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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NewsTranscript
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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13:58 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]