Bouncy House Deflated
[Sheffield United 0 – 2 Liverpool].
The Blades chose to sack their manager and bring back Chris Wilder two days before this game, and that was already ominous. The “new manager bounce” is a real thing in football, as players reset while trying to impress the incoming manager. It almost worked today as well, as Sheffield United poked and prodded the Reds throughout. I was utterly convinced Liverpool would leak one all the way to the end, and at times, it looked like they were trying really hard to give it away.
Thankfully the Blades weren’t in the mood to capitalize.
Three more points is nice, but that’s about the only thing that is. The team looked shambolic, with the notable exceptions of Virgil, who is my man-of-the-match, scored the key opener, and did more than the other three defenders combined; Endo, who looked a legit premier league defensive midfielder, covered so many holes and left everything on the pitch; and Kelleher, who stopped a sure goal early on, kept a clean sheet and controlled his box pretty well. Everyone else better quickly forget about this game.
POST-MATCH
It was certainly not a performance to write anywhere about.
The late goal that sealed the victory was so classic Nunez that it hurt. First, he lost the ball in a rather idiotic fashion. Then he got it back easily risking a second yellow – another ref might have viewed that tackle quite differently. Once all of that chaos was done, he provided Szobo with a peach of an assist. The latter scored with a trademark composed finish, thereby also breaking an otherwise iron-clad guarantee – when Nunez assists, it’s always to Salah.
Speaking of Mo, he had a shockingly poor game and was rightly taken off. It must be hard for him to stand at the precipice of 200 like that, but that does not justify his head-against-the-wall mentality. The goal will come, but this is the second game in a row where he ignores excellent passing options in order to try a speculative shot. In both cases Diaz was the victim; credit to the Colombian for being cool about it.
December is when the wheat is separated from the chaff in the premier league. On one hand, Liverpool is off to an excellent start, results-wise. On the other hand, the Reds don’t look convincing. Maybe it’s a matter of doing just enough to make it through this difficult period without over-extending yourself.
The answers are with one Jurgen Klopp.
For what it’s worth, he seems to have it right so far.
My blood pressure? Not so much.
