Кан спасает Ливерпуль и приносит ничью в игре с казанским Рубином в дебюте Клоппа на Энфилде
Liverpool 1-1 Rubin Kazan: Can rescues draw on Klopp's Anfield debut
The Reds had to settle for a point at Anfield, despite the visitors being reduced to 10 men in the first half after Oleg Kuzmin saw red
Jurgen Klopp enjoyed the atmosphere at Anfield during his first home game as Liverpool manager, but admitted his side lacked ‘a decisive two per cent’ in the 1-1 Europa League draw with Rubin Kazan.
The visitors opened the scoring on 15 minutes courtesy of Marko Devic, but were then disadvantaged by captain Oleg Kuzmin’s sending off. He received his second yellow card shortly after the half-hour mark, and Emre Can immediately levelled matters after stabbing in a free-kick.
Klopp admitted conceding first momentarily punctured Liverpool. “That in football is one of the biggest challenges," he said. "You are in a feel-good moment, your direction is OK, your concentration is high and then you get this [setback of letting in a goal]. We needed a restart in the game and we did it well.
“It was a big challenge because of the quality of Rubin Kazan. That’s normal in football that nobody is interested in the quality of the opponent, but everyone could see they were not bad, that they are very experienced. They were cool on the ball, they didn’t have it very often, but when they did they were good with it and made the first goal.”
The Reds boss revealed playing with numerical superiority can often be unfavourable. His charges fired 35 shots at Kazan, but were unable to breach their defensive wall.
“Sometimes, it is a big advantage against 10 men, but most of the time it is a pretty thankless job because now they stop playing football and just defend,” Klopp explained.
“They make a big, big compact block and that’s what we had to do better against tonight. But we had our moments, we hit the post with Christian [Benteke]. We had some other moments – good chances – but at the end, no goal. So I would say 98 per cent OK, not perfect, but the last two per cent – the decisive per cent – we missed. That was the problem this evening.”
A frustrating result aside, Liverpool supporters were full of song to create the “special atmosphere” Klopp said he was excited to sample. The volume inside the stadium was amplified when the manager walked out for the pre-match warm-up. Banners featuring his face filled the Kop, while his name was chanted throughout the encounter.
“It was a warm welcome. That was one of the best moments for me tonight,” Klopp said, before joking “it’s important for all of us that people don’t think I should stay outside the stadium!
“When you come first time to a new house usually you will have a present, but I am not quite satisfied with my present tonight, but we’ll come here again and do better.”
The German midfielder netted a scrappy goal from a free-kick to earn his side a draw in the former Borussia Dortmund manager's first home game in charge of the club
Jurgen Klopp endured a frustrating debut in the Anfield dugout as Liverpool were held to a disappointing 1-1 Europa League draw by 10-man Rubin Kazan on Thursday.
The German manager was forced to settle for a share of the spoils for the second consecutive game despite his side having an extra man for over half of the match.
Marko Devic gave Rubin a first-half lead with a brilliantly-taken goal, but Oleg Kuzmin's red card appeared to have ended the Russians' chances of picking up a positive result.
Emre Can smashed home an equaliser before half-time, but Liverpool were extremely poor in the second-half as the returning Christian Benteke hit the post in one of their few clear-cut opportunities.
The Reds have now drawn all three of their Europa League games, but stay second in Group B after leaders Sion beat Bordeaux in the other game.
Joe Allen came in for Lucas Leiva in Klopp's only change from the goalless Premier League draw at Tottenham, while Benteke and Roberto Firmino – who have been out for a month – returned to the substitutes' bench.
Can took a pass from Allen and curled an early effort into the side netting, but it was the visitors who moved into a surprise lead after 15 minutes.
Rubin captain Kuzmin went past Can and floated a delivery into the area from the right. Devic got goal-side of Nathaniel Clyne, showing strength to control with his chest and flick an impressive finish into the far corner.
The hosts tried to make a swift response when Adam Lallana sent an effort wide from the edge of the box, before the Southampton star flicked an impressive header just over from Philippe Coutinho's free-kick.
Coutinho himself threatened next when he seized on a poor pass from Magomed Ozdoev, only to fire wide with his left foot after a promising run had given him a decent chance.
Liverpool 1-1 Rubin Kazan: Jurgen Klopp has little to shout about on Anfield bow as draw specialists toil against 10 men
- Rubin Kazan threatened to wreck the party as Jurgen Klopp took charge of his first game at Anfield
- They took the lead after 15 minutes, with Marko Devic hitting the Russian outfit ahead with a crisp finish
- Liverpool were handed a lifeline soon after with Kazan skipper Oleg Kuzmin brainlessly collecting a second booking
- Emre Can prodded home from close range to level matters shortly after, much to the relief of the home fans
- Christian Benteke replaced the outstanding Philippe Coutinho and squandered a chance to put Liverpool ahead
It always helps for a manager to get an early sight of what he faces at his new club. The culture, the strengths, the fixes, the flaws. It’s fair to say his Anfield unveiling gave Jurgen Klopp a most thorough briefing on what ails Liverpool.
The matchday programme, with his cover image parodying the iconic Barack Obama ‘Hope’ poster, neatly encapsulated the enormous expectation. Yet Liverpool’s failure to overcome a Rubin Kazan team reduced to 10 men after 36 minutes confirmed the size of the task ahead.
