Topic: Round Table: Liverpool 1 - 0 Leicester

[John C]

The madness of how this year’s league is emerging, together with our self-inflicted trepidation meant most people walked out of the ground gratefully relieved and fully refreshed.

It wasn't just the return of the flags or that we were playing the league leaders, nor was it pre-game festive bevs that buoyed an exuberant Anfield crowd. I suspect it had more to do with the ongoing rallying call from our manager and perhaps finally a sense of guilt and realisation by the crowd that we must do better. And we did, at times the atmosphere was electric.
Many will suggest, not wrongfully, that it still wasn't quite matched on the pitch as Liverpool’s toil struggled to prevail productively during the first half despite some domination. But as bizarre as the situation may seem we should be really happy that we kept a clean sheet and 3-points, secured against the worthy leaders, Leicester City, that have beaten teams for fun so far this year.
So far this has been a ridiculously unpredictable and more significantly an unrecognisably tough league to play in and our own erratic performances contribute. But like it or not, we were under a test that our captain stood up to. He was immense in many ways.

Fortunately Leicester didn’t really trouble us like we’ve seen them in recent weeks, yet they defended as solid as necessary against a stuttering Liverpool. We still lack that cutting edge, something special, even a bit of the Coutinho magic. I’m unsure why him and Moreno don’t link down the left like they use to quite effectively to create trouble and distract defenders. I’m surprised Firminho lasted most of the distance despite his gorgeous involvement in the goal and I’d be troubled if people demand adulation for him based on that one move alone. But that’s just opinions on football.
Besides giving a silly foul away in the second half Lovren contributed effectively and competently. He angled himself brilliantly to head a ball out for a throw-in rather than a corner which may have put us under pressure. It was an amazing header. Astonishingly it was his partner, Sakho who lost his coolness throughout the game. He was wonderfully dominant in the air, but his control and passing imo was awful.

The highlight for me was Origi, he didn’t resemble the lad that first joined the side who seemed unsure about his role and ability. His endeavor is becoming as big as his stature and we were gutted when he was sprawled on the deck then went straight down the tunnel with injury. His replacement Benteke did ok and delivered that desperately needed winner. Although I’m not entirely happy with how we are using him, he does have a habit of scoring the odd goal when we need him to doesn’t he? Like with BR though, we still seem to be throwing pointless balls to his head which are neither controlled nor capitalised upon. But I’m certain Jurgen will resolve that.
I don’t want to appear unappreciative about the win, or faultfinding rather than positive, but you can often gauge how Liverpool played from the chatter as you walk down the steps and exit the vicinity of the ground. Moreover than Bentekes failure to hit an open goal, much of the discussion continued to be about what we lack rather than what we have. But that’s not something we didn’t already know.
We owe a massive thank you to the Leicester fans for their “Arhhhh you’re shit aahh” (or whatever the fuck it is) when Mignolet took a goal kick. It gave us a much needed, huge collective laugh. It’s not often we all giggle together and I think we chortled at them so hard they felt embarrassed for their woolness and the next effort was a timid version. At least there was no songs about signing on or such shite.

So ok, back to the not so new but increasingly frustrating elephant in the room. Leaving early. And it’s not because its Boxing Day and you long to be embraced by your ‘arl Aunty whose pungent smell of old fashioned perfume packs your nostrils as she lands one on your cheek . Assuming it saves 10 mins to get out of the ground and 5 mins in traffic going home, please enlighten me what the fuck do you do with those precious 15 minutes when you get home? What is so important in your gaff that makes you want to or need to miss the last 3 or 5 vital minutes of a complete football game?
I hope next month your fucking workplace payroll officers go home 5 minutes early 

[007.lankyguy]

A weird performance to analyse in some way. There was still plenty of things that could have been improved on and yet we were in control for basically the whole game and defended really well against the league leaders.

