Wow!
First things first, we should quietly be counting our lucky stars Klopp was forced into a move. Dropping either of Origi or Firmino wouldn't have happened and the footballing insanity would have continued. So, it happens Firmino was injured, and back in comes a recognised striker for the first time this season, and holy sh*t didn't we look better?
Let's indulge firstly though in what Sturridge brought to this team today. Predatory instinct, positional instinct and movement. It has been lacking and while he isn't clearly up to match fitness, through no fault of his own, his movement and instinct was a joy to behold. And his goal, well, who would you rather see in that goal scoring position. He took his goal beautifully well, from an exquisite pass laid on by MoTM Coutinho. That goal broke a deadlock we'd have usually struggled with, with our 'usuals' up top. It was the catalyst that set us up for the rest of the game, and we looked dangerous and not laborious for the first time in God know's how long. The movement and threat though we carried throughout that game was night and day with the old huffing and puffing we've been recently served up.
Though I'm thankful Klopp was forced into the move of selecting Sturridge. Credit should go to him, for not going with 3 up top, we went with a diamond and little Coutinho was almost Pablo Aimar-esque in his deeper position today. That was a good change, and one again that probably wouldn't have happened had Firmino been available. But the whole side going forward looked much better, and people had be calling for a change for weeks and as it turned out those who did were fully vindicated in their calls to question the consistent selections of Klopp in recent weeks.
Even Origi, a player who I don't really rate all that much looked so much better having a proper striker in tandem with him, leading the line. The difference was night and day, and while it seemed bold-er to twist rather than to stick it paid off and rewarded us handsomely.
Now, all we need is 3pts at home to 'Boro, next week for CL qualification - of course, again, we need to start our best striker if we want to make lighter work of taking 3 pts.
One happy red here, who had become slightly disillusioned with the way we were travelling, well in lads, let's finish the job off next week!
« Last Edit: May 15, 2017 01:58:34 am by Beerbelly »
Logged