No matter Klopp’s stardust, this remains a side who have lost their manager, their best players and their status of 18 months past, and as a consequence lack conviction. Liverpool had more than 30 shots at goal, but 80 per cent were off target.
Rubin’s opportunities were limited but contained greater threat. The best save of the night came from Simon Mignolet and, while Russian ambition diminished greatly with the dismissal of captain Oleg Kuzmin, a late corner produced a header that could have snatched the game.
Klopp is learning about Liverpool all the time, and one of the lessons concerned his new club’s penchant for taking a good player from Southampton and, somehow, diminishing him; Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana and, in this case, Nathaniel Clyne.
Last season, Clyne was the outstanding right back in the Premier League. It earned him promotion to the England squad, and quite probably the team in France next summer. Here, he was made to look inept by the simplest of tests for Rubin’s goal.
t was a good diagonal ball from Kuzmin, but nothing a well-positioned defender should not have been able to deal with. Unfortunately, Clyne was anything but. The wrong side of Marko Devic, he was turned easily before the Ukrainian striker directed a great volley into the corner, leaving Mignolet helpless. Welcome to Liverpool, saviour.
To his credit, Klopp is still at the stage where he is all about positivity. If he was in any way unnerved by what he had just seen, he did not let it show.
Much arm-waving followed, which amateurs in sign language interpreted to mean, ‘We go again’. And Liverpool did. They had plenty of the ball and applied pressure, but little that found a way through. Goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov put in a shift, but without heroics. The nearest Liverpool came to a winner was an 80th-minute shot from substitute Christian Benteke that hit a post, after good work from Lallana.
They had the best of the game, but it was very easy to forget they were up against 10 men.
Still, Anfield remains a special place on European nights, the biggest problem being that little special has happened in Europe around these parts for some time. Long term, Klopp may be the man to change that.
The demands he makes of his team — run hard, close down, harry — are what domestic audiences like to see. Klopp clapped furiously each time his players earned a tiny second-ball victory and in time, one imagines, it will become second nature to graft this way.
For now, they need reminders. In the first half, Divock Origi found himself with the ball near Rubin’s penalty area after a counter attack. He was desperate for support. So was Klopp. He looked at the bulk of his midfielders still passing through third gear. Momentarily, the encouragement stopped and a glower took over. One imagines that won’t happen again after today’s post-match debrief. He looks as if he doesn’t waste much time repeating himself.
Still, smart in his winter coat, Klopp looked at home here, and the locals tried their best to welcome him. The man in charge of the pre-match music did his bit.
Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express filled the night air, as did Heroes sung in German by David Bowie, Sie Liebt Dich by The Beatles (She Loves You, a relic from their Hamburg days) and, more dubiously, The Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop. Banners had been prepared, the best of which summed up Anfield’s view of their new man. ‘Far from normal’, it read.
Yet, often, Liverpool were. Normal, ordinary, unexceptional. They had chances, but little that stood out. A run and shot wide by Emre Can after eight minutes. Another from Lallana after 17, Philippe Coutinho after 32 and Lallana again a minute later. When Clyne got down the right on the overlap, Origi could not convert at the near post, and a flat free-kick from Coutinho was headed over by Lallana.
Rubin’s chances were more telling. In the 34th minute, left back Elmir Nabiullin got past Clyne and whipped in a great cross which Blagoy Georgiev met on the volley, forcing a superb save from Mignolet. Another lesson there for Klopp: early on, he may need his goalkeeper more than is healthy.
Shoring up the midfield with the introduction of Lucas for Joe Allen at half-time suggests he is not slow on the uptake. Still if Klopp is charged with turning back the clock to better days at Anfield, he has made a start already.
It was January 2009 when the club last drew four games on the trot but, between them, Klopp and his predecessor Brendan Rodgers have now replicated that.
Back then, however, Liverpool had Fernando Torres to end stalemates. There is no-one of his calibre here and, while Benteke was a handful, he could not provide the necessary breakthrough, given 27 minutes to win the game.
Another revelation there perhaps, about the need for players to stay switched-on. Klopp had wanted to introduce Benteke three minutes earlier, but the striker looked to have left an item of apparel in the dressing room. As he disappeared down the tunnel to make amends, Klopp shot his bench a look that suggested a sternly worded memo at least this morning.
So, no quick solutions. Having gone behind, Liverpool only drew level while Kazan were reorganising after the dismissal of Kuzmin. The Russians were a goal up when their captain committed a clumsy and poorly judged foul on Can. Having already been booked for a reckless challenge on Alberto Moreno, he left Austrian referee Robert Schorgenhofer little option but to show a red card.
From the resulting free-kick, Liverpool equalised. Coutinho crossed from the left, Origi met the ball at the far post, heading it across goal for Can to force over the line from close range. The momentum should have been with Liverpool from there, but scant else of note occurred. Coutinho had the odd pop and many corners were forced. None came to much.
Klopp is making Liverpool harder to beat and that is stage one in the construction of any team.
For this to be an Obama moment for Liverpool, however, better has to come. As the game fizzled out, Klopp stood, hands deep in the pockets of his sharp new outerwear. If only the team looked as good as he did.
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