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In the keenly awaited first leg of the last 16 tie against Bayern Munich, Liverpool failed to take the initiative and with that any advantage to the Allianz Arena. But the fact that they didn’t concede a goal will play to their advantage in the second leg. Niko Kovac’s side were well organized and after being overrun in the midfield for much of the first half, he did well to motivate his team to come out without conceding in the second half.
Both teams were missing some important players with Bayern missing Thomas Muller and Jerome Boateng, Liverpool missing Virgil Van Dijk. German keeper Manuel Neuer had nothing to save all night and Allison had some shaky moments, but no chance was a sitter.
Here are the three reasons why Liverpool were held to a stalemate against the Germans.
#1 Over-dependence on the front three
Liverpool’s front three is among the most feared in the world. But when they are not banging in the goals, this current Liverpool side looks a little bereft of ideas. Gini Wijnaldum pops up with the odd goal too, but his role in this side is more as an enforcer, who covers every blade of grass, and keeps the Liverpool press going.
WIth Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's absence, thanks to a long-term knee injury, Liverpool have been desperately crying out for someone to step up from midfield, and take a little bit of the goalscoring burden off their front three. Xherdan Shaqiri has done that to an extent this season, but for some unfathomable reason, Klopp opted not to bring him on in this game, even when he took Firmino after 75 minutes.
Naby Keita was supposed to be the man who drove forward from midfield, and made goal contributions - the ball carrier a la Oxlade-Chamberlain, but the Guinean has found adapting to life at Anfield a little difficult, with only one assist to his name all season.
Despite an all-action show in this game, where he dribbled past players for fun, drove forward confidently, and linked up well, Keita's composure in the final third was found a bit wanting, as he tried to rush the final pass, leading to him making wrong decisions and unnecessarily overcomplicating things.
The unnecessary overcomplication was true for all of Liverpool's front three last night, as they continually made wrong decisions in the final third.
#2 Bayern’s organized defence
Mats Hummels has been the most criticized German player after the World Cup as Bayern have had an average campaign up until now. But his performance against Liverpool was full of authority and class. He never dived into a tackle in spite of the fact that Liverpool were playing the neat one-twos and it was difficult for defenders to stay on their feet.
Niklas Sule also joined in after some initial moments of nervy play. And together, they both kept a check on Firmino, Salah, and Mane. Kimmich was excellent in reading the Mane-Robertson game and came out on top with his assured performance.
He will be the biggest miss for Bayern in the second leg. Kovac does have a confident looking back four now and just needs the front men to fire and take Bayern over the line in the second leg. Bayern’s midfield needs to support its defence as they lost the ball many times in the first half.
#3. Liverpool not clinical enough-
Liverpool dominated the first half and it looked like Bayern had come for a draw. All elements which have defined Klopp’s reign in Liverpool were present, the high energy play, overlapping runs, control in midfield. But what missed was the most important aspect - goal scoring.
Liverpool had 15 scoring chances out of which they had only 2 shots on target. Salah missed a header from Arnold’s cross and had difficulty in controlling a through ball by Henderson. But what will frustrate Liverpool will be the 10-yard miss by Sane from a ricocheted shot by Keita. It was difficult as he was not expecting the ball to come to him.
Joel Matip had a chance to volley in the second half but it was too much to ask from a centre back. Liverpool never really had that extra time to shoot which they very often have and they have to find their scoring boots again to progress into the quarterfinals.
