Liverpool Passed An Early Test
Liverpool passed an early test at Anfield. Following on from a tough Manchester United home game, the match against West Bromwich Albion was an important litmus test for the Reds. Jürgen Klopp drew smiles earlier this week when he commented “The United game was good practice for Pulis”. Behind the obvious banter in these comments, Klopp realised just how important a test his side faced.
Teams and Tactics.
WBA had one suspension in the form of Jonny Evans. Tony Pulis decided to replace Evans with his experienced center back Jonas Olsson. Apart from this change WBA hoped to emulate Manchester United and defend in numbers while leaving a lone target man in Salomón Rondón up the pitch.
Klopp deployed his version of a 4-3-3 with obvious encouragement for Emre Can and Jordan Henderson to rotate forward in support of the attack.
Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mané started in a fluid front three. Daniel Sturridge was dropped to make way for Adam Lallana. As a result of this change, Liverpool were more fluid in attack in comparison to the previous Man Utd game.
Match Recap
The match itself settled into a pattern early on. Liverpool had possession uncontested up to the halfway line. WBA retreated into a formation with nine outfielders behind the ball. Tony Pulis copied the Man United blueprint and hoped to stifle and frustrate the home side. Slick passing and speed of attack saw Sadio Mané provide a telling finish to a flowing Liverpool move. Anfield let out a gasp of relief and the Reds had the vital first goal. Coutinho then produced a beautiful body swerve to send WBA defenders the wrong way, as he clipped a smart shot past Ben Foster to make it two nil to the hosts.
Cruising
At halftime the Reds were two nil up and cruising. The onus was on Tony Pulis to see if he could change the flow of the game. WBA came out after the half and reverted to the defensive shell, it looked only a matter of time before Liverpool added to their tally, but some wasteful finishing kept the scoreline down. The Baggies were to snatch a late goal, some scrappy Liverpool defensive play from a corner, left Gareth McAuley with an easy close range finish and suddenly WBA had hope. Liverpool saw out a nervy last few minutes to secure the win and go level at the top of the table with Arsenal on points.
Are Liverpool Title Contenders?
Many pundits in the footballing world were eager to see if Liverpool could rebound from the Manchester United draw. Klopp had his players well drilled and the addition of the tricky Lallana provided some more cutting edge. Emre Can improved in what is a new role for him. The young German midfielder is pressing forward more often and provides a good foil for Jordan Henderson in central midfield.
Questions still linger over Liverpool’s defending from set pieces. The WBA goal worryingly came from one of the few dead ball situations Liverpool had to defend. If Liverpool can secure a lot of points from the current run of games against teams outside the top 4, they must then be considered as serious title contenders.
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