Apart from the win, that was actually the biggest positive for me - the work rate and defensive unity. There were still errors obviously but I felt comfortable with how that line-up operated in terms of recovery and work rate. It can't be underestimated how much a hard working side like the one we put out yesterday helps you get a platform in a game. Henderson and Can are both hard workers, Lallana obviously is, Coutinho puts in a shift, same with Firmino and Origi. The recovery pace of Moreno and Clyne is also very good, which helps the defensive transition. All that allowed us to control the Leicester attack comfortably; their attack was heavily right-orientated for a majority of the match so it was largely down to Mahrez and Vardy to create something on that side (they didn't have much between the lines so Henderson and Can comfortably controlled that area) and apart from a couple of occasions when Mahrez skipped free of a couple of players and Vardy got free in the box, we dealt with them comfortably - Can was good on that side helping Moreno with Mahrez, Sakho won a lot in the air and Lovren swept up and covered well from RCB.

The attack was probably the biggest issue yesterday. We clearly wanted to target the flanks and the 'half spaces' - a lot of switching play, a lot of playing to the FBs and looking for combinations in these wide areas, trying to take advantage of Leicester's passive, narrow block. The downside was that while it pushed them back, it didn't lead to a lot of genuinely good chances. Our associative play in these wide areas - the passing, relationship of movement, quickness of combinations - wasn't good at all. On the right, Lallana gave it away cheaply a few times early on and was generally too slow on the ball, which left Clyne a bit isolated in trying to penetrate on that side. We were a bit better on the left in this regard as Moreno and Coutinho have built up a bit more of a relationship but it wasn't all that  great there either and whilst Firmino, playing off the front, made some good diagonal runs at points to both sides, him and Origi sometimes took up each other's space when Origi looked to move laterally. When you try and play in a precise way like we did in this game, the interaction of movement and passing has to be good and it wasn't up to scratch here as a lot of the relationships haven't been built up and worked upon over time. One of the reasons a team like Barcelona are so good is that the positional play, movement and combinations across the pitch develop over time, so they know how to operate together and combine all across the attack in order to break the opposition down. For various reasons - injuries, inconsistencies, signings, change of manager etc - we haven't built up these relationships across the pitch so our link-up play in each  area of attack isn't particularly good on a consistent basis. It may take a while, probably a more consistent team selection and more work done on the positional attack for our combination play to become second nature to the players.

It did improve a bit in the second half. Henderson started making more runs towards the right and his link up play with Clyne gave us better fluidity on that side, which allowed Lallana to play more centrally. Firmino's diagonal movement started to pay off as Leicester switched off at times and Benteke's static play probably inadvertently helped in this regard as Firmino had more space to move into than he had with Origi. Firmino didn't have a particularly good game, especially in the first half, but I thought his work rate was fine and he got a nice assist. I do think once we get that connection and balance right in attack, he has the potential to be a very good player for us, as poor as he has been in the last few weeks.

I thought Origi was quite good before he went off. He's still a very raw player but the attributes are most definitely there and he looks a lot more confident now, albeit he was bit selfish at times yesterday. What he did give us was the option to play the immediate ball behind on the counter attack, which led to a couple of decent opportunities. Henderson and Can were both very good, I thought - some of the diagonals from Henderson especially were brilliant and his work rate, mobility and underrated creativity are really key for this side. We're a lesser team without him. Lovren was, by and large, very solid and he covered and swept up well. Sakho wasn't as good and had some sloppy moments but was also fairly dominant for most of the game defensively, I thought. I've said elsewhere this weekend that, for various reasons, I don't think this is a particularly promising long term partnership, but given the predicament we're in with CBs, especially with how poor Skrtel's been and with Gomez's injury, I'm not entirely averse to Lovren and Sakho short term. I still thought Lovren made some errors (a couple of poor passes into midfield, one or two completely needless fouls, losing Dyer in the box which led to his chance) but he deals with direct play fairly well most of the time and when he's got support around him, he's definitely aerially dominant. A very solid 7/10 performance (I thought Sakho was probably a 6/10).

