Liverpool’s europa league group stage came to a close on thursday night with a 2-1 loss to union saint-gilloise in brussels.
Although a much-changed and youthful side suffered their second defeat of the group e season, their chances of making it to the last 16 were already high before kick-off. Klopp opted to rest many of his big names as he handed starts to the likes of ben doak, kaide gordon, luke chambers, and conor bradley with manchester united’s debut on sunday afternoon at anfield, but it was also one that flummoxed those at uefa, whose official pre-match sheet revealed some apparent tactical tweaks of a curious nature from klopp.
Harvey elliott was reportedly playing in a two-man midfield pivot alongside winger kaide gordon, with defensive midfielder wataru endo reportedly leading the line as the only striker. Jarell quansah, a centre-back, was given the freedom to roam in a new-look no.10 role behind him. Despite andy robertson’s injury that has weakened his confidence in the final third, klopp is unlikely to be calling for his creative abilities in the final third any time soon, as a result of his well-taken equalizer on the night, we’re not sure cody gakpo is the right man to defend the greek defender on the left side of the defence, despite uefa retaining him in that position.
Gakpo is a versatile player, but a full-back he isn’t. Curtis jones, on the other hand, has at least played right-back against leicester in the league cup this season, but he was going it too far when uefa took the positions hopelessly wrong on the night.Cody gakpo’s night was an evening to remember, with the netherlands international barely getting back into the game against the belgian league leaders.
However, some of the officiating was unconcerned with the forward, particularly in the second half, when he launched one of those trademark dribbles through the centre. Gakpo was running at the heart of the usg defence when he was chased by a group of players who were able to deny him the ball and space on the half-turn.
The forward may have held the ball for too long, but the dutchman’s boot fell off in a tackle by a usg player, leaving him to hobble around with only one boot for more than a few seconds.gakpo stood there with his arms aloft in the face of a foul wearing only one boot. It was predicted that a foul would be called when he stepped over to put the boot back on, but the referee refused, despite one of the cleats flying across the field.
The sight of the reds man sprinting to retrieve it as the game went on ended an otherwise dull evening.
