Jurgen Klopp has admitted that it wasn’t a shock to see Liverpool score the winning goal from a set-piece against Ajax last night.
The Reds finally made their tenth corner of the game count as Joel Matip headed home in the 89th minute, and Klopp wasn’t surprised.
“We had these quick set-pieces, quick restarts with Thiago, stuff like this, where we tried to make an advantage in these moments. Sometimes you have to wait a bit longer. But that it was a set-piece, I think nobody was surprised because our set-pieces tonight were really good,” the Liverpool boss said via livepoolfc.com.
“I have no idea why we didn’t score earlier from them because pretty much each set-piece was a threat.”
Liverpool get back to basics
Liverpool were indeed a big threat from set-piece situations last night. It helped them that Ajax seemed to be giving away a lot of free-kicks in dangerous positions, as well as corners.
But you still have to get the delivery right. More often than not this season, Liverpool haven’t done that.
With Kostas Tsimikas in the team though, the balls into the box were much improved. The Greek took exactly half of Liverpool’s corners and the last one finally had the desired effect.
Virgil Van Dijk in particular was unlucky not to trouble the scorers earlier in the game. The 31-year-old was a threat all evening and perhaps knocked the Ajax defence’s confidence in dealing with balls into the box.
The Dutchman already has a goal to his name this season, and will expect to get a few more along the way.
For Matip, he was a slightly more surprising match-winner. His goal last night represented his first ever in the Champions League for Liverpool.
But in the context of the game, Klopp is right, it wasn’t a big surprise. Aside from his goal, Matip was brilliant all evening. His ability to emerge from defence with the ball and pick an incisive pass is unique.
A popular goal scorer, and a hugely deserving one. No surprise to see Liverpool looking much more solid and indeed threatening with Matip back in the side.
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