Liverpool played out an entertaining if at times, scrappy draw in Jürgen Klopp's first game as Reds manager. Divock Origi and Emre Can had good chances to score whilst Harry Kane and Clinton Njie had the best of efforts for Tottenham.
All eyes were on the visiting manager this afternoon as Klopp's long awaited debut arrived. Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino an exponent of a similar style of football was looking to build on their last Premiership game, an emphatic 4-1 drubbing of league favourites Manchester City. However, the visitors had other ideas.
Liverpool started very impressively and the new managers demands for increased aggression, emotion and to covering more ground were well heeded and the team looked as if there was a purpose about their play. One blemish on the day was the effect of the seemingly ever-growing injury list.
Daniel Sturridge travelled down with the squad but was deemed unfit to start. The reason being a swollen knee which left only Origi as the only first team striker. As hard working as the young Belgian is, he clearly isn't the solution to the team's shot-shy performances and the sooner either Sturridge, Christian Benteke or both return the better.
I have to say, I was impressed by the work rate of the Liverpool side and their early endeavour almost got them a goal when Origi's header hit the crossbar. Today we saw what Klopp meant when he spoke of "bringing teams down to our level". His team harried and jostled Tottenham through out the game and on many occasions the game descended into some full-blooded challenges with both teams struggling to retain possession. There were pleasing signs however.
One thing i noticed is that there weren't so many passes back to Simon Mignolet which is pleasing. In the first 30 minutes, there was perhaps one, maybe two. Usually, he would have had three times that many in that time. There were more passes later on to the Belgian but this was purely down to the resolute pressing displayed by their hosts also. That said, the defence still made a few errors in the first half and had it not been for some inspired goalkeeping from Mignolet, the scoreline may well have been very different. There is still work to do.
In terms of performances, other than Mignolet, I thought Emre Can had a good game being deployed in central midfield along side Lucas who remains ever reliable and a great servant to the club. Can made numerous forward runs in the second half and was unlucky to see his shot whistle past Hugo Lori's right post. Mamadou Sakho was the best defender today by far and led by example. He seems to have adapted to the new regime very well. His distribution is far quicker now but still retains his accuracy. Martin Skrtel remains error prone and I think he will need to raise his game a tad if he wishes to feature in Klopp's plane. Especially as he's knocking on the door that says "31 years old".
Nathaniel Clyne and Alberto Moreno both had solid games and were very industrious all afternoon. Same goes for James Milner and Adam Lallana although I thought they were both quite wasteful in possession at times. It wouldn't surprise me if on this performance, Sakho probably looks like better material. Let's face it, Milner is only captain because of assurances given to him by Brendan Rodgers. Not because he's proved himself in a Liverpool shirt. In my opinion, both Lucas and Sakho make better options. Coutinho played well without being outstanding. Opposition defenders have his number now so he's going to have to get more creative and likely more physical to really make his mark on this team. You can't fault his industry and effort.
I saw some running stats showing Liverpool being the only team to have covered more distance than Tottenham this season (116km v 114km). Evidence that the team's workmate has at least improved under Klopp although how much of this is down to New Manager Syndrome, and how much is down to real honest endeavour, we'll have to see over the next five games. One thing is for sure, we're by no means out of the woods yet. Injuries to key players and a ropey defence will remain to be the manager's focus over the next few weeks.
There's plenty to be positive about. The players look as if they've bought into Klopp's philosophy and ideas. His reaction to the final whistle, shaking the players's hands won't go unnoticed. Nor will his saluting the travelling support. A nice touch. The travelling support held a banner saying "We believe". After this result, I do believe. I do believe this team has their destiny in their own hands. Question is, do they?
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