Maybe the humiliations away to Brentford, Brighton, and Wolves were all just the clumsy, pre-coffee stupor of a side just waking from a deeper winter hibernation than usual?
Perhaps now, with the Champions League knockouts hovering into view and the ratcheting up of the Premier League heat, they have officially woken up.
Last night’s 2-0 win over Everton offered plenty of encouraging signs but it might yet prove another false dawn in a season not exactly short on them. Remember when Liverpool did this season what they couldn’t do last term and beat Manchester City in a league game? They then squeaked past West Ham and contrived to lose to Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
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All talk of a return to their old selves must also be caveated by Everton’s profound badness. Everton lost almost every physical battle against a side characterised by their diminished for a fight and then managed to lose two goals on the counter-attack having created a single chance from open play all night. The entire Edifice of Dyche is built to avoid being caught on the counter, so this was proof he will need more time to beat the Lampard out of his team.
Post-game Dyche let slip the fact Everton might have committed a “technical foul” to stymie those counter-attacks, which is as close to an admission of cynicism he has ever made in public. He was probably speaking about Seamus Coleman: the captain had the chance to stop both Darwin Nunez and Andy Robertson from sprinting clear in the build-up to both Liverpool’s goal.
Having impressed when tucked inside and offered more protection at home to Arsenal, Coleman struggled when exposed to the pace of Liverpool’s left flank. It will offer Stephen Kenny food for thought, given first-choicee right wing-back Matt Doherty is likely to arrive into the next international window lacking match minutes, but here Coleman showed he is better suited at right centre-back than left hanging out at wing-back.
And for all of Liverpool’s general dominance, the game swung on 13 seconds. James Tarkowski headed against the post at one end and then Mohamed Salah scored beyond the AWOL Jordan Pickford at the other. It would have been interesting to see how Liverpool would have reacted to falling behind, as leading from the front hasn’t been one of their many problems this season: they have won nine and drawn one of the 10 league games in which they have led. It’s reacting to falling behind that has become the biggest problem.
But most encouraging for Liverpool was the fact they seemed to have their intensity back. Key to it was the fact Jordan Henderson’s best performance since the World Cup and perhaps his best of the season, hailed afterwards by Klopp as a “one-man pressing machine.” But can Henderson replicate it against Newcastle on Saturday and then again against Real Madrid next Tuesday? Or if he has to be rested for Real, then can Naby Keita or James Milner hit the same levels at the weekend?
There were other good signs for Klopp. Joel Matip recovered from another baffling start – that fresh-air swipe on the edge of his box was that of a deeply jittery man – to grow into the game, his mazy runs into midfield helping to create space and passing angles for others.
Cody Gakpo scored his first goal and again looked better playing through the centre as a kind of pseudo Firmino, after Klopp strangely swapped him out to the left against Wolves. Darwin Nunez’ lacks the delicate touch to excel in the centre’s gummed up spaces and is better suited to charging down the left flank.
And 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic was a sensation in midfield, winning the challenges he needed to win while balletically playing around Everton’s midfield players and linking play. He now looks an automatic pick while also fitting snugly within his club’s committed policy of Not Buying Midfielders: he was signed as a centre-back.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates after the game. PA
PA
Klopp’s first pumps to the crowd and scream of relief after the game were redolent of Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank rain, and while his side have much left to prove against better opposition, they might yet redeem their bleak winter.
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Liverpool must prove Everton win is not just another false dawn
ARE LIVERPOOL BACK?
Maybe the humiliations away to Brentford, Brighton, and Wolves were all just the clumsy, pre-coffee stupor of a side just waking from a deeper winter hibernation than usual?
Perhaps now, with the Champions League knockouts hovering into view and the ratcheting up of the Premier League heat, they have officially woken up.
Last night’s 2-0 win over Everton offered plenty of encouraging signs but it might yet prove another false dawn in a season not exactly short on them. Remember when Liverpool did this season what they couldn’t do last term and beat Manchester City in a league game? They then squeaked past West Ham and contrived to lose to Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
All talk of a return to their old selves must also be caveated by Everton’s profound badness. Everton lost almost every physical battle against a side characterised by their diminished for a fight and then managed to lose two goals on the counter-attack having created a single chance from open play all night. The entire Edifice of Dyche is built to avoid being caught on the counter, so this was proof he will need more time to beat the Lampard out of his team.
Post-game Dyche let slip the fact Everton might have committed a “technical foul” to stymie those counter-attacks, which is as close to an admission of cynicism he has ever made in public. He was probably speaking about Seamus Coleman: the captain had the chance to stop both Darwin Nunez and Andy Robertson from sprinting clear in the build-up to both Liverpool’s goal.
Having impressed when tucked inside and offered more protection at home to Arsenal, Coleman struggled when exposed to the pace of Liverpool’s left flank. It will offer Stephen Kenny food for thought, given first-choicee right wing-back Matt Doherty is likely to arrive into the next international window lacking match minutes, but here Coleman showed he is better suited at right centre-back than left hanging out at wing-back.
And for all of Liverpool’s general dominance, the game swung on 13 seconds. James Tarkowski headed against the post at one end and then Mohamed Salah scored beyond the AWOL Jordan Pickford at the other. It would have been interesting to see how Liverpool would have reacted to falling behind, as leading from the front hasn’t been one of their many problems this season: they have won nine and drawn one of the 10 league games in which they have led. It’s reacting to falling behind that has become the biggest problem.
But most encouraging for Liverpool was the fact they seemed to have their intensity back. Key to it was the fact Jordan Henderson’s best performance since the World Cup and perhaps his best of the season, hailed afterwards by Klopp as a “one-man pressing machine.” But can Henderson replicate it against Newcastle on Saturday and then again against Real Madrid next Tuesday? Or if he has to be rested for Real, then can Naby Keita or James Milner hit the same levels at the weekend?
There were other good signs for Klopp. Joel Matip recovered from another baffling start – that fresh-air swipe on the edge of his box was that of a deeply jittery man – to grow into the game, his mazy runs into midfield helping to create space and passing angles for others.
Cody Gakpo scored his first goal and again looked better playing through the centre as a kind of pseudo Firmino, after Klopp strangely swapped him out to the left against Wolves. Darwin Nunez’ lacks the delicate touch to excel in the centre’s gummed up spaces and is better suited to charging down the left flank.
And 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic was a sensation in midfield, winning the challenges he needed to win while balletically playing around Everton’s midfield players and linking play. He now looks an automatic pick while also fitting snugly within his club’s committed policy of Not Buying Midfielders: he was signed as a centre-back.
Klopp’s first pumps to the crowd and scream of relief after the game were redolent of Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank rain, and while his side have much left to prove against better opposition, they might yet redeem their bleak winter.
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Everton Liverpool Premier League talking point