Jurgen Klopp‘s substitutions were called into question last season, but has his increased firepower off the bench helped the Reds turn a corner? Jake Clay takes a look…
There was no excuse for how bad Liverpool were during the 2022/2023 season. They were a shadow of themselves from the side that won the Champions League, the Premier League and a near undisputed quadruple.
One little sliver of sympathy Klopp arguably has is that he was without some of his key players due to injury.
Diogo Jota had just come back from a hamstring injury that forced him to miss the first part of the season, and was one kick away from being able to celebrate a 1-0 win over Man City on the pitch with his team-mates.
However, while trying to drag the ball up the pitch, Jota suffered a calf injury that ruled him out of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the majority of Liverpool’s campaign.
Another key star, Luis Diaz, started last season in blistering form and was Liverpool’s main man.
Then, after falling awkwardly away at Arsenal, the Colombian was out until the latter stages of Liverpool’s campaign.
Their quality was missed as much as their availability from the bench, or when rotating the side to provide fresh legs and options with the team’s shape.
There were times last season when Liverpool would be starting a front three of Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Roberto Firmino, and if this attacking line wasn’t working then there were not any solutions off the bench to change the game.
It left Liverpool looking one-dimensional, making it easier for the opposition to set up and adapt to how they were going to play.
The substitutes Liverpool have brought on have scored nine goals between them so far this season in all competitions.
Surprisingly, Liverpool are only eighth in the table of most used subs by Premier League managers, but Klopp has certainly been effective with his.
This season has been the complete opposite of 2022/23 as the Reds have looked better with every substitution they have made.
It has particularly been the case when chasing the game. The tactical changes they have made have bamboozled their opponents.
Nunez’s last say on Tyneside
The most obvious example of this came away at Newcastle, when Nunez stole the headlines with his match-winning cameo despite the Reds being down to 10 men.
Both Jota and Harvey Elliott came on around the hour mark and proved to also be
effective in getting Liverpool up the pitch while a man light.
Elliott’s energy in midfield allowed the Reds to set up in a 4-4-1 shape, and when Jota picked up the ball on the left wing he could drive up to support Salah, giving Newcastle a decision of whether to push for 2-0 or control the game at 1-0.
Then with the game still poised at 1-0 the big man came on.
His impact off the bench shouldn’t be a surprise as he has contributed four goals and two assists since the start of last season, second only to Callum Wilson in the Premier League within the same timeframe.
This is where Liverpool can mix up their personnel, as they have the technical brilliance of Cody Gakpo but can switch it up with the robustness of Nunez.
The rest is history as Nunez’s last-minute winner will be hard to top as the moment of the season.
Classic 4-4-2 saves the day
The thought of 12:30pm Saturday kick-offs, international breaks and
Liverpool FC all in the same sentence always sends a shiver down the spine.
The game against Wolves showed the signs of Jurgen Klopp’s side last season: passive,
weak and just second best.
Last season, that side would have crumbled, losing the game 2-0 without laying a glove on their opposition.
Having the benefit of bringing on an extra forward to make it a 4-4-2 forces the opposition back because of the attacking players buzzing around them.
This includes Elliot, who has been excellent with every substitute appearance and has
added so much energy when going forward.
In 11 substitute appearances, Elliot has helped turn losing positions or stalemate scorelines into wins and last-minute points.
His presence has helped salvage 10 points from games against Newcastle, Wolves,
Everton, and Luton where Liverpool haven’t been in winning positions.
Wolves went from being able to get in behind Liverpool’s 4-3-3 formation to not being able to lay a glove on Liverpool’s two-man midfield due to the firepower Liverpool can bring off the bench.
Diaz immediately pulled to the left wing and was electric in sustaining Liverpool’s pressure and with Nunez’s introduction just created wave after wave of attacks.
Andy Robertson’s goal was a consequence of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa’s quick long
throw, but you felt a goal was coming at that stage.
Elliot’s deflected effort deserved to be his goal after another bright impact from the bench.
These were the games that cost Liverpool last season, including the awful 3-0 defeat at the same stadium back in January.
More of these tests were to come before this current international break.
A run of games when the bench saved Liverpool
Meetings with Everton, Bournemouth and Luton shouldn’t necessarily require substitutes to save the day.
Yet this was the situation Liverpool faced in these games as they found themselves pressed against a wall before finding a way through it.
In the Merseyside derby, both Nunez and Elliot injected a sense of energy and purpose that helped the Reds find two goals in the last 20 minutes of the game thanks to a Mo Salah double.
Likewise, during a hurricane down in Bournemouth, a certain Uruguayan storm from the
bench in Nunez settled the tie with a belter of a finish to drag his side into the League Cup quarter-final.
Even when Liverpool’s in-form forwards were firing off target there was Luis Diaz after the most horrifying week one could ever suffer.
The Columbian came onto the pitch with a fire that rescued his team a point in the dying seconds.
Make no mistake games against weaker opposition were Liverpool’s Achilles heel last
season. They only managed to pick up 36 points from 60 against the bottom 10 teams in the 2022/23 campaign, compared to the 58 they amassed in the previous season to demonstrate the drop-off.
Klopp didn’t have those game-changing options to turn games around and snatch
points from the jaws of defeat.
This season though, from the seven games so far against the bottom 10, Liverpool have
collected 17 points from a possible 21 games.
Considering one of those games was dropped points away at Chelsea, this shows a
staggering difference in using the squad against these kinds of teams.
Timing is key
Klopp has, at times, been criticised for his use of subs during his Liverpool career.
Sometimes it’s been for not being proactive during a game Liverpool are clearly struggling in, other times it’s been a case of taking the wrong player off at the wrong time.
For instance, Salah was taken off against Chelsea in the middle of a barren run at Anfield when the Reds couldn’t buy a goal and lost six home games on the bounce within the 2020/21 pandemic season.
The decision seemed ludicrous at the time and was an example of the manager making the
wrong tactical choice.
This campaign has been a different story. Any time Klopp has faced adversity he has reacted it swiftly.
Again, the Newcastle victory comes to mind because putting Elliot and Jota on that early into the second half was a risk, but it set the tone for Liverpool to throw men forward which paid off later in the game.
Similarly, in the Wolves game the Reds were awful until Klopp made the decision to throw on Diaz and change the formation, with Elliot and Nunez being subbed on before the hour mark.
Klopp made more changes from the bench between 45 and 60 minutes in these two games
than the rest of the Premier League games combined.
This shows that the manager has reacted to games where Liverpool have struggled by
bringing on players that will bring energy and pace early in the second half to give Liverpool a foothold in the game.
Liverpool have made just under half of their league changes all season between 75 and 90+ minutes to rest legs, but some of them – like Nunez at St James Park and Diaz at Luton – have made an immediate impact.
Last season Klopp’s substitutions were questionable, but now with an embarrassment of
riches, Liverpool’s manager has an armoury that produces results.
* This is a guest article for This Is Anfield by Jake Clay. Follow Andy on Twitter, @Jakeclay98.
