When Liverpool came into the dressing room at half-time, shell-shocked and 2-0 down to a Villarreal side they had dominated only a week ago, Jurgen Klopp asked his coach Peter Krawietz to assess their tactical performance in the first half.
The loyal assistant was asked by Klopp to find any instances of where they were successfully carrying out their tactical plan so he could show his players what they needed to do. Krawietz "couldn't find any", according to Klopp, such was the catastrophic nature of their first-half display. In an attacking sense, that evaluation of their tactical misgivings may be true. But defensively, it was a case of Villarreal coach Unai Emery preparing extensively to find their weaknesses.
It would not classify as new information to suggest the Reds are more vulnerable down the right flank, with Mohamed Salah taking up an advanced position up front and Trent Alexander-Arnold's tendency to get forward. But it was the manner in which Villarreal took advantage of that glaring void down the right that showed Klopp where his side can be hurt, and Pep Guardiola must have been watching with a keen eye and jotting down some notes too.
