Ipswich Town v Liverpool Liverpool’s perspective
A performance that was difficult to rightly judge as the early goals killed the game, only to be careful not to give them hope in the second half. The first half showed some really good football and you could see signs of what Illaura wanted the players to do. It’s not implemented yet, but it’s starting to come together and looks great at times. Liverpool won at a canter and fully deserved the win and clean sheet. To me, it also looked a lot like the penalty kick at the end of the first half when Gakpo was wiped out in the penalty area. Of course, this penalty was as much a penalty as the one Liverpool had against Forest. This is a very similar incident, except for a clearer cutting foul after the ball has left, which should make the decision easier for the officials. Unfortunately there was never any consistency, which is fine without VAR, but when you have it and you’re still making different decisions on the same incidents every week, I think we need to ask questions of the officials.
One thing that really needs a lot of work for Liverpool is the media. It’s so disjointed, and when it works well, the trigger should be visible to everyone, not just one or two like it is now. And then sometimes you get one or two more reactions, but that second or so can make a big difference in a press conference. This simply gives the opponent a chance to find the ball out of bounds. Things are improving, though, and even though the team is still a work in progress, Illaura is unbeaten in official matches as Liverpool manager, in fact he is unbeaten in official matches against both Liverpool and Bournemouth since January 3. An outstanding performance in 21 games.
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They were the ninth-highest spending team in Europe over the summer, but that was clearly not enough to close the quality gap between them and the Premier League’s top sides. Lukic is a good signing for them and a huge loss for Fulham, but he is overwhelmed in the middle and they need to give him some help there rather than having Enciso tackle him when he gets the ball! They have a manager who has managed to avoid relegation from the Premier League so far, so maybe they can survive, but he’ll need a lot of luck. They have a lot of weaknesses that they are working on, but what they need most is better players. They were completely defeated.
One tactic they seem to have, besides hitting the ball from distance and hoping, is to play the ball from the right and then cross deep to overload the back post. I think they’ve decided to go this route, looking to Frimpong at right back and hoping to expose his lack of height. In fact, this was a viable strategy as Araujo was not a natural full-back and would always move too far centrally to cover, leaving them with a large gap at the back post. They did get some joy out of it, but they failed to make the most of it. After watching this game, it will be interesting to see if other teams will emulate this tactic, as it’s clear that this could become an issue if Araujo doesn’t maintain more width.
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Alisson – At one point, he showed good speed to beat Enciso for a loose ball, but he also had some shaky moments, including a punch that luckily landed between his legs and failed. There was some poor kicking under pressure, but that was more of a symptom of a larger problem that has been plaguing the team for some time – a lack of passing movement. There was very little movement by the forwards when the ball was passed into the backcourt, Isak had one run and the ball never reached him, but he created space which helped him score one of the goals. Alisson used to have Firmino, Mane and Salah pulling the defense around and creating options for him, but now he has nothing on the ball. The question is whether his kicking has been affected by injury, which may explain the lack of movement, but it does look like they want the ball to move slowly between the goalkeeper and the back four, so just stand back and watch and wait until Alisson is forced to shoot. Some movement when the ball is behind can also relieve pressure when gaps are created. I’m sure Illaura will consider this as well, but he can only coach players so much at a time.
Araujo – Played a very good game, pushed forward a bit, but mainly he supported the attack rather than being the focal point like a more attacking full-back. This creates a more solid platform for the team to work from, leaving Mac Allister with less space to cover from the center of the pitch.
Jacquet -Looked good again, strong defensively but also starting to show impressive ability in the backfield.
Van Dyke – No longer just running away and looking for a better way. His defense has returned to the front foot and this has contributed greatly to the clean sheet.
Kolkoz – I don’t know why he was so keen on his performance, Fatau was fighting against him the whole game and it was him who won the ball back and passed it to Gakpo that led to the first goal. His connection, rotation and movement with Gakpo and Wirtz on the left are very good, and all high-quality games come from this. Yes, he can be reckless, he can make mistakes defensively, and his passing can be very inconsistent, but all of that can be said about Robertson, and even in his prime, it didn’t stop Robbo from being (probably) the best left-back in the world. I expect Kolquez will improve as the team starts to play a style that better suits him.
Soboszlai – Will do great things at times, but also has a tendency to make extremely sloppy passes when there is no pressure. He really needs to get out of this situation and learn to focus.
Wirtz – Another person who gets frustrated for no reason. His movement and pressing were excellent, in fact the second goal came about because his movement off the ball created space for Gakpo to receive the ball and took the time to catch Isak. Without his running game, Gakpo would be under pressure and almost certainly not passing the ball. He just needs teams to get to his level and run the ball for him.
McAllister – Very good, used his body well against Enciso where he would have otherwise advanced, and his positional discipline provided a more solid midfield. If he were a little more mobile, he could put himself in a position to be the answer there. He even spent less time rolling around on the floor pretending to be injured, which is now ignored by referees.
Munoz – Started well, but his inability to lift his head and see what was going on around him meant he gradually dropped out of the game as they learned to outnumber him. Because he just runs with his head down, they can just surround him with their bodies and not have to worry about space elsewhere because he has no intention of passing the ball to teammates who can take advantage of the space.
Isaac – After the goal, he looked sharper and faster as confidence flowed. Still looking weak at times suggests he’s not quite over the injury mentally yet. Overall, it was a very good game and even though the goalkeeper didn’t do his job in glory, he did his job by putting the ball on target.
Gapo – Two great assists and an all-around great game. He’s had a great season so far. He showed strength, technique and vision and he deserved a penalty.
gravenberg – Replaced Isaac in the 64th minute. He now looks so far off target that he plays higher because he can’t be trusted to hold his position, which only exposes his lackadaisical passing.
bakla – Replaced Munoz in the 64th minute. His performances were enough to get Liverpool fans excited, but he really needed more of an end result. His pace, movement, work rate and technique all look outstanding.
Nyoni – In the 84th minute, Mac Allister came on as a substitute. Looks so composed and natural, and he has that extra mobility that Mike Allister lacks.
Kumas – Replaced Wirtz in the 91st minute. He was dedicated and worked hard but couldn’t really do much during his tenure.
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