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It hasn’t been a situation Liverpool have had to deal with for quite some time, but an investigation is sure to take place after the events on Sunday night. Never in Jurgen Klopp’s tenure with the club had he had to rally his troops in such need after such a great loss with potentially psychologically damaging consequences.
You could search almost every area of the field as a source for the reasons behind the loss and you will keep asking questions, trying to understand what exactly happened. It is no accident that when two players in particular are missing, Liverpool suffer heavy losses. What does the loss to Aston Villa have in common with the loss to Watford in February, aside from ending the Reds’ unbeaten record in the Premier League?
In both games, Liverpool have been without Jordan Henderson and James Milner in the starting lineup. Two great players in many ways, but especially for the management of the game, something that was clearly absent at the weekend. Fabinho’s trio of midfielders Gini Wijnaldum and Naby Keïta lacked leadership and a source of composure – something Henderson and even new signing Thiago Alcantara, as well as Milner, would have surely added.
Without that trio, the task of dealing with the problems that arose in the match was assigned to substitute captain Virgil van Dijk. The Dutchman has experience wearing the bracelet in the past, both with Liverpool and regularly with the Dutch national team. But because of the way in which Klopp sets up his team, Van Dijk also has a job of organizing the defenders and the goalkeeper, something that becomes more demanding when it comes to leading the winger.
Henderson is always sorely missed when he’s absent, both for his leadership traits and the qualities he brings to Liverpool’s midfield. Never again than Sunday night has his absence left a void the size of an abyss in the team and one that Van Dijk alone could not replace. Even when Milner came off the bench in the second half, the damage was done and in the minds of the players the game was gone and nothing could be done to prevent what happened next. That, more than the seven goals conceded, was the most worrying aspect of the defeat.
Van Dijk is a world-class defender, that debate has been settled for more than a moon. But even the most imperious players would struggle with the responsibilities of captaining a team, as well as rallying their fellow defenders in such difficult circumstances. Klopp likes to set a high line that often forces opposing forwards to run out of play. This is a tactic that went terribly wrong against Villa.
Take the picture above as an example, which shows how high Liverpool are playing on the pitch, even though they have already conceded goals from Villa’s quick attack. It was a strategy that was looking for trouble, and last week’s win over Arsenal saw plenty of close shots that could easily have gone against the Reds if VAR hadn’t come to their aid.
And here, once again, Liverpool were trapped by having too many players on the pitch rather than trying to conserve the damage that was being done. How often do we see Liverpool use this tactic and praise them for being successful over and over again? It is one, let’s not forget, that has helped the club win the Champions League and the Premier League in the last two seasons. When done right, having a high line is remarkable defensive work, when done wrong, well, look at what happened at Villa Park.
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Klopp needs to find a way to regain cohesion in his team, particularly on defense, where there have already been several problems in the first weeks of the season. When Henderson and Thiago return, it will be a good start, but it will certainly take some work in training camp during this international break to rectify the mistakes from the weekend’s horror show. It’s not ideal for players to travel to every corner of the world, but it’s something that Premier League clubs will have to deal with as well.
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