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Sarri’s Chelsea are match for Liverpool but Kanté poses midfield puzzle | Jonathan Wilson

Saturday’s league meeting offers another chance to see two sides with similar setups but Jorginho’s arrival has pushed N’Golo Kanté out of his comfort zonePress against press, 4-3-3 against 4-3-3, wide forwards who cut in against wide forwards who cut in, attacking full-back against attacking full-back: Chelsea against Liverpool on Saturday, Maurizio Sarri against Jürgen Klopp, will be a meeting of two very similar conceptions of football. Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup meeting, even with significantly altered line-ups, highlighted those similarities, and also the fact that the main difference lies in midfield. Chelsea may have won at Anfield, but it is in the centre that Liverpool perhaps have an edge. Related: Chelsea’s Eden Hazard fires spectacular winner to knock out Liverpool...

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Finely tuned Liverpool are really getting into Jürgen Klopp’s groove

This may not have been a whirl of red pain for Tottenham, but every part of the machine looks calm and settledGet ready. It looks as though, this time, the Reds really are coming up the hill. It was not that Liverpool played irresistibly well. This was not a performance to drive the imagination or a whirl of red pain for Tottenham. Instead this felt like something better. Liverpool were solid in every position, their combinations well-grooved, every starting player blessed with the same intelligence, the same speed and spiky aggression.There was some fine movement at times from Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, who still seems to be under the impression he has only borrowed the centre-forward position and needs...

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Roma’s Mohamed Salah angst leaves Klopp’s Liverpool with little to fear | Paul Wilson

Roma only clawed back hope once Salah went off at Anfield and they will be terrified of leaving space in behind for him to attackSlightly fewer than four minutes separated Edin Dzeko’s goal for Roma at Anfield and the penalty awarded rather harshly against James Milner, and in that short space of time the Italians rose from a trance. At 5-0 they were out, they would have needed at least six goals in the second leg. At 5-2 Roma had more than a straw to clutch at, they had given themselves a glimmer of hope, suddenly required only half the number of goals, and had the recent memory of beating Barcelona 3-0 for inspiration.Jürgen Klopp will not be short of...

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Jürgen Klopp’s thrilling Liverpool are unlikely to fear a Roma fightback

The manager’s measured assessment of the exhilarating 5-2 Champions League semi-final victory contrasts with the blame game of his Roma counterpart Eusebio Di FrancescoThe awe and wonder from a remarkable Anfield night has not diminished the day after. Fifteen minutes to play in a Champions League semi-final and Jürgen Klopp thinks of Stoke. Almost 60% remains of a tie to decide the cream of Europe’s elite and it is Bruno Martins Indi, Erik Pieters and Mame Biram Diouf who enter the Liverpool manager’s head as he withdraws Mohamed Salah to safeguard against injury. What’s more, he admits it too. “I’m not thinking of one game,” Klopp said. The thought was justified, and another measure of Liverpool’s astonishing command over Roma....

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Liverpool’s success without Coutinho is testament to Klopp’s genius | Liam Rosenior

Jürgen Klopp has shown that you can improve a side while selling your best player – it is a victory for team functionality, philosophy and identityI have heard Jürgen Klopp cite inspirations as varied as heavy metal music and Rocky Balboa so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Liverpool manager was also familiar with Aristotle. After all, Klopp showed in January that his football philosophy is very much in line with the great Greek thinker who believed that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.Klopp shocked many in the football world when almost four months ago he sanctioned the sale of his most technically gifted player, Philippe Coutinho, who had been outstanding in the first half of the season and...

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