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| Image via Liverpool Echo |
Liverpool managed just a draw at home against Rubin Kazan on Thursday evening, despite the fact the visiting side played the majority of the game with ten men. Whilst this kind of result may have been questioned under Brendan Rodgers, for Jürgen Klopp it is simply a matter of finding his team in a pool of frankly average players.
With injuries to contend with and the realisation that some of his team members just aren't up to scratch it is clear Liverpool struggled to really put the pressure on Kazan, however there are players who appear to have instantly benefited from Klopp’s influence such as Adam Lallana and Emre Can.
Rubin Kazan were always going to pose an unknown factor on their visit to Anfield but I'm not sure anyone expected them to get off the mark so quickly. After a sustained period from the visitors it was Devic who finished neatly to put his side ahead. Perhaps aided by some poor defending from Clyne in particular, Devic still did very well to bring the ball down with his chest, it was superbly controlled and they deserved to take the lead.
Having got off to a favourable start it was a shocking mistake from Kuzmin already on a yellow card to commit another foul and be given his marching orders not long after the 35 minute mark. It was a blessing for Liverpool though who immediately capitalised from the resulting free kick. A lovely ball into the box eventually found its way to Emre Can who simply couldn't have missed and the Reds had found their equaliser.
Setting up what should have been an interesting second half, in fact Rubin Kazan with the disadvantage of ten men decided to shut up shop. Liverpool were already struggling to break through their defence especially having only Origi to call upon and so the game quickly turned into a stalemate.
Things improved slightly when Christian Benteke was introduced but he was never going to be on top form having returned just recently from injury. Klopp also decided to make a substitution immediately after half time when he brought on Lucas.
He gets a lot of stick in my opinion but I honestly still prefer it when Lucas is on the pitch, we just seem to run a lot more smoothly as a unit and for me he still has a job to do here at Anfield.
I asked you for your thoughts on the game and here are a few of the tweets I received:
@LFCKirstyLFC the pace and tempo was high. But players up front are expected to finish. Origi not a fit in the team.
— Sid (@Siddhant6361) October 23, 2015
@LFCKirstyLFC as Klopp has said..not a masterclass but not the worst performance either.. We slowly starting to play exciting football again
— Sam Naik (@SamNaik01) October 22, 2015
@LFCKirstyLFC remove the shambolic defending that BR seemed to ignore and that's a good starting point & strikers need to perform when fit.
— Al Makey (@AlMakey) October 22, 2015
Next up for Liverpool is Southampton.