand until the last second before showing his aces.
Tonight was different. Gini Wijnaldum’s introduction in the fourth quarter felt like the only one specifically tailored to the game situation, after Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah departed on time in what was a premeditated act.
Which begs the question not of why are you initiating Van Dijk and Salah in this game, but if you are a coach who at all times values options from the bench, why? For real Is it only limited to one after 60 minutes? You can only imagine what the team could have been like if Klopp had five substitutes to do as he wished this season.
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It might be fair to assume that Klopp didn’t like his other options, or that he wanted to keep a pace of results and momentum on some of his star men, but for a coach who was happy to let the under-18s represent the club . in this competition last season, albeit in different circumstances, suggests something else.
Suggest that maybe this manager and this team truly committed to the idea of winning every competition they participate in this season, yes, even this one. They can be considered unlucky tonight given the quality of the opportunities they had, as well as drawing positives from the performances of players like Diogo Jota and Reece Williams.
But now another year will go by without the glory of the League Cup. That’s fine for the most part given it’s the least shiny of the big shiny things we want to see lifted. But looking for the subliminal can tell you that Klopp is taking national trophies more seriously than ever. All that said, does anyone want to run the FA Cup?
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