As expected, the majority of Saturday's team started against the Russian opposition. The only exception being Joe Allen coming in for Lucas Leiva and again they started brightly with some nice one-touch football but as is customary for this Liverpool side, lacking any clinical last third creativity. Thus indeed they were made to pay for that early on.
A beautifully chested control and perfectly executed volley by Marko Devic reminded the hosts that they were going to have to work to get anything out of this game. And work damned hard too. 0-1 against the run of play at a stunned Anfield and in from of the watching owner John W. Henry. At this point, I remembered something Brendan Rodgers said before the team's visit to Arsenal earlier in the season, "quality of possession" and there it was right there. Just not from Liverpool.
The home side continued with their energetic pressing. Divic Origi, and James Milner particularly guilty of undoing the good work by promptly giving the possession back to the opposition. Simon Mignolet was on hand to stop the visitors increasing their lead with a super save from Blagoy Georgiev from close range. It's worth noting however that hard work seldom goes unrewarded and on 37 minutes proof was forthcoming.
Moments later, Rubin Kazan's captain Oleg Kuzmin was red carded for a second book able offence after needlessly bringing down Emre Can close to the visitors' penalty area. That same Can was on hand to prod home from close range, after Origi headed on the resulting free kick. 1-1 and all square. The nerves settled among the Anfield crowd.
Liverpool continued to labor throught the rest of the match. Lucas Leiva came on for the ineffective Joe Allen and sure things up in front of goal. Klopp's men created chances galore and to be fair to them on another day, they'd probably have won this encounter. Although that doesn't excuse the profligacy in front of goal as Philippe Coutinho and Can both went close. Christian Bbenteke came on for Coutinho on 63 minutes and the difference was immediately felt as the Belgian latched onto a Milner Lallana combination to shoot fist time across goal, only to be denied by the keeper's left upright. With Roberto Firmino entering the fray on 74 minutes things looked a lot better as Lucas came close also as injury time ticked away.
The draw was probably a little harsh on Liverpool because they deserved more on the night. Credit also needs to go to Rubin Kazan who played the perfect away game. The assumption is generally that it's easier to play against a side reduced to 10 men but in reality the opposite is true. The visitors simple played two solid banks of four and left a lone striker to look for loose balls. The tactic worked well and frustrated the home side as organisation won over endeavour.
Origi, for all his potential frustrates the hell out of me. He's a technically good player but he seems a bit clueless in the attack. When Benteke and Firmino joined the game, Liverpool looked far more likely to score and I'd bet the pair will start against Southampton on Sunday. Emre Can was again impressive as he thrives under the influence of his compatriot manager. Same goes for Mamadou Salho who is without doubt the team's best defender right now as the 30 year-old begins to show his age. With Dejan Lovren not even making the bench it's a safe bet that Klopp rightly doesn't fancy the Croatian. Simply because he's useless. A solid central defender must be at the top of any shopping list prepared for January.
We look forward to the visit of Southanpton to Anfield on Sunday which is a game that will be another tough test for Liverpool. Should we see a line up with Benteke, Daniel Sturridge and possibly even Firmino then Reds fans can only be positive.
Follow Ben on Twitter @MrBengreen
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