Overall, a solid if flawed performance but one we'd definitely have taken before the game. Controlled their attacks comfortably, recovered well when we lost the ball, worked hard as a team, pushed them back in their own half and kept plugging away. A sizeable improvement on the match against Watford.

[JackWard33]

Great win

But for the sake of discussion I'd like to talk about our attack
It's a massive problem for our ambitions of doing anything this season.

The headlines are it doesn't seem to matter what personnel we line up (with the massive and notable exception of the rare times Sturridge plays) the same problem persists.....
... .we don't create big chances!

(which inevitably leads to not scoring goals... we're currently rocking 21 goals in 18 games... that's 1 more than Norwich and 2 more than Sunderland...it's pitiful)

We get a ton of possession, possession in the final third and shots but we don't create big chances which is where goals come from
Klopp hasn't fixed or changed this just continued the same problem that existed when Rodgers was here

From Michael Caley - since klopp came in we're 1st in number of shots but 13th in big chances created

We seem to have a collection of players that either can't create or are way too impatient when we get the ball in the final third.
I've posted a lot about Coutinho out of frustration this season and again it was evident vs Liecester - he constantly shoots from non-threatening positions (it probably hasn't helped us long term that 3 or 4 have flow in in the last 12 months) instead of looking to create, recycle and be patient with the ball. It's by no means a one person problem either all our AMs are guilty of it and our full backs seem way to keen to lift a cross in rather than recycle, probe and look to create an opening

We're also completely inept on the counter attack. Our lack of pace and also execution are maddening.
A couple of times yesterday Origi broke the line and had Firmino (who looks our most intelligent final 3rd player outside Sturridge) made great runs through the middle of the box waiting a tap in only to be completely missed by the pass or see Origi shoot from a bad angle.

It's hard to tell whether our problem is systemic and will be solved through coaching or whether our attacking personnel just aren't that good.
It's clear for the moment that's it's pretty broken.

It's not obvious how it gets fixed with the personnel we have but a start would be getting Coutinho to stop shooting in ridiculous volumes and having him and other AMs hit the box more often. Firmino showed signs in this game with his runs and creation especially in the second half that he can improve us (it's actually a really good piece of play for the goal where he fakes to the byline before finding Benteke).

[Floydy]

Some positives to take from the game but also there were some reminders of where we need to improve individually, collectively and of course in the coming transfer windows.

Still lacked some cohesion at times and we don't seem as compact as we need to be , defensively as a team we are pouros.

As Jack stated above the real frightening element of where we are now and for the past 18 months (bar a few games) is the fact that our finishing is simply atrocious.
Chances are created but wasted. The blazing over the bar and the dragging shots wide (Coutinho& lallana, Can), or passing into the keepers arms is too frequent an occurrence , there is a real lack of conviction in the team, this can only come with time and belief in the players minds.
From having enough chances to put the game to bed to biting our fingernails in the dying seconds there is a constant swing in the games, that is fine if you are 2,3-0 up but at 1-0 its nerve wrecking.

Henderson, Lovren particularly impressed me, some of Hendersons play was excellent. His range of forward passing is so intelligent and penetrative wonderful technique in those feet.

We beat top of the league so I suppose that is always a good marker. Sterner tests to come but lets use this and gather some momentum.
To summarize-we need to get sharper and prolific, we are wasteful with chances and simply offer the opposition a way back with some of our play.   Negate & Penetrate mixed with intelligence and aggression and we are onto a winner. Patience is a virtue.

[Severely]

I thought our midfield was excellent - Henderson showing exactly why we missed him so much while he was out and why so many expected him to excel in a Jurgen Klopp team. Runs hard, presses aggressively, and passes quickly and incisively. I think the poor finishing is simply down to the fact that we don't have natural goalscorers in our attacking positions - if you start off with a forward line consisting of 20 year old Divock Origi, supported by Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana, you can't really set up expecting to score loads every game. They're players who score occasionally when their form is on song, otherwise, they tend to be wasteful finishers and better at supplying chances for strikers. I've got a feeling that's why we've done well on big occasions, while stuttering at other times. I do suspect this will improve over time though. Once players are given more time with Klopp, they'll learn to trust that the system will inevitably result in chances being created, and the likes of Coutinho will stop taking pot shots from outside the box what seems like 100 times every game. However, it should be expected that the learning curve will be steep and there will be a few more hard falls before we learn the right lessons.

