Martin Keown shared what he saw at half-time during commentary on BT Sport as Liverpool drew with Benfica. After a poor first half, Keown said the coaches really got into the players in a warm-up before the second 45.
Liverpool were excellent going forward at Anfield, but they were woeful defensively – allowing Benfica to score three goals on the night. It ended 3-3, Roberto Fimino’s brace and Ibrahima Konate’s effort cancelled out.
Goncalo Ramos, Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez scored for Benfica. With the scoreline 1-1 at half-time and Liverpool far from their best after a number of changes from Jurgen Klopp – the coaches were unhappy.
That is according to Keown, who noticed the coaches really “giving it” to the Liverpool players during the half-time warm-up just before the start of the second half. He said he expects Klopp was not happy during the break.
“I’m pretty certain Jurgen Klopp was in their ears at half-time. It was pretty interesting to see them warming-up just before the start of the second half, the coaches were really getting in to the players,” Keown told BT Sport.
Keown on Liverpool: Why were Reds so poor defensively v Benfica?
Klopp made three changes to his defensive line – bringing in Joe Gomez, Konstantinos Tsimikas and Konate for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk. Consistency was thrown out the window.
But even then, the Reds were not expected to ship three goals. The high line was taken advantage of – by the likes of Yaremchuk and Nunez, the latter of whom will have shown numerous suitors what he is capable of.
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