Thirty-Eight is the New Six
It’s getting a little boring, saying that Ryan Gravenberch is class, isn’t it? I don’t know anyone who had that down on their bingo card before the season started. Yet once again, the new mayor of midfield showed up with an efficient, at times brilliant, display, and propelled Liverpool to a much-needed recovery from that unfortunate hiccup against Forest.
You could see the aftereffects of that loss in the opening few minutes, as the Cherries tried to put Liverpool to the sword, and almost succeeded. One disallowed goal later, and you could observe the determined Dutchman, together with unsung hero Mac Allister (who also had a great game, minus the flashy parts, as the second element in Slot’s double pivot), taking control of the game. Once they did, it became a matter of time, and it was red-hot Luis Diaz who provided a quick one-two to put Bournemouth to the mat.
Then came Darwin Nunez and a magnificent combination play with Salah, followed by an even more magnificent finish – off the post, of course, because he can’t help himself. I don’t know about you, but I like this new Nunez a lot. He looks more mature, more efficient, and to me, at least on evidence from today, a better fit for this system than Jota. I am going to give this one to Arne Slot, who seems to have figured out how to polish the diamond. It’s going to take a while yet (Nunez’ situational awareness is still lacking), but in the mean time, here is a shocking statistic: Nunez did not get caught offside even once today.
Take that to the cleaners.
Trent had an incredibly good show, too, and someone has to explain how Robbo still plays the way he does with everything he’s gone through. The man is apparently made of adamantium and redbull. It’s so much fun to watch him go at times, a little ball of Sonic. The two are back to having their neck-and-neck fullback assisting competition, and whoever wins it in the end (spoiler: Trent) will own that particular record for a very long time.
But the one player who, even with all of the above, still somehow manages to win my man-of-the-match award, is Ibrahima Konate. Admittedly, it’s partly because I’m getting a bit tired of giving it to Ryan every time, but more so because the way he strutted about today felt a little bit like…well, Van Dijk. Not that the latter was bad; the Cherries were excellent in attack and the clean sheet is not just due to another routinely reassuring performance from Kelleher. It’s that Konate made his presence felt more, in that way his senior partner usually does.
The final outcome was exactly what the team needed to put the defeat to Forest behind them, and a great way to start what is going to be a crushing stretch of back-to-back games. Having the ability to rotate players is going to be crucial, and for now, it looks like the depth is there. Gakpo looked like he deserves more game time, Chiesa looked exciting in his debut, I still look forward to seeing Harvey back in the team, and (to echo a colleague’s comment from our internal chat), this Jones guy is a good player and should get more minutes.
With all the added games, there are going to be plenty of minutes to go around this season, and we have excellent cover everywhere else, too. This packed schedule is full of banana peels, and everybody’s gonna slip. They who slip least will win.
Go get ‘em, boys.