[007.lankyguy]

Very fair post. It's really multiple issues, I think. As I said further up, I think one of the major problems is that we really haven't built up relationships across the pitch, probably in the last 18 months. All the injuries, all the new players, inconsistent selections, various formations, change of coach etc on top of probably some inefficient work on positional attack has meant that the there isn't really a specific zone of our attack that functions effectively. The combination of Moreno/Coutinho sometimes shows some promise but even then it really doesn't work that well. On the right, Clyne's a new player and his attacking game has been pretty mediocre I think at least partly due to the fact that he hasn't had much opportunity to link up with good combination players, especially bearing in mind Henderson's injury. We've played so many different midfield combinations this year that our build up and control through that area is a real issue at times and we haven't really found a good partnership or connection between the lines and up front either.

As such, especially in games where we dominate possession, we often struggle to break through and create genuinely good opportunities on a consistent basis. Despite the media focus on gegenpressing, we haven't properly started it yet and so we're not frequently getting chances from winning the ball high up the field, particularly in the last few weeks where teams have been playing more direct against us.

I think the solution will be to build up these combinations across the pitch over time. Maybe in the short term, we might just want to take a simpler, more direct approach, instead of the 'neither or' game we're playing now where we seem to want to try and combine precisely but then force it too much as we enter the final third.

[stockdam]

I don't see why people want to pick up on negatives as we all know that we are looking for consistency. We beat the form team in the league and kept a clean sheet. That was as much as I hoped for. Leicester didn't play well but for me that was because we played as a team. Nobody really stood out but each player raised their game above the level shown against Watford.

Lovern, Henderson and Can played well. I don't really get the RAWK love thing for Sakho as he often looks like Bambi on ice with the ball. He is a good player but nowhere near a complete centre half.

I hope Origi comes back soon as his determination is infectious.

As for the game, there's not a lot to say other than we had our usual 60%+ of possession but didn't create enough. That will improve as partnerships develop and players gain confidence.

Mignolet pulled off a great reaction save but was fortunate when the ball bounced off Sakho into his arms.

The important thing about the game is that we played well and won a tight game. If we can continue this then we'll soon be in the top 4.

I like the way that Klopp takes time to put his arm around some of the players and the way he wants to get the crowd behind the team.

[JackWard33]

I don't see why people want to pick up on negatives as we all know that we are looking for consistency. We beat the form team in the league and kept a clean sheet. That was as much as I hoped for. Leicester didn't play well but for me that was because we played as a team. Nobody really stood out but each player raised their game above the level shown against Watford.

Lovern, Henderson and Can played well. I don't really get the RAWK love thing for Sakho as he often looks like Bambi on ice with the ball. He is a good player but nowhere near a complete centre half.

I hope Origi comes back soon as his determination is infectious.

As for the game, there's not a lot to say other than we had our usual 60%+ of possession but didn't create enough. That will improve as partnerships develop and players gain confidence.

Mignolet pulled off a great reaction save but was fortunate when the ball bounced off Sakho into his arms.

The important thing about the game is that we played well and won a tight game. If we can continue this then we'll soon be in the top 4.

I like the way that Klopp takes time to put his arm around some of the players and the way he wants to get the crowd behind the team.

It's not 'picking up on the negatives' .. it's discussing the team

My point is 'if we can continue this' we actually won't be in the top 4.
 If our attack and ability to create good chances doesn't improve we're not going to be moving up the league

Doesn't diminish a good performance and a great result but there's a reason we've had so many disappointing results this season and it's not just our defensive mistakes

[steveeastend]

The good thing is that the players obviously are not that shite that we have to sell all of them next week and buy everyone from everywhere, no?

