Liverpool’s big 3-nil win over Brighton in the FA Cup is a much needed result given Liverpool’s topsy turvy season. And while fans have certainly be within their rights to be skeptical of improvement given that the team has struggled for consistency in Premier League play, perhaps being able to beat a Premier League team – after being the first team to beat Sunderland at home in the League – might give folks a little more of the good feelings.
Good feelings, it turns out, are a lot easier to have
when you score three, keep a cleansheet, and get some primetime performances from players that have maybe been underperforming for most of the season. And, in truth, there were no bad performances on the Anfield pitch. To a man, Liverpool absolutely took it Fabian Hurzeler’s charges in what felt like a truly lopsided affair.
Arne Slot’s comments after the match were quite effusive, if characteristically blunt, in relation to the match. Perhaps the most interesting set of remarks was in relation to Mohamed Salah, where the Dutchman took time to praise not just Salah’s attacking contributions, but also his willingness to support in defense.
“It’s very nice to have [Salah] on the scoresheet again and him having an assist. But I think what I like the most at the moment, that he’s scoring goals is something you can almost expect, but he also helps the team a lot defensively. That is something very positive – what the team also needs – and I think more and more players are now capable of playing at this intensity level every three days. That is where we struggled a lot in the beginning of the season, where it was sometimes hard for us to bring the intensity level once a week, let alone every three days. But now we’re able to do so, we see more and more the quality we have. That’s why I’ve said so many times already that the future looks really bright for this club with these players, and I think the recent seven, eight, nine, 10 games are showing that as well.”
It’s a tiny peek behind the curtain in that it was pretty clear that Slot’s tactical allowance of releasing Mo from some defensive duties last season was leading to some of the structural concerns during the lull in October and November. While the team isn’t fully back, the past few matches do look considerably better not only from a results perspective, but also from the eye test. Liverpool look like they have an understanding on offense and, while absolutely imperfect, have managed to not look a complete farce at the back despite what can charitably be called a crisis at right-back.
Diagnosing issues in football is difficult because the game is so fluid, with each player having an influence over many aspects of the overall game flow. So, we cannot lay all of those early season struggles on Mo. But seeing the team manage to find some semblance of control at the. back coupled with Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, and Florian Wirtz all finally finding their footing has contributed to Liverpool’s upward trajectory. In fact, the Hungarian left-back seems to have fully turned it around as he put in a Player of the Match worthy shift, which is impressive given just how good the entire squad is.
Liverpool are in a good place now but need to continue to string together some more matches like this in order to both undo the skepticism earned during their early season swoon and overcome the hole that those results have put the Reds in. Liverpool are pressing for a Champions League spot and will need to play it pretty perfect over the next two and a have months just to keep themselves in contention.
Here’s hoping that facing two relatively stubborn tests and coming out having passed will help the team finally kick into gear.
