Liverpool’s long-awaited return to the Champions League
failed to live up to the hopes of the fans, as the team slipped to a 2-2 draw
at home to Sevilla in the opening group game. Sadly, however, it probably did
live up to expectations: the hosts dominated, but defensive frailties were once
again exploited. This has become an all-too familiar story, despite Klopp
having plenty of time to rectify it: the frustration of another two points lost
through abject defending clouds the positives from what was in many respects an
excellent showing.
Liverpool started the stronger of the two sides; Mane and
Salah both found themselves in one-vs-one situations against their full-backs
within the first few minutes, neither of whom looked comfortable dealing with
the pace and trickery of the Liverpool wide men. However, it was the Spanish
side who opened the scoring with their first attack of the game – lack of
defensive assertiveness from the midfield allowed the ball to find its way over
to the flank all too easily, and Lovren comprehensively failed to deal with the
subsequent ball across the face of goal. Ben Yedder was on hand to turn the
ball home. Karius, whose selection ahead of Mignolet raised some eyebrows,
couldn’t have done anything: it was those in front of him left with serious
questions to answer.
The attackers certainly did their best to answer these
questions, or at least make up for the defence’s inability to answer them. They
looked in scintillating form, and it felt as though it was only a matter of time
before Liverpool drew level. Sure enough, Klopp’s men equalised in the 21st
minute: Henderson worked it wide to Moreno, who squared it delightfully for
Firmino to turn home. The left-back was excellent throughout the game against
his former club, particularly going forward – he and Mane looked a constant
threat to Mercado, who picked up a yellow trying to stop them and was lucky not
to see a second. It was the other side, though, that brought the goal to give
Liverpool the lead. Mo Salah showed great tenacity to dispossess Steven
N’Zonzi. It was probably a foul, but he played to the whistle and reaped his
reward: he pulled the trigger and his shot deflected wildly of Simon Kjaer and
into the back of the net. It was a freak goal, but no less than the performance
deserved. Indeed, it probably warranted more – Firmino had the chance to give
Liverpool a two-goal lead from the spot heading into the break following a
blatant foul on Mane, but the Brazilian struck the post.
This proved costly. Things didn’t come quite as easily for
the hosts in the second period – the wide men were not nullified as such, but
Sevilla had certainly adjusted to limit their threat. They continued to knock
on the door, and in truth still looked the better side, but there was always a nagging
feeling that not getting the third would be a problem. Such is the effect of
having a mediocre defence: confidence in seeing out a lead is an alien feeling
to Liverpool fans. Sure enough, Sevilla found a way through in the 72nd
minute: Henderson lost his man, Lovren and Matip were too far apart and the
ball was slotted through the gap and into the path of Correa. He made no
mistake past the once-again helpless Karius.
There were a couple of subsequent extremely nervous moments, made no
easier by the late dismissal of Joe Gomez, but the game ended 2-2.
A point on the board against the toughest opponents in the
group is far from tragic, particularly given the 1-1 draw in the game between
Spartak and Maribor. Equally, the performance was a long way from bad: the
attacking build-up play was thrilling to watch, with the final ball or finish
the only thing lacking on many occasions. This can be worked on in training,
and will also improve once Coutinho is fully reintegrated to the starting
eleven – once this begins to click, we could be looking at a truly lethal
attacking force. However, even while heaping praise on the attack, the shadow
of the defence looms: they are seemingly beyond help on the training ground,
which begs the question of why on earth Klopp did not recruit upgrades in the
summer window. Lovren is sometimes unfairly vilified, but this was not one of
those occasions: he turned in an abject performance which undoubtedly
contributed to dropping two points. Van Dijk would have been an ideal solution,
but he was surely not the only one – thrilled as most fans are to have Klopp at
the helm, he cannot escape criticism for this frankly bewildering oversight.
Matip, on the other hand, had a good game – it was an archetypal ball-playing
centre-back display, and in truth he was a more effective playmaker than most
of the midfield. This does not apply to Wijnaldum, who came up with undoubtedly
his best performance of a season that has been underwhelming up to this point.
Clearly, then, there were lots of positives. The attack is
genuinely capable of becoming one of the best front threes in world football,
and the midfield has players who on their day are all capable of offering
admirable support to the build-up play. The defence is still a centre-back
short of even being considered competent, however: having failed to recruit
once again, it is hard to see how this changes before January. This leaves a
very bitter taste from a performance that, in truth, was not bad at all.
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