Coutinho’s illness meant that Klopp had to rely on an untried supporting double act of Ben Woodburn and Trent Alexander-Arnold because Roberto Firmino was also not available to start for the Reds on Saturday afternoon. Brilliant brilliant but then half-an-hour, really hard.
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The Potters did manage to take a 1-0 lead into the break after Republic of Ireland worldwide Jonathan Walters headed the hosts into the lead when left unmarked.
It’s not like Philippe Coutinho had an an bad lot of weight to lose.
Klopp showered praise on goalkeeper Simon Mignolet after he superbly denied Charlie Adam and Saido Berahino in the second half.
The Reds remain in third, nine points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal, who have three games in hand.
Stoke have slipped to 13th after a fourth successive defeat but their eight-point cushion to the relegation zone should be enough to keep them from falling into further trouble. “I thought a lot about my decision and I thought we could have played much better than we did”. “And we needed Simon Mignolet with two outstanding saves”, he told reporters.
Liverpool will have Joel Matip available, with the central defender able to appear as a substitute against Bournemouth after recovering from a back injury. Firmino 8, Coutinho 8, Sturridge 6. Jurgen Klopp is furious as Woodburn tumbles down inside the area under the challenge of Peters but Mike Dean signals play on and now Stoke break.
Stoke stole the initiative just before the interval with a goal that left Klopp furious. It should be 2-0!
“We didn’t defend like we usually do so we couldn’t play high pressure and Stoke scored”.
70′ – GOAL – Coutinho grabs the equaliser for Liverpool!
Tottenham chalked up a sixth successive victory, Dele Alli scoring a superb goal – his 16th of the season in the league – and Eric Dier doubling the lead before Son’s brace.
“We are going to face these kind of games until the end of the season with long balls into the box and corners we have to deal with and that is what we have to learn”, said the Belgian.
It won’t be the first time the team will have been without its top attacker this season, but the previous such instance featuring an extended stretch sans-Mane did not go well.
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Jurgen Klopp sent Liverpool out in a 3-5-2 formation against Stoke.
