Considering Jurgen Klopp really only had two days to work with his new squad, things looked to be markedly improved from the end of the Brendan Rogers era in today’s 0-0 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
Liverpool’s opening 20 minutes were impressive, and their fans could not but be pleased by the German’s seemingly immediate impact.
After that though, there was little in the way of stand-out moments in a relatively dull 90 minutes in north London.
Here’s what we learned.
1. We’ve had our first glimpse of Liverpool version of ‘gegenpress’.
Klopp built his Borussia Dortmund sides on the famous hard-pressing and pressure system designed to force teams into mistakes.
And in the opening 20 minutes Liverpool had Tottenham in all sorts of problems with Divock Origi and Adam Lallana pushing up to create one or two half-chances for the Reds.
Origi’s pace was used effectively to shut down the Tottenham centre-halves and Lucas and Emre Can were very tight to their midfield counterparts.
The early heatmap could be a sign of things to come.
Liverpool's heat map. Gegenpressing. pic.twitter.com/evmppMotTe
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 17, 2015
2. A bright start led to a typically nervous Liverpool performance.
The early fire that had Liverpool players zipping around the pitch was doused by the home side after the 25th minute and for most of the rest of the game.
One of the many  faults of the Brendan Rogers era was how his side would dominate games in possession but often fail to score and then gradually retreat into their shell.
Once Tottenham got to grips with Liverpool’s pressing they attacked the away side’s full-backs and pushed up the field.
But for Simon Mignolet saving from Clinton and Kane, the away side would have been at least 2-0 down at the break
3. All huff and puff but not enough of the right stuff
Divock Origi has completed 87% of his passes. Good link-up play. pic.twitter.com/mcZCnxru8G
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 17, 2015
Divock Origi may have been hailed as ‘world class’ by Brendan Rogers but he definitely isn’t yet.
The Belgian shows plenty of willing, chasing hopeless balls and working the channels but on this evidence, his finishing needs some work. The header he sent crashing against the crossbar would surely have been converted by a Benteke or a Sturridge.
https://twitter.com/dlqaguy/status/655368316714921984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Considering he only played a handful of minutes of Premier League football before the Spurs game, the former Lille striker’s performance was satisfactory, but playing up front on his his own he was rarely the threat that the Tottenham defence might have expected.
Link -up play was good but he is not a like-for-like replacement for Sturridge or Benteke.
4. Liverpool’s defence needs  a lot some work.
@5timesco Good first half but Skrtel needs to switch on!
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) October 17, 2015
Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho are Liverpool’s first choice pairing, but several times in the first half their communication left a lot to be desired.
Simon Mignolet had to come to their rescue with two top-class saves in the opening 45 minutes, with both players affected by Liverpool’s pressing game that’s had pushed them much further from the edge of the 18-yard-box than they may have been used to.
Liverpool’s full-backs were given a tough time with Alberto Moreno seeing plenty of the ball but rarely creating the overlap that Klopp might have expected.
5. Injuries will determine Klopp’s success as manager
With the amount of injuries Liverpool have, I'll take a draw #YNWA
— Mike Powney (@MikePowney1) October 17, 2015
Before the game started we compared how a Liverpool injured XI would look compared to the side that actutally started the game.
Brendan Rogers had to make do last season with no recognised frontmen due to Daniel Sturridge’s constant injury bothers and Klopp clearly will need to find a goal-scorer who can play nearly every week to get his system working at maximum output.
Klopp expects his players to cover huge distance and will need his team to be much fitter which will probably mean players training harder and likely to pick up more injuries as they adjust to his system.
Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino as well as the injured strikers will all add quality to the starting XI. It’s just a matter of keeping his best players as fit as possible for the coming months.
Overall though for a first impression it’s been a positive one for Liverpool fans.
Spurs 0-0 Liverpool FT:
Shots: 13-12
Pass accuracy: 75%-76%
Chances created: 10-10Good start Jürgen. pic.twitter.com/N1WtWPaMqT
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 17, 2015
The pressing in the first 20mins was brilliant. They tired out afterwards but a week's more training under Klopp and they'll get used to it.
— LFC NEWS (@LFCTransferNRS) October 17, 2015
