Liverpool lost in transition but Jürgen Klopp could be their golden thread

The Liverpool manager is left trying to build a new era while continuing to win – it is possible if he is given time

TESTING TIMES: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.

With 11 minutes left in this FA Cup fourth-round tie and the score 1-1 Jürgen Klopp could be seen racing out to the touchline, yanking the snood from his face and performing a series of furious scything gestures with his right arm, as though trying to break free from some invisible set of manacles.

Klopp shrieked. He threw his head back. Just as quickly he stopped, crouched, and mooched back towards his seat. Nothing was really happening. Klopp was reacting to the shapes in his head, seeing danger, slackness, loose stitching in Cody Gakpo’s off-the-ball positioning during a lull in play with the ball 40 yards away, out there urging his false-10 central attacker to stand 10 yards deeper, trying to plaster some kind of attacking plan across this oddly angsty Liverpool team in real time.