1 West Ham – Liverpool 2

With City and Chelsea picking up wins earlier today, I certainly hoped we would do too. Wasn’t as easy though…

It’s good to have Alisson back between the sticks, as I wouldn’t fancy our chances with Adrian playing against his old club. He didn’t have much to work with, and the only conceded goal was not his fault.

Match number 100 in LFC for Trent Alexander-Arnold. I remember when he was shaking like crazy in a derby against United a couple of years ago, and he has come a long way from there. This season isn’t Trent’s best work, at least so far. I’m staying loyal to TAA even in Fantasy, where he’s still the most expensive defensive asset that doesn’t return shit. HODLing him may not have been my best idea.

Nat Philips had to be called upon as a centre back, since we have an epidemic of injuries lately. He’s not a spring chicken by any means, and I honestly don’t remeber much from him in the EFL cup, but he has gained some fans today. I think he never lost a battle in the air, which is nice when you have Joe as your partner. He didn’t make any mistakes, and all in all, he had a solid enough game. To be more specific, he had 82% passing accuracy on 96 touches, 6 recoveries, 2 interceptions, and 3 duels won. Not bad for a start, but it’s also a case of expectations set low.

Gomez however disappointed once more. You know, it’s scary to admit that he is the only healthy first team centre back, because his level of play is bad. While I can’t blame only him for the first goal, his poor clearance was something to shake your head to. He’s ball watching a lot, he’s bad in the air, and there’s not enough defensive players around him to hide his weaknesses. You know why I am so hard on Joe?

No team in the league has conceded more goals since the restart than Liverpool.

I wish I was kidding. While it sucks to lose Virgil for a season, this stat clearly shows that our problems have been around for a long time, and we need to buy a new CB this winter, of premium quality too, to make Joe less complacent. Speaking of Virg, he had a successful surgery and is in good spirits. Rest easy, big lad. I miss his long switches of the ball from deep to catch opponents off guard with. Now we don’t have that move in our playbook, and such deliveries are not as effective, since teams have time to cover their ground now.

Robbo was great for my liking, making some huge blocks and interceptions. He had a good chance to score on the volley, and ran back and forth like he usually does. From the first 11 players he perhaps had the best start of the season, certainly true if we limit it only to defenders.

Hendo played all 90 minutes, and his long passes were largely ineffective. He can launch a sweet counterattack, but for that you need an opponent high up the pitch, not parked deep like West Ham tonight. He worked hard and made that dirty work nobody cares about, yet the midfield overall was slow to regroup when losing possession.

Gini Wijnaldum is… frustrating. Take a sip of water every time he passes the ball forward and you will die of dehydration. Little creativity in the build up and not enough energy when tracking back, just sideways passes to guarantee that 80%+ possession. Ok, it’s also harsh, he had that cool looking flick in the build up for the decisive goal, but he still needs to be more aggressive with the ball.

Curtis Jones did ok in my book, and I think I won’t be far off when I will say that he was the most creative player in midfield from deep before Shaq. That’s kinda sad too, since he’s just a youngster, although with a bright future. Not a lot of credit was given to him for finding Mo with a pass that led to a penalty, people concentrated more on his defensive lapse when we conceded. To cut him some slack, he’s not the type of player to expect some mature positioning, he’s more comfortable with the ball at his feet driving forward. He roamed around a lot, and I liked him the best going forward.

Onto the holy trinity… Firmino, I like him, but man, he needs to sit out a couple of matches. Bobby has peaked two seasons ago, and I hate to say it, but his place in the starting 11 is not warranted now. Surely he’s still a very talented man, but he has been out of form for a good year now, and needs to do more. He’s like Gomez, you can cherry pick stats and make it seem like he’s either atrocious or amazing, but the truth is somewhere in the middle…

Mane didn’t have the best game, his touches were a bit heavy, but still, when we attacked down the left flank, he was sharp as always. He was taken down in the first half to no penalty, and tried until the very end. That disallowed goal where Sadio allegedly fouled someone is pure BS IMO.

