Takumi Minamino Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp was impressed by Liverpool’s pressing game as they beat Bologna in back-to-back games on Thursday. Goals from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane gave the Reds the first win against the Italian outfit, before Takumi Minamino’s strike was enough for a second victory for Klopp’s men on the banks of Lake Geneva. Both Jota and Mane’s goals came from Liverpool dispossessing Bologna around the edge of their own penalty area and Klopp was pleased by the implementation of the press as the Premier League curtain-raiser against Norwich on August 14 draws nearer.
Jurgen Klopp said: “I like the way we scored the goals, the opponents hated it because they lost the ball, but it was really good football [from us] against a very defensive-orientated team. I liked a lot of things. Whenever we kept the ball we had the right speed for passing and we got them running, it was really good, especially in the second game. I liked the rhythm we played and we counted the chances we had and we had to use them. We had more chances than we scored but obviously Taki scored from Shaq’s (Xherdan Shaqiri) pass and it was a nice one. We could have scored more with the [missed] penalty, but it is all good, no-one is injured and it is all fine at the moment. It was 60 minutes for a lot, 45 for some and 15 for others and that is exactly what we wanted to happen today so I am really happy. I can imagine that we have worked a lot on [pressing] and like we spoke after the last game, it doesn’t always work out. It’s not like we always win the ball in that area, but it is still the right thing to do. We forced them to make mistakes and tried to keep pushing them into different areas, the sidelines and then you win the ball there as well. It’s not always one pass until you score, sometimes it is two or three, but we put pressure on the opponent and we can do what we want and the other team cannot and that is a massive thing in a football game that makes us feel insecure or really confident and that is what we tried today. Today it was absolutely fine. I cannot say anything bad about it to be honest.”
Klopp also reserved a word of praise for Kostas Tsimikas and Minamino for their contributions in the second game, while also detailing a new feature of Joe Gomez’s game at centre-back. Gomez, who returned to action after eight months out last week, played 43 minutes of the second game to follow on from Virgil van Dijk’s cameo in the opener.
Jurgen Klopp added: “Kostas was really good today, that is true. Owen Beck played 15 minutes and Taki has had a really good pre-season, it is true. Seeing the quality of Shaq here and all these things is good. So is having centre-backs, playing football and Joe is [playing] new long balls from right to left, a nice little asset and we can switch the game quicker, so it is all good. We have to, even after a long time the guys have not played with each other, we have to get used to each other again, quickly and then we have to make sure we are ready for the season. But we don’t prepare just for Norwich, we prepare for the whole season, so we will see who is ready next week. We have two more (friendly) games to go.”
