Testing, Testing…
It has been an absolutely ridiculous start to the season. It has sure been helped a fair bit by an easy opening schedule. But being given this kind of advantage, and actually using it, are two very different things. We’ve been waiting for this stretch of games to truly test Arne Slot’s mettle. Beating Chelsea at Anfield last week was inconclusive. The drubbing we gave United earlier was nice, but they are in shambles. Going to the Emirates today for a head-to-head with Arteta’s Gunners was going to be a whole different ball of wax.
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The Reds went there, came down once, came back, and then went down again before the half. Worse, Liverpool looked downright miserable in most of that first half and were lucky not to concede more.
Would Slot be able to make the necessary tactical adjustments?
He sure did. As empirical proof, I’ll simply point you toward the final stats, which showed a generally even game across the board. Liverpool was down on every metric at the half, in some by a fair amount. To get back to parity, The Reds had to do to the Gunners in the second half what the Gunners did to Liverpool in the first half.
Slot seems to manage games a little like I manage my team in Football Manager. In the 60th minute we will always see at least one sub, usually two. He threw in three pairs of fresh legs today, and they all worked the right way. Most important was putting Tsimikas on for Robbo. Even as a Liverpool fan, I cannot pretend that poor Robbo was not being given the run-around by Saka. Saka’s antics led to nothing short of a nightmare performance from the Scotsman. Perhaps Saka was tired by the time Kostas came on, and perhaps it was also Gakpo, who seemed to better position himself than Diaz on the buildups. Suddenly, the Red’s left flank no longer looked vulnerable and even began to generate a modicum of attacking metrics.
The second goal was coming, and when it did, it featured two players whose involvement until that point was hovering around negative territory. First came one of those Trent passes. He tried them again and again, and they usually just gave the ball away, with Rice especially wise to everyone. But that one did work, and Nunez (who did so much defensive work, he was almost a third number six) assisted Salah with the kind of ball that Salah finishes on two hours of sleep and a hangover. That was all it took. If only those other Trent passes were anywhere near as good. But they weren’t.
With all that, even in a game where the Reds had their defenses breached twice for the first time this season, a defender rose above all others to claim my man-of-the-match. If you watched the game, then you already know that Ibrahima Konate was the biggest reason Arsenal didn’t generate a bigger bottom line. Most impressive was his speed in controlling the Gunners’ long balls on the right flank, which they tried repeatedly. Kelleher had a good game too. He might be slightly disappointed with allowing Saka’s strike at the near post after the latter put Robbo on his ass.
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For Liverpool, this outing is on paper one of the toughest on the schedule. Together with the Etihad, Old Trafford, and Goodison (Stamford Bridge and Villa Park are up there, too), the Emirates is no picnic. Arne is now four for six out of these. With Everton looking as miserable as they do right now, we must consider the Reds slight favorites for three points across the park. Slot still hasn’t lost an away game this year, and Forest is proving to be a trap for plenty of other teams, so perhaps that loss at Anfield wasn’t as shocking as it appeared.
The testing continues, but so far, it appears to be going pretty well, at least on the pitch. This can’t be said for the backroom, who are making all of us antsy with those contracts.
Can we please sort them out soon, Mr. Hughes?