Mo is his typical self. He will always have his one or two chances to score, and tonight he had more thanks to a penalty. To be frank, execution was iffy, but a goal is a goal. I captained him in my fantasy, so I am happy he didn’t blank at home once more. He has also been a bit egotistical, but that comes with his role.

Now onto the dessert. Jota is on fire, and he needs to start against City, certainly against Atalanta. He’s so direct, smart and hard-working that you really shouldn’t be surprised he has started so well. 40 million? What a bargain. He saved our bacon once more, and I hope he’s not viewed only as a supersub, as he has a lot more to offer. He has breathed some fresh air into our offence. With a trio of Jota-Mane-Salah you don’t have a clear cut facilitator, and if you think about it, it’s not such a bad thing, since it makes the attacks more unpredictable.

Also big props to Powercube Shaq for his secksy through ball to Diogo. He has been very useful this season, and it’s a good thing that he didn’t leave in the summer. He still has something to offer when our efforts are stifled.

To summarize, let’s make a list.

Firmino has to sit out a couple of matches in favor of Diogo.
Under impression that Nat Phillips will get a MOTM award.
Could have been more comfortable if Mo shared the ball near the end.
Keita-type player needed in midfield for those cut through passes. Shaq has been good lately, maybe he needs to change his position?

Visiting City would be tough, but it’a not like they are on fire or anything. Today they beat Sheffield United through a Walker banger only.
Another three points on the board is the most important thing.
Rest a bit and go on again, it’s going to be a long season. YNWA.

4 Liverpool – Leeds 3 (Instant Classic)

Well this was a thriller and then some! I expected Leeds to give our defence trouble, but I couldn’t see us shipping three goals in our opening fixture.

The Premier League champions against Championship league winners, it looked promising when the fixture ist became public, but honestly, this gung ho battle was not on the cards, even though both Kloppo and Bielsa are total football maniacs.

I liked how we started, with Naby lad driving into the box to create an early chance. So glad to see him thriving in the starting eleven and finally blossoming into the layer we paid big money for all these years ago. The first goal didn’t take long, as Mo Salah got a pen for shooting it straight into Koch’s hand. He confidently converts the penalty after his signature long run up.

We have a flying start, controlling the ball amazingly. Helder Costa scores from offside, but overall, the early minutes looked very promising until Leeds decided to show why they got promoted. Trent lost his flank completely, and Harrison cut inside to score a beauty of a goal, leaving all our defenders powerless to stop the equalizer.

Sadio tries to right all the wrongs, but overthinks it and misses a good chance. He scores from distance after some good pressure from Robbo, but this goal is also ruled out for offside. Don’t sweat it though, because Big Virg easily puts us back in front with a powerful header! The keeper caught the ball, but only behind the line. Very fun start, it’s an end to end game, and soon enough it’s level once again! Uncharacteristically bad play from Van Dijk, who got robbed by Patrick Bamford. He had some similar mistakes last season, hopefully that’s not a trend the Dutchman will follow.

This wild ride keeps swinging back and forth, and Salah gets his second with a super volley into the top bins! 3-2, and the match timer goes backwards. Shit’s insane… Bielsa once said they study their opponents to attack, and not defend, and that couldn’t be any closer to the absolute truth. Leeds are fun, but they won’t have many clean sheets this season if they keep such a high line. Speaking of defence, Leeds just highlighted the issues that were lingering the Reds for some time now.

Second half gets a bit more steady, but there is this worrisome moment from Trent where he scores in his own goal after Alisson is chipped. I don’t know what that was, but I’m glad nothing resulted from this bizarre moment. Keita is off at 59th minute, and Rodrigo steps in for Leeds. Hendo off on 65th, Curtis Jones, the promising youngsters gets a lot of minutes tonight. After some changes on the field, the scoreline also changes to 3-3. Klich runs into the box late and scores a good goal, celebrating and laughing so much that he gets subbed. Well, maybe I imagined that. Mo almost gets a hatty, but skiles a volley…

Vrg scores his second, but it is ruled out for some stupid foul. I was getting anxious, but I also felt that this match had one more crazy moment in it, and that was the right idea, as Fabinho got slammed in the box by the record transfer Rodrigo. A debut to forget for the spanish forward, and it’s Mo Salah who takes the ball and seeks to give us our forth lead… GOAL! Hat-trick in the first gameweek, not too Xabi Alonso.

