It was a frustrating evening for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool as they welcomed West Bromwich Albion to Anfield, but in the end were glad to see the back of them on this cold and unproductive winter evening.
Despite boasting the four star attackers who’ve run riot in recent weeks, Liverpool were unable to break through a defensive set up which has become all too familiar to them in recent seasons.
Sadio Mane, one of said stars, looked full of pace but ultimately off the pace, while Mohamed Salah was constantly thwarted by a defence which contained his friend and compatriot Ahmed Hegazi.
The Brazilian double act of Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino tried all their tricks, but few of them came off in a lacklustre performance.
As the first half began West Brom appeared to be enjoying decent periods of possession, although that may have just been in comparison to Everton, the last side to visit Anfield, who couldn't string two passes together.
Quick combination play was key for Liverpool as they looked to break down the visitors' packed, deep, and considerably sized defence. Salah somehow found a way through it with a slow inconspicuous curling cross to Firmino at the far post, but the Brazilian striker's left-footed shot across goal trickled wide.
It was the home side's best chance of the half, but it wasn't the closest either side came to goal. Kop hearts were in mouths when an opportunist effort from Hal Robson-Kanu hit the crossbar. Loris Karius, making just his second Premier League start of the season, scurried back to make sure it didn't dip underneath.
Firmino and Salah tried a couple shots from close range which might have been dangerous had West Brom not had 11 men behind the ball, and both efforts were predictably blocked. When Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross just evaded Salah, it summed up Liverpool’s opening 45-minutes.
There have been numerous occasions this season where Klopp’s side have gone in level at half time having failed to break a side down, but more often than not they’ve come out of the traps in the second period to finish sides off.
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The start to the second period of this game, however, saw West Brom take the initiative testing Karius twice. Grzegorz Krychowiak’s cross from a free kick turned into a dipping shot which the goalkeeper had to tip over, before Claudio Yacob forced an even better save from the German from the subsequent corner.
It didn’t take long after these two efforts for the expected flow of the game to resume. Liverpool were inches away from taking the lead on a number of occasions with two balls into the box, from Coutinho and Alexander-Arnold respectively, just evading Salah; and Mane shooting wide from Firmino’s squared pass.
Alan Pardew’s game plan had become stifled somewhat by Liverpool’s use of Emre Can as a third centre back when defending. This allowed the full backs, Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, to remain high up the pitch, nullifying any threat from James McClean and Robson-Kanu in the wide midfield positions for the Baggies.
But a subtle change like this wasn’t enough to turn this game in Klopp’s favour as Pardew shifted Rondon further left and also introduced Jay Rodriguez. The threat from the away side was ever-decreasing, but Liverpool looked frantic, rushed and nervous in attack, though this was matched by the an anxious looking West Brom defence.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dominic Solanke, and Joe Gomez were all introduced by Klopp, and it looked like two of these substitutes had combined to score the winner, but Solanke’s goal from Gomez’s cross was rightly disallowed for hand ball.
Solanke had another chance shortly after, but with time ticking down his shot was tame and along the ground, finding the familiar blockers in front of goalkeeper Ben Foster.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was next up to take a pot shot at the Englishman’s goal, but his well hit shot was straight down his compatriot’s throat.
A restless, frustrated home crowd made their players ever more tentative, spending too much time thinking about what they were doing rather than actually doing it. The visitors’ wasted time at every opportunity, desperately holding onto their point. It was up to the team who have ambitions of challenging at the top of the table rather than merely scraping into the top four to break them down, but on this occasion Liverpool's second have attacking flurry failed to materialise.
