It sure was a spectacle if only sometimes the kind you want to see
That was a match that happened and as much as I hated a lot of it it’s worth noting that it was really one of the better showings in the category of “much-changed-team playing in the cup against a side urged on by their manager to get something because their own league season has been doing very little to both bring joy to the fanbase and keep said manager in his job.” I’m paraphrasing, of course.
Winners and Losers
Hugo Ekitiké is the clear winner and loser, scoring the winning goal and then seeming to forget everything that happened before, taking his shirt off to do a Lionel Messi celebration (in the CARABAO CUP, fella?) to earn a second yellow and sending off. Earnestly hilarious if it weren’t so important. The manager post-match said everything that needed to be said about the two daft choices (first yellow for kicking the ball away) that see him suspended for the weekend*:
Which brings us to the main winner of the evening: Federico Chiesa. It’s really very hard to overstate how good Chiesa was, working so hard on and off the ball and never really making the wrong choice around the Southampton penalty area (even if his own shots were blocked). Chiesa put in a serious defensive shift while setting up both of Liverpool’s goals, and I’m not joking when I say that his polite (and silent) disbelief whenever the referee gave a decision Southampton’s way was really mature behavior: you don’t win over officials by shouting at them, but he might win over one or two with his disappointed Italian Dad act.
Tragically before going off a real winner was Giovanni Leoni, who looked like the most experienced man in the Liverpool defense for his entire time on the pitch. He misplayed a single pass, and even that was through disconnect with his teammates who made opposite runs rather than any active mistake on his part. Every other defender made more serious errors and he cleaned up a good number of them. There have been no confirmed reports and I will not speculate here, but as Arne Slot said in his interviews post-match, “If a player goes off like that it’s not a good sign.” We hope Leoni is not ruled out long-term, as his debut suggests real promise for a career at Liverpool, and it would be cruel if he were unable to make his deserved contribution this season. The Italian was taken off in a stretcher after a hard fall that included a collision with the hoardings in the match today.
No other real losers today except in the literal sense.
Talking Tactics
When Liverpool when down to 10 men Slot was clearly seen telling the side to move to a 4-4-1, which makes a lot of sense when defending a lead. What is passively interesting in this is that the formation itself is somewhat reminiscent of how Liverpool have played after gaining leads in the league, with less interest in going forward. In the Premier League, such an approach has often led to mistakes in possession in the midfield, which has in past been a strong-suit in Slot’s side. Game state has been a massive consideration for this Liverpool side, but equally interesting is looking at the tactical elements that are and are not linking up fluidly as yet.
Liverpool won today and did so imperfectly against a side struggling in the Championship with their own rotation pattern: while Liverpool were absolutely not themselves due to such dramatic rotation, Southampton are far from a settled side, and their comparative fluency in some moments should not be attributed to their cohesiveness as a team but rather to what Liverpool allow.
Liverpool’s cautious approach in relation to game state makes sense, and should work better as players better know each other — unmentioned today is the absent Florian Wirtz, who has played (in my opinion) really very well other than in his substitute appearance last time out. While today marks a pattern of the Reds (of all personnel) giving up goals when they should really be taking the sting out of games, it still strikes you that eventually the attacking formation of Slot’s side will click and it will become easier to go 3-0 than 2-2. At least, we hope.
Outstanding Youth Performer
He should probably be included in one of the “winners” in section one, but it would be remiss to not highlight Trey Nyoni’s showing. Nyoni started a bit out of sorts both in and out of possession, but not because of any deficit on his part: he’s 18 and being asked to play in a starting XI completely unlike any he’s played in before. Through the first 30-ish minutes Nyoni looked like he wasn’t sure where to be, exactly, and wasn’t sure where everyone else was when he was on the ball.
And then it clicked.
For the majority of the match Trey Nyoni was suddenly filling passing channels and taking up half-spaces in ways his teammates could predict and utilize. He was making smart challenges on opponents that wouldn’t just delay their progression but win turnovers for Liverpool. It is impressive to see so young a player adapt so well in-game (Rio Ngumoha, who has proven himself already, found the personnel changes and opposition a bit harder than Nyoni did, for example, and Ngumoha had Newcastle at St James’ on toast). It’s hard to overstate how good Nyoni’s adaptations were and it’s really worth emphasizing in its own category because almost all the players around him had less-than-ideal showings: Wataru Endō was playing a weird role for him (and his header error shouldn’t count in that, it’s pure bad luck and mistiming); Joe Gomez has had better days on the ball, as certainly has Andy Robertson in possession; Jeremie Frimpong was great in flashes and poor in others.
While chaos reigned around Nyoni he grew into the game rather than getting challenged by it, and goodness if that doesn’t speak to a strong future for the lad.
What Happens Next
Time will tell whether Ekitiké’s choice is fully hilarious or a hypothetical “we could have used you at the weekend” talking point, and Leoni’s injury asks very real defensive questions, with all of Gomez, Endō, and Robertson looking a bit out of form — though it’s worth noting that Joe Gomez has almost never looked off-pace when called upon unexpectedly to cover for an injury, which is a bit different than being asked to lead the line with an 18-year-old defensive partner. I don’t mean to denigrate Gomez here in highlighting his exemplary performances alongside senior partners, but both the “off the bench/in from the cold” and the context of his performances do seem to matter; I am not panicked should he be called upon in future matches, though I will worry if a long-term injury means we only have Gomez.
It would be nice to see more of Fede Chiesa from the left. Cody Gakpo has done well this season, and even if his “cutting inside” is mocked as predictable, he rarely gets tackled doing it; nonetheless, the club benefitted when there was competition between him and Luis Díaz, and the performance Chiesa put in seemed to surprise the manager, and delight all the rest of us. Run it again, Arne.
Left unstated so far is that Alexander Isak scored his first, and what a goal it was. While Chiesa did the pressing and made the pass, we can all make heart-eyes over how natural it was for Isak to, in tandem, move back to both ascertain being onside and give himself the best shooting angle — and his shot was luscious: it was unsaveable despite the limited near-post space he had because the bend on it made it unreachable for the keeper. This type of clinical finishing makes you re-think a tap-in: it wasn’t incidental, it was made. More of this please the Reds.
This image of everyone reacting, including Slot, is incredible. Enjoy.
For Fun
Category: General Sports
