Liverpool’s big week of internal intrigue came to a head with today’s match against Brighton. Questions abounded with the Reds stuck firmly in the gossip pages given the comments of Mohamed Salah during the previous week. A gritty, if competent, win over Inter Milan in the Champions League midweek meant that Arne Slot and the lads could look to putting a positive stamp on the maelstrom by delivering a win. With a terrific 90’ minutes in the books where the Reds looked as close to being the fluid,
dominant side fans have generally come to expect, Slot and Company can rest easy after a job well done.
Let’s take a closer look at the Reds’ big day.
Talking Tactics
One of Liverpool’s big question marks heading into this season was how Arne Slot and his staff would line-up given all of the new acquisitions. When Alexander Isak joined at the end of the transfer window, those questions got even more intriguing given the immense spending on central forwards between the Swede and the signing of Hugo Ekitike earlier in the window.
In the Inter Milan win, Slot looked to potentially line-up in a 4-D-2, with both strikers in the to start the match. Today, Slot chose to reverse course and go back to his preferred 4-2-3-1, with Isak dropping back to the bench and the gaffer opting run Curtis Jones, Florian Wirtz, and Dominik Szobozlai in the band of three. Additionally, the squad started out with a high press, which was a tactical approach they’d shifted away from at the start of this season. And, wouldn’t you know it, the two changes worked like gangbusters.
First, Liverpool came roaring out of the blocks with the press, winning the ball twice and causing Brighton to make mistakes. The press is absolutely a big part of why Hugo Ekitike was able to claim a goal inside of the first minute of the match, as they forces Yakub Minteh into an awkward and ill-advised cross, which Joe Gomez was able to head down into Ekitike’s path.
Then, the overall structure of the Reds’ shape helped to generally keep the Seagulls at bay while also ensuring the club looked incredibly threatening in attack. There’s certainly things to iron-out as Brighton certainly scuffed a gilt-edged chance, but Liverpool’s attack more than made-up for any chances conceded. In fact, watching the attack work today was about as fluid and incisive I’ve seen them by this whole season. It was truly something to watch them create moves and, more importantly, put in the final ball to open up chances for shots.
Liverpool’s offense has looked, at times, plodding throughout this year. And the defense has, similarly, looked a bit rickety. There was a perception, at least from me, that perhaps Slot was trying to solve for the low-block many teams were employing against us by shifting the balance towards getting more players into dangerous places on the pitch.
Today, though, we saw a well-balanced side that more than did enough on both sides of the ball to warrant taking home all three points. As mentioned above, it’s not perfect – especially given how good a couple of the Brighton chances were. But, given everything that’s transpired so far this year, two well-won goals and keeping a cleansheet is definitely something worth celebrating.
Dissecting the Narrative
Slot versus Salah dominated all of the pre-match talk. And, in the end, it was a bit ho hum – Salah was, predictably, left on the bench. Slot’s tactics were working.
The way it ended was just shy of the ideal: Mohamed Salah was introduced in the 25th minute as Joe Gomez suffered an unfortunate injury that meant the defender was unable to continue. Salah came on and provided an assist to Hugo Ekitike off of a corner and, in doing so, set another record as he surpassed Wayne Rooney as the player with the most goal involvements for a single club in Premier League history.
Salah will be off to AFCON after this match and given the pre and post-match comments we’ve heard, there’s no reason to expect that he won’t return and play again for the Reds. There’s certainly going to be some noise, with both Slot and Salah bound to receive questions in relation to the win as well as the future. But, for now, fans of the club can rest a bit easy that it looks like all things are generally settled.
How The Players/Manager Reacted
I opted against doing a Winners/Losers chart because, really, the whole team acquitted themselves with truly terrific performances on the day. But, the growth of one player headed into and through this season has become harder and harder for me to ignore.
Over the past season and, increasingly, over the past few weeks, Curtis Jones has suddenly jumped to the fore as a leader and face for the club. In the build-up to this match and then in comments after, Jones has become featured in a way that I wasn’t prepared for. Ahead of kick-off, it was also revealed that the midfielder and Scouser in the team, was set to make his 2o0th appearance for Liverpool after having made the start XI.
His comments have been, in a word, refreshing but also exceedingly mature. It feels like only yesterday that CuJo was breaking through behind Trent Alexander-Arnold as the second Scouser in the squad. And now, he’s reached a loft milestone and is clearly trusted as a leader among Arne Slot’s charges.
I’ve long held the versatile midfielder in high-regard; he’s one of the few players whose name has made it onto the back of a kit that I’ve bought. But seeing him achieve this feels like quite the moment. As one of the foremost drivers of the CuJo bandwagon, I’d like to think that I always knew he’d at least make it to this point. I’m really glad to have been around to witness it.
What Happens Next
Liverpool are now back up to 6th place in the Premier League table and find themselves in the rearest of circumstances: a week in-between matches. The rest will certainly do the squad some good, with Joe Gomez’s injury looming and, generally, the need for some in the squad to recuperate. That extra time will also help as the squad looks to face Thomas Frank’s Tottenham side next weekend. Here’s hoping the Reds can keep up the trajectory and show that they are finally back on track and ready to show the footballing world just what they’re capable of.