Trent had his worst game ever probably, but Salah entered God mode today and pulled off a miracle. This was some heavy metal football, and I found a lot of respect for the opponents. It wouldn’t be the case if we drew with them though! Bielsa is a character, and this league needs guys like him to be even better. First three points, and a crazy bout to boot. Let’s go!

Man of the Match is of course Mohamed Salah.

Community Shield Struggles

I haven’t posted for a while about Liverpool, which is very strange considering my favorite football club has won their first league title in 30 years.

It was a special moment that happened under special circumstances, but I was so burnt out waiting for the restart that all I could be thinking was “Thank God it wasn’t voided”. Plus the end of the season felt very odd, and I wasn’t paying much attention to the actual level of play, just wanting that season to be over.

The results were not the best at the end, but now it’s a clean slate. First game comes early, against Arsenal, who made a habit out of grabbing FA cups lately. Interesting test after just two friendly matches. A thrashing of Jurgen’s favorite club Stuttgart and a comeback draw against semi-finalists RB Leipzig.

What else to say before the match? I like Arsenal’s white kit, it looks stylish. What I don’t like is Mo Salah’s new haircut. Doesn’t look as gangsta is it did before, why did you trim those sides, Mo?

The lineups are nothing special. Trent has a knock, Hendo, Matip and Xherdan (sure he is) are still injured. Some people say Divock has that virus, hopefully that’s just some speculations. Keita doesn’t get a start despite having a kickass end of a season and some good friendly matches. One the bench we have some lad named Billy Koumetio. He’s 17 years old and 195 cm long, sheesh… Leaped other youngsters for the 4th centre back choice by the looks of things, but I doubt that he will get minutes tonight.

Would like to see the Championship sensation Rhian Brewster get a run out, the boy is good. (This aged like milk!)

The game started with a quick goal from Big Virg, although the score stayed 0-0 because van Dijk was offside. He has a busted eyebrow after a collision in the last friendly match, RB was playing dirty there. Arsenal has changed their philosophy quite a bit and are playing with a new low block formation for some time, which makes it tougher to break them up and gives them a lot of space for counter attacks.

One such attack broke out quicker than COVID, Saka switched the ball to the right flank where Aubameyang capitalized on Neco’s positional mistake. A good shot – a good goal, can’t blame Alisson there. Auba payed homage to Mr. Black Panther.

Neco played a bid first half, looking short of breath on the flank. Lots of free space between him and Joe, playing a high line with them and without Hendo is super risky. On the other side of the pitch Saka created 3 or 4 good chances for his partners, I wonder if he will be put on the bench with Willian’s arrival. That would be a shame…

Not much has happened in the first half, with Robertson, Milner and Mane having most of the ball. Constant crosses do not work here, and the set piece threat is not as evident without our wonderboy Double A.

Felt like checking the comment in half time, and people call for Thiago ASAP, underlining how invisible Gini has been in the first 45 minutes. I agree, but we have Naby lad on the bench right now. Later in the second half he subs Millie and yes, creates a lot of chances driving right at the defence. He changed the game, stepping on the pitch with Taki Minamino, who went on to score his first goal in the official match for LFC.

I hope it gives him some much needed confidence, and this is a sign of things to come. There was a question of handball, but VAR decided there was none.

Arsenal started playing more in the last fifteen minutes, giving LFC more room to breathe, but it all went down to pens. Rhian was brought in for Gini with one minute left, shame James did not play until the end to score one. Well, this sub wasn’t for nothing.

Rhain missed the third pen, and was the only one to not score in the series. Alisson didn’t get close to any of the shots, and that was it. Aubameyang brings the Community Shield to Arteta, congratulations to the Gunners.

Not a good result, and you would think LFC would have enough quality to beat this Arsenal side, no disrespect. Last year we also missed out on this prize, but the season turned out great at the end.