Allen, Toure and Lallana were the three changes from the starting eleven summarily dismissed by West Ham. Stoke on the upward curve with Bojan, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic supported by footballing side with a steely reserve looked physically light years ahead of Liverpool.
Klopp’s side were back to high pressing from minute one with Firmino stealing in to speculatively shoot from distance, seeing his shot snuffled by keeper Jack Butland.
Lallana was soon in play, also shooting from distance, forcing Butland into a diving save.
The high pressing game took its first casualty in Coutinho’s hamstring giving way after barely 18 minutes with Jordon Ibe entering the fray.
The substitution made very little difference to Liverpool’s pressing game with Stoke barely threatening Mignolet’s goal. Once again another Liverpool hamstring succumbed with Dejan Lovren’s pulling up after a tackle to be replaced by the returning James Milner with Lucas moving back to partner Touré.
We were impressing not just with the persistency of our pressing game, but the ability to keep the ball for long periods. The persistency was soon rewarded.
James Milner, despite being heavily tackled fed an excellent pass down the line to Lallana who drove to the bye-line before cutting back for the arriving Allen miscuing before Ibe shot home left-footed from the bottom left corner. It was nothing more than Klopp’s side deserved.
Lallana impressing, danced down the right before crossing to find Ibe, who will have been disappointed not to find the net with his curling effort going the wrong side of the far post.
Stoke’s only real chances in the half came from dead ball situations.
They came close from a goal a corner as half-time approached when the ball was headed away from goal and Mignolet saved expertly from Glen Johnson’s threaded shot through the crowded area.
The second-half started at the first ended with Liverpool using Klopp's "gegenpressing" football to harry the Stoke defence and stop them building-up from the back.
Stoke finally found the way into the game and Walters having come on at half-time provided a focal point at the head of affairs.
Bojan drifted in from the left dropped a shoulder and left Kolo Toure for dead before meeting Lucas head on with the Liverpool captain winning out with an imposing covering tackle.
Firmino was still showing up without being able to deliver the coup de gras. The Brazilian dropped a shoulder to created space for himself before frustratingly dragging another shot wide of the mark.
Milner then came close, seeing his left-footed shot kicked off the line. Jordon Ibe cut in the from right before flipping the ball behind his legs leaving defender in his wake before shooting into the side netting with Joe Allen waiting for the ball to be pulled back.
Towards the end of the game Mignolet was booked for the second time in the season for time wasting.
Jurgen Klopp will be hoping Kolo Toure’s tweaked hamstring is nothing more than cramp or else he will be down to the bare bones at centre-back if he isn’t already.
Man of the match: Kolo Toure – Expertly marshalled the Liverpool back line especially after losing Lovren. Brought defending back to basics and cleared lines as and when.
Was closely followed by Lucas who made crucial interceptions after dropping back to partner Toure. Can once again showed his potential in midfield going both ways.
Jordon Ibe scored the decisive goal showing composure when it mattered.
Critical eye: Another two players (potentially three) lost to hamstring injuries and one has to ask whether the high intensity pressing “gegenpressing” is causing too many casualties
But in defence of “gegenpressing” when its worked this season it has been devastating in some cases and neutralising in others.
Teams:
Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Clyne, 4 K Touré, 6 Lovren (Milner – 34 mins), 18 Moreno, 23 Can, 21 Lucas, 24 Allen (Benteke – 79 mins), 20 Lallana, 11 Firmino, 10 Coutinio (Ibe – 18 mins)
Subs: 7 Milner, 9 Benteke, 32 Brannagan, 33 Ibe, 34 Bogdan, 44 Smith, 56 Randall
Stoke City: 1 Butland 8 Johnson, 17 Shawcross, 26 Wollscheid, 3 Pieters, 20 Cameron (Walters – 45 mins), 6 Whelen, 22 Shaqiri (Crouch – 83 mins), 14 Afellay, 10 Arnautovic, 27 Bojan Krkic (Joselu – 69 mins)
Subs: 11 Joselu, 12 Wilson, 15 Van Ginkel, 16 Adam, 19 Walters, 25 Crouch, 29 Haugaard
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 27, 369
Very important win and very good reaction to the recent criticism of the side - devastating loss of two or three players to hamstring injuries is a disappointing trend that needs to end as we are already threadbare especially in defence and attack. Vital away goal by Ibe gives us the slight edge going into the Anfield game.
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