Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has explained why he had to switch formation against Arsenal in Saturday’s 1-1 draw.
As noted in 16 Conclusions, Klopp switched to a 4-2-3-1 with James Milner on the right-hand side, seemingly to protect Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was struggling at right-back.
Klopp explained after the game: “We made life a bit too easy for them in the first half, formation-wise I was not happy at how compact we were and stuff like that.
“When we had the ball it was good, we were a threat, we were in behind. The start was like ‘Wow, Arsenal are there’ but then the first attack we had, everyone knew ‘OK, they are not too bad as well!’ It was then a pretty open game. That’s OK.
“Our set-pieces were outstanding and we should have scored from them; Virgil said immediately after the game he should have had a hat-trick, but he had not even one [goal]. That’s a shame.
“Second half we changed formation a bit and it helped us today. We scored a really nice goal, had super counter-attacks, played good football in a lot of moments, but – as they have done a few times already this year – Arsenal brought pretty much all of their strikers [on]… I was actually waiting for Van Persie and Bergkamp!
“Because first half we were not compact enough, the three in midfield had to do too much and then the one time we don’t close the half-space, they play the ball through and could score the goal.”