Housewarming gifts. A nightmare.
One of the most difficult things to buy for someone. You start out with big ambitions but end up settling for some wine glasses or even just a bottle of wine.
Jurgen Klopp had his first game in his new home of Anfield last night as Liverpool drew 1-1 with 10-man Rubin Kazan and was clearly hoping for some kind of housewarming gift.
The Kop gave the German a great welcome, but soon the reality dawned that it was going to take more than just a charismatic coach and whole load of goodwill to turn this Liverpool team into anything special.
Klopp, however, was reasonably satisfied with some elements of the performance, though not with his overall housewarming gift.
“When you come to a new house you want a present. I’m not quite satisfied with my present tonight,” said Klopp after the game.
“We had many shots on the goal, like 35, but only 9 on the goalkeeper.
“I would say that 98% is okay, but the last 2% is down to the decision-making.
“It was not a boring game – absolutely not – it was an interesting game.
“It was a warm welcome and that was one of the better moments but not the most important. It’s good people don’t think it’s better I stay outside the stadium.
“You can be sure I felt everything positive and then I concentrated on the game. It’s work for me and the team.
“What we did today was better – sometimes faster, sometimes with more consequence. We got into better positions and the guys tried.
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“We got this very, very nice goal. Of course, we could have defended better (for the first goal) but in the last moments it was brilliant from their striker.
“Against 10 men, we had to find solutions, sometimes we found them. Tonight is not a masterclass but not the worst day of my life.”
Liverpool now has three points from three games, four points behind group leaders Sion.