Seriously though, the players did their job which was enough to win against the current leader which says more about their quality, definitely from the level which we would have been able to aquire anyway the moment. We would have to be extremely lucky to get someone from the overseen pack of top talent but that's not to be expected so it would be potential and hard work, just as it's the case with the current squad anyway....

Speaking of hard work while having sufficient quality around...... Klopp pointed to exactly this in todays presser. Him and the players will have to find a way for being more consistent in terms of performance AND results, the number of points to pick up in january and number of games definitely a very good phase to get stable step by step as everyone around won't have time to think about anything else than how to improve during training on a daily basis on every singe aspect...

Speaking of things to improve in training.....  Finishing has been mentioned by a few and I do recall Lallana trying hard getting from doing a wanna-be-Messi vs West Brom to getting to a little bit more of a down to earth finishing against Leicester, trying to hit it hard and high wide or under the bar which left me with enough hope to see him getting on target and score in his very next game. Lallana should watch Origis second vs Southampton even more closely.... concentrating on the strike and putting all his concentration and will on this instead of trying to do a million things at once.

I am sure he will work on that in training, just as I am sure Klopp spending every single minute learning the league and what it takes tactically and fitness wise to steady our level of performances. If we can do that, there is everything to expect, even for this season.

[RedKenWah]

I was impressed with the fact that the current league leaders (at the time) came to Anfield and we're not able to play the game that they wanted to play and we kept their 2 players in form under check. I like the fact that Leicester left with their tails between their legs.

We got a clean sheet that was really good and the performance of Origi was fantastic as well and it's a damn shame that he picked up that injury. I think he has really come on in leaps and bounds and you have to hand it to Brendan Rodgers/transfer committee for picking him up and hopefully the work that Jurgen Klopp will do for him will again hopefully help him become that top top player.


Henderson was superb as well and it's pleasing to see his rise within the game now and long may it continue for us.

For me though the big enigma has to be Benteke and Firmino. Maybe for Firmino I'm being harsh in that he's new to the league, the country and needs time to get used to UK life etc.. Fair enough and what doesn't help is his price tag.. Maybe Jessie J was right about that one..
Benteke though.. New team fair do's but he's been used to this league so well I just don't know. taking aside the price tag again because he didn't ask for it... He's a player in a side who is used to delivery on his head in the 18 yard box from out wide. He's come to a side that plays completely alien to how he is used to playing and he does need to adapt and pretty sharpish for his own sake otherwise I can't see him having a very long career with us. Now I could be harsh in that he's working with a manager who is working with a squad that he has inherited and he could be planning on signings that will change the complex of the side and that may help Benteke to become the force that made us want to buy him from Villa in the first place. But for now he needs to be attractive to Klopp by not making himself a one trick pony and being more than just that. Hopefully though now with Origi injured and Sturridge on pre season duty, he will get a run of games and prove that he is capable of leading the line for us.

[Welshred]

With regards to the attack, we need wingers. We've got plenty of attacking midfielders and inside forwards that it stunts our play and makes us easy to defend against. Lallana, Coutinho, Firmino - they all want to cut inside. None of them stick to the touchline and hit goal line to get crosses in and they all want to come inside, look for that one-two or have a shot on goal. Defenders and midfielders of the opposition then know that all they really need to do is close down the middle of the pitch and it can stunt our creativity and ability to score goals. We've one winger in the whole squad, a 20 year old Ibe, who's going to be inconsistent, and its easy to defend against him as you can double up on him knowing that you'll still have plenty of cover in the middle if the ball is switched to the opposite flank for one of the other three to cut inside. Watching on Saturday showed it perfectly to me - Clyne and Moreno had the ball in plenty of space on their wings and were one on one with the full back. That was it, everyone else was compact in the middle and with these two not having the skill to really take on a player they had to cut inside to everyone else leaving acres of space on the wing. Two proper wingers on Saturday would have helped no end, it would have spread the play and stretched the Leicester defence which would give us more options and hopefully more goals.

