Five things we learned from Dortmund draw, with Joe Allen set for pivotal role

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1) Sakho/Lovren rise to the occasion, while Skrtel doesn’t even make the bench…

Liverpool centre-backs used to compete to start alongside Martin Skrtel. Now, the Slovakian can’t even make the bench with Kolo Toure selected instead last night. What’s more, Sakho and Lovren repaid Klopp’s faith tenfold. They made countless blocks, tackles and clearances, putting in the kind of ‘backs to the wall’ defensive display Carragher and Hyypia used to away in Europe under Rafa Benitez.

2) Joe Allen’s in for the rest of the season…

Even regardless of Hendo’s injury, many Reds would prefer the Welshman in central midfield at the moment, based solely on recent form. The captain left the field at half-time injured and Allen, his replacement, put in a much more assured performance – better on the ball. Henderson’s potentially out for the season, and now Allen will surely get the run of games in the middle he’s deserved.

3) Klopp is not afraid to make big, risky decisions…

Dropping your star striker in the biggest game of the season for a largely unproven 20-year-old? Not a problem for Liverpool’s manager. While Sturridge’s benching would’ve infuriated the Englishman, it undoubtedly helped the team – with his replacement Divock Origi running the channels, pressing and bagging the away goal which gives us a genuine chance of progression.

4) Under Klopp, Liverpool are a big match team… 

Time and time again under Klopp, Liverpool have risen to the occasion against the so-called better sides. And right now Dortmund are one of the best sides in Europe. We’ve beaten Chelsea, Manchester City twice, Manchester United, table-toppers Leicester and now outplayed Dortmund in their own backyard for much of the game. The only negative is that Origi didn’t score before the end of the first-half and that we didn’t bag from our scurry of attempts in the second.

5) Set-piece undoes us again…

It’s all the more frustrating that with BVB’s wonderful attack the only goal we conceded was from a routine set-piece, something we’ve actually been much better at dealing with in recent months than before Christmas. Mats Hummels navigated our zonal marking and got a run on Adam Lallana, who was no match for him in the air, but it was the ease in which they took the short corner which was more annoying. Defensively we were mostly excellent, but we’ll need to make sure we’re extra switched on next week.

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