3 things we learned from Liverpool’s 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in Jurgen Klopp’s debut

The match was active and entertaining, but ultimately Jurgen Klopp’s managerial debut for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane wound up as a 0-0 draw. The two teams both played well and ultimately cancelled one another out in the match, but there was plenty for both fan bases to come away happy with despite not picking up a win.

The match started off with absolutely withering pressure from Liverpool, who pressed high and hard up the pitch to throw Tottenham off balance and dominate the opening spell of the match. Liverpool would press, win the ball back because of that pressure, and immediately look to turn and make penetrating passes into Tottenham’s defense. They were playing the exact kind of football that Klopp used to such success in Germany, and it was an extremely positive start to the new manager’s tenure, one eagerly welcomed by Liverpool fans.

Unfortunately, Liverpool couldn’t capitalize on their chances, with their best scoring opportunity kissing off the crossbar instead of finding the back of the net. That’s perhaps not surprising considering the injury woes Liverpool are suffering, with Christian Benteke, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Ings, and Roberto Firmino all unavailable. Divock Origi is a talented-but-raw youngster and was making his first start for Liverpool, so you couldn’t exactly expect miracles for him up top.

Once Liverpool’s press started to slow a bit after the opening 20 minutes, Tottenham were able to force their way back into the game, with Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen taking full advantage of some shakiness in the Reds’ defense -- especially from Martin Skrtel -- to start getting some high-quality scoring chances of their own. Some fine goalkeeping from Simon Mignolet kept them at bay, though, and the match went to halftime 0-0 despite some genuine threats from both sides to open the scoring.

The second half started out much the same, with Liverpool pressing hard from the open and Tottenham looking to exploit cracks in the Liverpool defense. The match became something of a chess match in the second half, with the run of play tending to be a bit more even and chances harder to come by, but Spurs again had the better of them and more of them. Fortunately for Liverpool, Mignolet had probably his best match of the season, so far, and was up to the task of stopping everything that Tottenham threw at him -- including a couple of absolutely scorching shots from Kane.

The draw is perhaps a slightly disappointing result overall -- both teams were looking for a win, Tottenham to help build momentum and Liverpool to get their form turned around and start hot under Klopp. It’s a fair outcome, though, as it was quite hard to truly separate the two teams in terms of how they played. Klopp will likely take the draw without too much upset, thanks largely to his hamstrung attack -- while Liverpool would rather have looked better going forward, the sheer number of injuries they’ve had made that a difficult prospect.

Goals: None.

Goals: None.

The Reds played much more aggressively and assertively in Jurgen Klopp’s first match than we’d seen from them in quite awhile under Brendan Rodgers. While their pressing probably wasn’t quite up to Klopp’s ideal standard yet, it was certainly impressive at times, especially early in the match. They had Tottenham completely unsettled early on in the match, but Liverpool struggled to keep up that pace all game long. Their defense looked shaky again at times, too, and they gave up too many hard fouls to give Tottenham chances. Fitness will take time to get to Klopp’s standards, but the fouls are something that need to get cut out quickly -- though they could easily be the result of players getting over-eager to impress the new boss.

Demebele has been something of a forgotten man in Tottenham’s midfield this season, thanks in large part to Mauricio Pochettino coming to prefer a midfield pivot of Delle Alli and Eric Dier, which offers different things tactically than Dembele would. He’s still an excellent midfielder, though, and coming in for an unavailable Dier for this match, he showed just how good he is, absolutely dominating the midfield and looking like the best player on the pitch for the vast majority of the game. Spurs are just better with him in the team, and hopefully Pochettino remembers that after today.

That and less-polite variations of it was perhaps the most-said phrase by Liverpool fans in this match, and perhaps many other fans, as well. The Slovakian defender made a number of bizarre and unfortunate mistakes, both with the ball at his feet and in his attempts to defend, and really left Liverpool in a bad way too many times. Fortunately, Mamadou Sakho and Simon Mignolet were in fine form to cover for him, but Liverpool would have been much better off if Skrtel even had just an average game.