Adding proper wingers to the squad will also help Benteke as well. The lad is dangerous in the air and fares well when the ball is crossed, high or low, into the box. Give him more space to do that by spreading the play and he'll flourish, I'm sure of it.

[jckliew]

It's not 'picking up on the negatives' .. it's discussing the team

My point is 'if we can continue this' we actually won't be in the top 4.
 If our attack and ability to create good chances doesn't improve we're not going to be moving up the league

Doesn't diminish a good performance and a great result but there's a reason we've had so many disappointing results this season and it's not just our defensive mistakes

It's anathema to say such things after a win, donchaknow? 

[MNAA]

Just want to add further to the discussion on our lack of finishing/our lack of goals. We have shown that we're not totally incapable of being ruthless in front of goal. Chelsea away, City away and Sounthampton away showed that on certain days we can be as devastating as we can be.

However on most days this season, we've been very impotent in the goalscoring department. I was personally frustrated that we did not score more than a goal from the numerous opportunities that the team worked so hard to create. We just failed to execute time and again. And our kept going for the wrong options when there were better choices to be made

(1) Coutinho shooting too early and curled the ball wide (which apart from Chelsea, has been a feature of late). Placed it on target Phil. They don't have to be goals of the season.
(2) Lallana shooting when he could have pulled the ball back to Firmino
(3) Origi shooting when the angle was narrow - he could have pulled back to Firmino
(4) Can keeping the ball too long and not releasing early to Benteke
(5) Henderson crossing a little late and too far behind the forward running players. If executed right, it would have been an open goal for Firmino
(6) Offside or not, Benteke should have sidefooted early. The extra touch allowed Morgan to close the angle. Either that or passed it to Lucas who could just tap it in

We did a lot of good things in this match. Dominating an in-form Leicester is very laudable. Clearly though we are a team that is currently not confident enough to punish the other team through ruthless finishing. We carry the weight of wanting to win so much that we became over-eager to score, to the extent that our players do not trust the others who were in a better position to score. And eventually missed the opportunities

With the Leicester win ending the brief post-Southampton winless streak, I am hoping that means the monkey is now off the players back. The belief makes a comeback and they will be more relax and back to keeping things simple and effective

[LiamG]

It's amazing what having 2 CB's who both push up aggressively can do ey?

[Col]

The question has been asked about the differences between RCB and LCB, and they're far bigger than you'd think. Sure, a professional footballer should be able to adapt in the most part, but it's more than just being 'comfortable' on one side - certain actions during a game (and countless training hours) will be repeated so often as to be stored in the body's myelin supply... which basically means that your reaction times are faster, as as action becomes more subconscious and less conscious. It's "muscle memory", except it isn't actually too much to do with your muscles, more the nervous system and the speed at which your brain can transmit signals around your body.

Anticipating a covering movement as a CB is largely a reactive, conscious action (in that you're reacting to cues and triggers, not that you're necessarily reacting to a pass that's already been played), but the technical aspect of a clean clearance under pressure will be negatively affected by swapping sides and using the body in ways you haven't trained it as well to do.

At the top end of the game, the difference between a 10/10 clearance and a 9.5/10 clearance might just be a turnover of possession in a dangerous area - not to say that it will always happen, or even happen noticeably during a game, but fine margins make a difference.

On a similar note, swapping sides means using differing parts of your peripheral vision. If a player's vision is weaker in one eye (we know Skrtel wears contacts when he plays, for example), it could affect their ability to judge distances and angles correctly - especially if they are used to (subconsciously) favouring their stronger eye due to repetition of actions.

Towards the end of Ryan Giggs' career, he had to re-train his peripheral vision to help his transition into central midfield, as the angles of play and focus needed from the eye were vastly different to playing from a starting position wide on the field, where the ball was normally received from square or behind, and normally from the right-hand-side. The little things make a big, big difference.

