It will be an atmosphere filled with electricity and energy as Liverpool face Rubin Kazan in their third game in the Europa League. Liverpool sit with just two points in the group stage after a couple of draws against FC Sion and Bordeaux but the first home game for new manager Jurgen Klopp will be yet another test for the German.
Liverpool’s first game under Klopp was a 0-0 draw away at Tottenham, the Reds did show some signs of a new playing style but with only three days of proper training with Klopp it wasn’t a surprise that the finished article is still a work in progress.
With a few more days to plan and prepare for the match against Kazan, we should see a better drilled and efficient Liverpool, though a lot of injuries could hamper the playing style. Liverpool would be without the services of Benteke, Firmino, Ings and Gomez, while Daniel Sturridge could be fit for the game though his injury status is unknown.
Liverpool fans believe that Klopp is the right man for the job and winning his first game at Anfield should get the belief going in full swing. With Kazan also looking to kick-start their Europa League campaign with a win, we look at what all Klopp must do to ensure he gets the three points.
Intensity and Gegenpressing
The one word, apart from the hundreds of puns based on ‘Klopp Kop’ that has been repeatedly used by almost everyone associated with Liverpool is ‘Gegenpressing’. Klopp’s Dortmund were great users of this playing style and we saw a decent bit of this against Tottenham from the Reds.
Liverpool’s playing style under Rodgers had slowed down quite a bit post the Luis Suarez era and Klopp has to bring the energy and intensity back into their game. Tottenham was hopefully just a teaser from Liverpool before they unleash the complete works of Gegenpressing authored by Jurgen Klopp.
Play with the same XI that started against Tottenham
With a whole host of players out, it really isn’t rocket science that Klopp has to put out the players that are fit but the German should not be thinking about squad rotation at the moment. He should take one game at a time.
The longer one group of players play together, the better they should be when executing his game plan. Against Tottenham we saw a midfield of Can and Lucas doing the hard work and winning and closing down opponents, while Milner, Lallana and Coutinho were the creative players. The same players should start the game against Rubin Kazan as well and hopefully Divock Origi can be a better outlet for the team than he was against Spurs.
Liverpool though need more from the likes of Lallana and Coutinho, the onus of creating and exploiting the mistakes of the opponents falls on them. The 100 mile an hour playing style often leads to incorrect decisions when the team wins the ball back and the more the same team plays, the better they should become, collectively.
Work on the defence
Liverpool need a miracle if they are to defend well, by now most Liverpool fans get panic attacks when the ball is played around by their defence. Martin Skrtel was the latest player who got hit by the ‘let’s forget how to defend’ virus, he was lucky that Tottenham didn’t take advantage of his slips.
Jurgen Klopp has to work hard on this aspect of Liverpool’s game. He does have some decent defenders but the central defence is the worrying part for the German. A clean sheet against Spurs was achieved thanks to a few brilliant saves by Mignolet and the Liverpool goalkeeper would hope for relatively less action at his end on the pitch on Thursday night.