Liverpool's Tottenham Draw Provides Good Preparation for Dortmund Challenge

ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND — Title-chasing Tottenham Hotspur had to work hard to earn a point against Liverpool, coming from behind on Saturday to record a 1-1 draw after Harry Kane cancelled out Philippe Coutinho's opener.

It was an entertaining game that saw both teams' energetic, pressing styles cancel each other out. Both sides had chances, but perhaps Liverpool had the better opportunities, with Daniel Sturridge missing an excellent chance when one-on-one in the first-half.

Coutinho opened the scoring shortly into the second half, linking well with Sturridge to coolly slot past Hugo Lloris at the Kop end.

But Liverpool's lead lasted a little over 10 minutes, with Kane expertly turning Dejan Lovren and firing past Simon Mignolet.

The game could have gone either way in the final stages, but neither side found the winning goal—a draw not really helping either side.

Mauricio Pochettino's men needed the three points to keep the pressure on Leicester City at the top of the table, while Jurgen Klopp's Reds needed a win to maintain any hopes of a top-four finish.

With Manchester City and Arsenal both recording 4-0 wins earlier in the day, those chances look long gone. Now, all focus is on the two games against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Europa League.

Klopp returns to the team he managed for seven years and made his name as one of Europe's best coaches—winning the league twice and taking Dortmund to the UEFA Champions League final. It's sure to be a memorable occasion.

Similarities

While Liverpool gained a credible point against Tottenham, Dortmund produced a late comeback to beat Werder Bremen 3-2 and keep up their pursuit of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga.

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Thomas Tuchel's men have been in impressive form this season and dispatched of Tottenham in the last 16 of the Europa League, beating Pochettino's side 3-0 in the first leg at Signal Iduna Park.

Liverpool must avoid such a result when they travel to Germany on Thursday, and playing against Spurs perhaps provided perfect preparation for the Dortmund challenge.

Liverpool, Dortmund and Tottenham are three teams with similar styles, each side's manager desiring high energy pressing from his players. At Anfield, it was a fast and furious game between Liverpool and Spurs, with perhaps the north Londoners the side better equipped to deal with being pressed themselves.

Pochettino's young charges showed composure when under pressure in their own half, while Liverpool often struggled when pressed. Mamadou Sakho and Emre Can in particular had difficult games—the former especially in the first half. The Frenchman was twice caught out, with Lovren having to cover for his centre-back partner.

Sakho's desire to play the ball often leads to him creating his own problems, with one such instance being in the first half when a high ball required a simple header inside to a team-mate in midfield, but instead he attempted to control the ball with his chest despite an opponent being a yard away. Sakho lost the ball, and Kane should have done better with the eventual opportunity. Such mistakes must not happen against Dortmund, who are ruthless in attack.

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Can was guilty of several poor square passes that were easily intercepted and saw Spurs counter. Again, such mistakes against Dortmund will be punished.

Liverpool, though, on the whole can be pleased with their performance and particularly the problems they caused Tottenham, as noted by ESPN FC's John Brewin, who commented: "Spurs, widely depicted as Liverpool’s superiors at the pressing game, were forced into far more mistakes than their manager would have liked and required several moments of last-ditch defending to clear their own lines."

The Telegraph's Sam Wallace also noted Klopp's side's efforts "in shutting down the gaps in midfield."

Klopp

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Klopp mentioned both the positive and negative aspects of the Reds' performance.

"In summary, I saw a lot of good things today," he said. "I saw a lot of good signs for us, for our future. But on the other side, we showed a little bit of our problem."

Such words from the manager are refreshing for supporters to hear; there was no glossing over the mistakes or proclaiming the result or performance to be better than it was. Klopp saw it the way it was. There were good things but also bad things, which is to be expected in football.

What the Reds boss will seek to do is remove those mistakes before they face Dortmund. Perhaps he'll ask Sakho to take fewer risks and play a simpler game, as Lovren seems to have done and benefited from in recent weeks.

Game intelligence will be required if Liverpool are to produce a result against Dortmund, which is something some players lack. Klopp can't instil that in days or weeks, but for sure he could use his knowledge of the opponents to perhaps give them a competitive edge—after all, Klopp knows Dortmund's players better than Tuchel knows Liverpool's.

If anyone can expose Dortmund's weaknesses, it should be Klopp.

Sturridge's average performance on Saturday and manner as he departed the pitch when substituted could mean he misses out on Thursday if Roberto Firmino is passed fit. Firmino presses much more effectively than Sturridge and appears far more suited to the type of match.

Aside from that, it's likely to be the same XI for Liverpool—a similar result would be welcome too.

*Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.