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Jurgen Klopp said he’s “satisfied” with how his new Liverpool side performed against Tottenham in game one of the Klopperpool regime. Let’s break it down bit by bit, and explore a few other things that happened this weekend in the wacky Premier League.
Liverpool and Tottenham played to a snoozy nil-nil draw, which is good news for Spurs because they weren’t obliterated by Liverpool at home like they’ve been the last two times this fixture was played.
It was bad news for Spurs because by the end of the game White Hart Lane sounded like the inside of an empty wine bottle. If you put your ear to the open end you can hear Brendan Rodgers' slow, soft weeps.
This game felt much more meaningful for Liverpool, even though both teams are in the mid-table. After a week full of Klopp-fueled anticipation, full of charming Klopp press conference moments, the new boss found out just how short-handed his team is.
Joe Gomez, the centerback/fullback who’s showed great promise this season, is done for the year. Danny Ings is, too. Daniel Sturridge is injured (again!) and couldn’t go against Spurs. Neither could Christian Benteke.
For long stretches on the pitch, though, Liverpool seemed the better side. Klopp didn’t have many tough decisions to make in the team-picking department because of all the injuries, but a few of the players he started with played well.
I wrote last week that under Rodgers, Emre Can looked disinterested and lethargic, almost like he’d regressed. I’m happy to report that someone seems to have woken young Emre up.
Can was the most aggressive player on the pitch for much of the match and embodied the “heavy metal football” style of pressing that Klopp enjoys. The German is no longer tied to the right back or defensive midfield roles that he’d been mired in (and at which he’d been decent) under Rodgers. He started in central midfield against Spurs and covered a lot of ground.
Emre Can, absolutely all over the pitch today for Klopp's #LFC. http://t.co/LlYyIekhWE @Squawka pic.twitter.com/QjXu7Iydfe
— Grant Burkhardt (@grantburkhardt) October 18, 2015He also did this nifty thing:
These are promising signs for a very promising young player.
The rest of the game, though, was quite dull. Tottenham never really seemed up for it in the second half, and although most of the stats suggest a draw was the fair result, Liverpool will be happy to leave with a road draw and a point. “Satisfied” seems about right.
Liverpool have a home Europa League match with Russian side Rubin Kazan next, but the league schedule in the near future is not kind to Klopp.
Southampton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, and Manchester City are the Reds’ next four opponents. They’re only a handful of points outside the Champions League spots, but they’ll be tested often as Klopp tries to get his banged-up team through the slog of the Premier League season.
The way I felt watching the Red Storm Liverpool team of two years ago? That’s the way I feel this year about Leicester City. Oh my goodness, how much fun are the Foxes right now? They’re a joyous watch.
For the third time this season, Leicester went down two goals and came away with at least a point. Southampton led 2-0 and looked good in the first half, and then Claudio Ranieri subbed on Ryad Mahrez — the early leading candidate for Player of the Year, seriously — and Nathan Dyer, and the pitch instantly turned blue.
In that blistering second half, Leicester outshot Southampton 18-4, created eight chances to the Saints’ three, whipped in 13 more crosses than the host side,and scored two Jamie Vardy goals to escape with a point.
WOO WEE this Leicester team is fun. Vardy actually should have tied the game a few minutes before he did, when Mahrez shimmied past the weakened Southampton defense and crossed one perfectly onto Vardy’s boot. He skied it just over the bar, but a few minutes later the Premier League’s leading scorer slid through and buried the equalizer. The tying goal had been coming for some time — Leicester’s relentless pressure and speed completely tore Southampton apart.
Vardy especially is a menace, and feels like what Raheem Sterling was to Liverpool in that rambunctious Liverpool season of two seasons ago. He’s the fastest player on any pitch, and he has Luis Suarez-level conditioning to keep pressure on Premier League back lines for a full 90 minutes. Vardy can also make his case to be the best player in the league at the quarter pole of the season.
Leicester stay fifth, having the least amount of losses (one) in the sort of, kind of stunning Premier League table. I mean really, look which teams are around that fourth spot right now. West Ham are fourth after thumping in a late winner at Crystal Palace. Palace are sixth, even with the loss. Ninth, tenth, and eleventh? Everton, Liverpool, Chelsea. What a wild season.
A few other notes from a good Saturday of Premier League footie:
-I don’t know what to make of the top three teams in the table. Manchester United pounded Everton 3-0 away from home a week after being dumped by Arsenal by the same scoreline. Arsenal gave Watford the business to stay second, and have me closer-than-ever to actually believing they can win the thing. And then there’s Manchester City, at the top, without Sergio Aguero for a while, and without having totally convinced me that they’re the best team in the league.
-Could Tim Sherwood already be out at Aston Villa? It’s possible that Sherwood, just eight months after being hired and conjuring a relegation escape, could get fired after being soundly beaten 2-0 by Chelsea on Saturday. The back pages of the English papers on Sunday morning suggested that, if Sherwood were to be fired, former Manchester United and Everton manager David Moyes might be next in line.
-Chelsea needed that win more than any other English team needed three points this weekend. Jose Mourinho said his team aren’t afraid of being relegated — and they shouldn’t be — but he showed his concern a bit when he suggested that Chelsea would be back in the top five or six by the end of the year. The slow start and the dragging team playing in four competitions may have already doomed the Blues in 2015-16.
Grant Burkhardt is on Twitter @grantburkhardt and you can email him about the footie at burkhardt@the18.com
