Liverpool fell to a shocking defeat at Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League last night and one statistic is causing fans fits of rage.
Last night was depressing. Liverpool fell to a poor 2-0 defeat in the Champions League group stage to Red Star Belgrade. That leaves them second in the group with tough fixtures against PSG and Napoli. They are now huge games for the rest of Liverpool’s season.
With any bad result there is a mixture of negative emotions; disappointment, frustration, anger and hopelessness. However one stat from last night’s game is causing rage in a big section of the fanbase.
Jurgen Klopp started an experienced midfield of James Milner, Gini Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana. They were overrun and bullied by their Serbian opponents. Most telling was the stat that the trio made zero tackles between them. NONE!
I’m not sure how many games of football have ever been won at any level without a midfielder making a tackle. It can’t be many. Or maybe any.
The side was hamstrung by the inability of that threesome to win the ball – they also conspired to lose it on a number of occasions, notably Milner for the second Red Star goal. This predictably got Reds irate:
Adam Lallana, James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum won ZERO TACKLES in that first half. £90m on the likes of Fabinho and Naby Keita only to start this embarrassing lot in a crucial CL tie.
— nobody (@sumeet_vp) November 7, 2018
I've never been this angry in a long long time. Fix the fuck up. #LFC #YNWA
Many were pointing to the contrast between those three vanishing and Fabinho’s performance in the reverse fixture at Anfield.
The Brazilian tallied nine tackles as part of 18 duels he won that night. That destructive force was severely missing last night and led to many calling into question Klopp’s selections.
Now with Naby Keita back in contention and Jordan Henderson’s return just around the corner we can finally see what kind of midfield Klopp wants to create with all his options available.