Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp avoid 18 days of crisis questions by dropping 'very normal' players

Liverpool dropped their 'very normal players' and brought in Thiago and Joel Matip. Jurgen Klopp was rewarded with a victory that really does not sit well with us.

Faced with a truncated weekend fixture list and an international break, those of us running football websites would rather have liked Liverpool to lose to Ajax on Tuesday night.

Nothing personal, but a club in crisis hangs together like mush on a cold day and Liverpool - after that abject defeat to Napoli last week and with their legions of emotional fans - fit the bill perfectly.

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We've had fun over the past seven days with the 'Klopp out' headlines, but now Liverpool can enjoy their 18-day break without cracked badges, 'five ways Liverpool can save their season' features and without uncomfortable comparisons with < em>this Borussia Dortmund season.

It was by no means a brilliant performance to beat Ajax, but it was a priceless victory, both in terms of this Champions League campaign but more importantly in the context of a season during which they looked vulnerable defensively and very, very ordinary going forward.

At Anfield they were minutes away from a laughable record of just two wins in eight games when Joel Matip hit a winner that was starting to look inevitable.

"If things aren't going well and these strikers don't have their day, then I think they're just a very mediocre team," Rafael van der Vaart said before the game, and he was incredibly hard to disagree. The Dutchman had identified three 'very normal players' and it was telling that none of this trio had faced the Dutch champions.

Jordan Henderson was injured but Joe Gomez – ridiculously bad against Napoli – and James Milner were both dropped, with Matip and Thiago taking their place.

The former not only scored the winner but helped carry Liverpool forward all night, while the latter brought serenity and vision to Liverpool's midfield; we missed him very much.

There was no doubt that Liverpool deserved the win simply for playing with an intensity rarely seen this season, with the only real problem being Trent Alexander-Arnold's now-standard loss of concentration for missing the run that directly led to the equalizer for Ajax. . Coming so soon after Mo Salah's opener, he carefully showcased the best and worst of this Liverpool side.

Diogo Jota had been another player parachuted into that Liverpool team and it must have been particularly pleasing for Klopp to see him combine with Luis Diaz and Salah so effectively in the very first game they started together.< /p>

And the key word is 'together' after weeks of watching Diaz and Salah stay too far apart to combine with their striker.

It wasn't the irresistible Liverpool we've seen so often over the past four years, but neither was it the nonchalant, lackluster Liverpool we've seen too often this season, especially during damaging defeats against Manchester United and Napoli.

There was at least no lack of effort and some semblance of a plan, a fact not unrelated to the absence of Henderson, Milner and Gomez. All of them started against Manchester United, two started against Napoli and none played more than a few seconds against Ajax.

All of this is a huge disgrace because this international break required Liverpool to be mediocre, and mediocrity would not have triumphed over this Ajax team. The famous Liverpool badge will remain intact.