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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Ian Doyle

What Jurgen Klopp did after 59 minutes at Newcastle underlines massive Liverpool change

At first glance, they merely seem similar statistical quirks of an increasingly rollercoaster Premier League season for Liverpool.

But the statement each made from Jurgen Klopp couldn't have been any more contrasting.

As Liverpool floundered their way to a dismal defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion last month - an afternoon Klopp regards as his worst as a manager - the Reds boss took one final throw of the dice and introduced four substitutes from the bench at the same time.

READ MORE: Cody Gakpo given Jurgen Klopp blast as Anthony Gordon gesture to Liverpool man 'snubbed'

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The first occasion Klopp had made such a move in the top flight, it was a very clear commentary of his displeasure at what had gone on during the previous three-quarters of the match. If he could have, the Liverpool manager would probably have replaced almost everyone.

However, when Klopp repeated the trick after 59 minutes at Newcastle United on Saturday evening, the reasons - an injury concern over Darwin Nunez aside - were primarily positive.

Indeed, even without having suffered the shoulder injury that has left him sweating on his fitness for Tuesday's Champions League visit of Real Madrid, Nunez would most likely in any case have joined Jordan Henderson, Stefan Bajcetic and Cody Gakpo in being given a breather ahead of the visit of the Spaniards.

But the most encouraging aspect was that it allowed Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino more vital minutes after their long-term injury absences, kept Harvey Elliott an ever-present and offered James Milner a chance to go around thundering challenges into players from one of his several former clubs.

Naby Keita and Joel Matip, recent starters for Liverpool, didn't make it off the bench. And even with Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate and Thiago Alcantara still absent, there was still no room for Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Fabio Carvalho in the matchday squad.

Having struggled for options in various areas of the team for much of the season - the attack the most recent to have been left short - Klopp now has quality alternatives all the way through his squad, Virgil van Dijk impressive at St James' Park on his first outing in six weeks following a hamstring problem.

And given the Reds are now in the midst of a run of eight pivotal games in 29 days, the ability to rotate will be essential in helping maintain momentum towards next month's international break. Alisson Becker agrees. "It's something that was needed for our team," the goalkeeper says. "The energy was needed from the players who are coming back. They are key players for us. The others have kept working hard, things weren't going in the right direction, but that's how things work sometimes."

More options also mean greater competition for places, and it won't have passed unnoticed that Nunez, Gakpo and Mohamed Salah have all scored since Jota and Firmino returned to the matchday squad last Monday against Everton.

Chief among the returnees who would benefit greatly from continued first-team exposure is Jota, who since the Champions League final last season has been sidelined three times - twice by a hamstring problem, once by a calf issue - resulting in him missing pre-season, more than two-thirds of Liverpool's campaign and the World Cup with Portugal.

During his cameo at Newcastle, Jota looked every inch the player desperate to impress and could easily have bagged a hat-trick in the closing stages with a little more composure as the 10-man hosts inevitably tired.

How the 26-year-old needs a goal. Following a barren spell towards the end of last season, Jota has now gone 23 appearances without troubling the scoresheet for the Reds. Sure, there have been nine assists in that time and less than half of the outings have been as a starter. But for a player who scored 34 times in his first 72 Liverpool outings - a rate of a goal almost every other game - the lack of firepower will surely be on his mind.

It won't last forever, though. And with Liverpool now in a position to rotate their attacking resources, Jota and his fellow forwards can be primed to deliver as the season winds up to its critical point.

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