[007.lankyguy]

The question has been asked about the differences between RCB and LCB, and they're far bigger than you'd think. Sure, a professional footballer should be able to adapt in the most part, but it's more than just being 'comfortable' on one side - certain actions during a game (and countless training hours) will be repeated so often as to be stored in the body's myelin supply... which basically means that your reaction times are faster, as as action becomes more subconscious and less conscious. It's "muscle memory", except it isn't actually too much to do with your muscles, more the nervous system and the speed at which your brain can transmit signals around your body.

Anticipating a covering movement as a CB is largely a reactive, conscious action (in that you're reacting to cues and triggers, not that you're necessarily reacting to a pass that's already been played), but the technical aspect of a clean clearance under pressure will be negatively affected by swapping sides and using the body in ways you haven't trained it as well to do.

At the top end of the game, the difference between a 10/10 clearance and a 9.5/10 clearance might just be a turnover of possession in a dangerous area - not to say that it will always happen, or even happen noticeably during a game, but fine margins make a difference.

On a similar note, swapping sides means using differing parts of your peripheral vision. If a player's vision is weaker in one eye (we know Skrtel wears contacts when he plays, for example), it could affect their ability to judge distances and angles correctly - especially if they are used to (subconsciously) favouring their stronger eye due to repetition of actions.

Towards the end of Ryan Giggs' career, he had to re-train his peripheral vision to help his transition into central midfield, as the angles of play and focus needed from the eye were vastly different to playing from a starting position wide on the field, where the ball was normally received from square or behind, and normally from the right-hand-side. The little things make a big, big difference.

Good post. It makes an even bigger difference when you're a CB - the amount of times you have to look over, know who's picking up who at a quick glance, where the space is, your reference points (sideline, edge of the box etc), when you need to cover, as well as things like getting your body position correct. When you're used to doing that on one side for many years, you almost have to completely relearn all those things when you switch. As you say, small details make a big difference and a CB who's reacting to everything even at 90% of his usual standard/quickness can become a quite substantial issue.

[Uruguayan36]

Great win

But for the sake of discussion I'd like to talk about our attack
It's a massive problem for our ambitions of doing anything this season.

The headlines are it doesn't seem to matter what personnel we line up (with the massive and notable exception of the rare times Sturridge plays) the same problem persists.....
... .we don't create big chances!

(which inevitably leads to not scoring goals... we're currently rocking 21 goals in 18 games... that's 1 more than Norwich and 2 more than Sunderland...it's pitiful)

We get a ton of possession, possession in the final third and shots but we don't create big chances which is where goals come from

Klopp hasn't fixed or changed this just continued the same problem that existed when Rodgers was here

From Michael Caley - since klopp came in we're 1st in number of shots but 13th in big chances created

We seem to have a collection of players that either can't create or are way too impatient when we get the ball in the final third.
I've posted a lot about Coutinho out of frustration this season and again it was evident vs Liecester - he constantly shoots from non-threatening positions (it probably hasn't helped us long term that 3 or 4 have flow in in the last 12 months) instead of looking to create, recycle and be patient with the ball. It's by no means a one person problem either all our AMs are guilty of it and our full backs seem way to keen to lift a cross in rather than recycle, probe and look to create an opening

We're also completely inept on the counter attack. Our lack of pace and also execution are maddening.
A couple of times yesterday Origi broke the line and had Firmino (who looks our most intelligent final 3rd player outside Sturridge) made great runs through the middle of the box waiting a tap in only to be completely missed by the pass or see Origi shoot from a bad angle.

It's hard to tell whether our problem is systemic and will be solved through coaching or whether our attacking personnel just aren't that good.
It's clear for the moment that's it's pretty broken.

It's not obvious how it gets fixed with the personnel we have but a start would be getting Coutinho to stop shooting in ridiculous volumes and having him and other AMs hit the box more often. Firmino showed signs in this game with his runs and creation especially in the second half that he can improve us (it's actually a really good piece of play for the goal where he fakes to the byline before finding Benteke).

Still i miss Luis Suarez playing for us.
http://www.espnfc.com/club/barcelona/83/blog/post/2798460/luis-suarez-barcelona-best-signing-after-decisive-goals