Jurgen Klopp gave an honest assessment of his in-game changes after Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Man United, admitting that they left things “not 100 percent clear.”
On many occasions this season, and in particular of late, Klopp has been praised for his proactive approach to games and how his changes have turned the tide.
Unfortunately, the manager was unable to do so as Liverpool struggled to take their chances against United, dropping points for the first time at Anfield this season.
Klopp made two double substitutions on Sunday: firstly Cody Gakpo and Joe Gomez on for Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch; then Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott for Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez.
He shifted from his starting 4-3-3 to an attacking 4-2-4 and then seemingly back again, and speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, he admitted it did not work.
“When you play against a team who is man-marking in a lot of the areas of the pitch, then each little tactical change can have an influence,” Klopp explained.
“[We had] all of a sudden Joey immediately there for the proper right wing, and moving Mo inside together with Darwin first and Cody in the half-space.
“[After that] Harvey on the 10 and Curtis came in more or less for the left half-space to free Kosty on the outside.
“That all can have an effect. On a brilliant day it has an effect and probably had today an effect, but just not exactly the one we wanted.
“Because you could see all of a sudden because our organisation was not 100 percent clear anymore for the players, they all of a sudden had a buildup which they didn’t have before.
“[Before] they just had a long buildup – Onana and then long.
“All of a sudden they found Amrabat and these kinds of things, this gives you other things to sort.
“I thought the boys played a really, really good game.
“If we scored a goal, this game would have been absolutely brilliant, but we don’t and so now we have to take that.”
During his post-match press conference, Klopp added: “We just had to keep going and try pretty much everything.
“We changed system, brought [on] fresh players and everything could have worked out if we just make this one better decision.
“We were really unlucky with the Trent finish, I would say.”
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