Alan Shearer believes Jurgen Klopp’s ‘clever’ use of his substitutes was key in Liverpool’s draw against Manchester City at the weekend.

The Reds returned to action for the first time since the November international break at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Just a point separated the two sides in the table ahead of kick-off.

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Pep Guardiola’s side took the lead through Erling Haaland’s first-half strike; however, Trent Alexander-Arnold restored parity 10 minutes from time when he fired past Ederson from the edge of the box.

Klopp made all five of his available substitutions, with three of them being made before Alexander-Arnold’s equaliser, whereas City boss Pep Guardiola did not turn to his bench. And former Newcastle United star Shearer believes the German benefited from the way he used his bench.

“Jurgen’s done that (utilise substitutions) many times and it’s worked for him,” the former England captain told the Football Daily podcast.

“He certainly did it at Newcastle earlier in the season when (Darwin) Nunez came on and scored and (Harvey) Elliott came on and changed the game.

“He used the subs again cleverly and they hung on in there. It wasn’t a great performance from Liverpool but it’s certainly a point gained for them and they’ll be delighted with that.

“City had a couple of chances to put the game to bed, they didn’t take them. We kept saying Liverpool will get one chance, they will do something unless City score that second goal. Of course, that’s exactly what happened.

“Liverpool didn’t play that well and when you don’t play well it’s important you don’t get beaten. Jurgen will be delighted with the point.”