Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 3-1 Leicester

Second half FC strikes again.

Liverpool win 3-1 after going in level or behind at the break for the fourth match in a row, and their reward for it is a midweek trip to Bournemouth in the embryonic days of November.

I enjoyed that tonight.

I enjoyed a decent Kop atmosphere. I enjoyed a much-improved Wataru Endo performance. I enjoyed a Dominik Szoboszlai stunner.

I didn’t enjoy much of the first half. But despite this, I still felt reasonably confident that the Reds would eventually find a way to progress, and that’s what they do.

It’s a feeling I had in 18/19 and 19/20, again in 21/22 and going back a bit, 08/09 and 13/14. It’s a feeling of belief and confidence that transfers from the pitch into the crowd.

Jurgen Klopp names pretty much the team we all expect apart from Curtis Jones at right-back. Eight games into the season and we’ve had Jones and Stefan Bajcetic both named to start there. Anyone have money on that? 

Leicester lead within three minutes when Kostas Tsimikas loses out to Marc Albrighton in his own half, and Liverpool are done on the counter. Yunus Akgun plays a decisive through-ball to Kasey McAteer and it’s a comfortable finish. Tsimikas, and most of the Kop, claim that he’s fouled, but there’s nothing in it for me.

Jones plays McAteer onside and at this moment you worry for him at right-back for another 87 minutes, but he recovers quickly.

In some ways, so do the Reds as chances follow immediately. The ball gets stuck between Diogo Jota’s legs when he looks certain to score, and Ben Doak shatters the woodwork with a close-range shot that really didn’t need so much power.

Cody Gakpo sees a free header somehow cleared off the line by Conor Coady, who gets a hot reception from Anfield. 

0-1 at the break and what Liverpool had really lacked was tempo and pace to the play. There had been very little connection and cohesion between the phases of the team.

Tsimikas once again looked out of place in that first half, but he wasn’t the only one. It’s Gakpo’s worst 45 in a Liverpool shirt and Jota was largely unnoticeable. 

Harvey Elliott and Ryan Gravenberch looked to make things happen, but Liverpool operate at such a pedestrian speed in that first half, that it was hard for the Reds to flex their quality. I lost count of how many times the ball was played between the two centre-backs - no fault of Ibrahima Konate or Jarell Quansah - more a question of where the movement was from the options.

The second half instantly sees improvement and a major upping of the tempo. Klopp obviously drilled into them the importance of putting Leicester under pressure and not making it easy in the second half, and the early pressure tells.

Wataru Endo - who puts in his best Liverpool performance so far - recycles an attack and then Gravenberch finds a good, incisive pass to the just-onside Gakpo. The Dutchman slots home and the game is level.

It’s interesting that Gakpo, Tsimikas and Jota, all of whom struggle to varying degrees in the first half, are greatly improved in the second. Whether it was tactical tweaks or personal pride, they all look like different people as soon as we hit 45.

Gakpo, certainly, is determined to improve on his first-half showing and nearly scores again when his header hits the bar. It’s a bit of a weird situation with Gakpo, who I thought was one of the first names on the teamsheet in pre-season, but Darwin Nunez’s form has shoved him out a bit.

Liverpool’s attack under Klopp has always relied heavily on pace. Neither Gakpo or Jota are blessed with the kind of acceleration we see from Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz. And so I don’t think the attack clicks when both Gakpo and Jota start together, particularly without Salah as well.

Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai are duly brought on for Doak and Gravenberch - both of whom do alright but might hope for better.

It doesn’t take long for things to change. The two of them bring about a sudden energy and dynamism that wasn’t there before, Leicester now have so much more to think about. 

Szoboszlai tries plan B. Receives the ball from Endo, takes a touch to set himself and then bang, it’s in. It’s a rocket, it’s a thunderbastard. 

One of the best goals I’ve seen live and truthfully, as soon as he hits it, you think it’s in. It’s simply unsaveable as he finds the extreme top corner with such unstoppable pace and precision. 

For a night that had been largely frustrating, this was worth the entrance fee alone.

In eight games, the foursome of Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch and Endo have six goal contributions (two goals and four assists) between them. In the entirety of last season, Fabinho, Henderson, Milner, Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain contributed exactly six as well.

Spectacularly, Szoboszlai nearly does it again soon afterwards, this time aiming for the top-right, and it goes just astray.

Comparisons. I’ve compared him to Kevin De Bruyne. There’s plenty of comparables to Steven Gerrard and I saw on Twitter Kristian Walsh drawing comparisons with Michael Ballack.

He’s a special, special footballer. You almost feel like we should give RB Leipzig some more money. I feel guilty that we only paid £60m for this guy. 

Daylight robbery.

Speaking of robbery, great work from Quansah to thieve the ball from Justin and set up Jota, who is miles better in the second half, to finish the game off with an incredibly cute finish. 

Nunez doesn’t get the goal his cameo deserves but make no mistake about it, he is one of the first names on Liverpool’s teamsheet right now and his pace and power will be crucial against Mickey Van de Ven and Cristian Romero this weekend.

There’s a debut for Luke Chambers, a cameo at right back from Stefan Bajcetic after he replaces the out-of-position captain Jones and a few moments with the armband for Caoimhin Kelleher, who I’ve not even mentioned - another sound and very calm performance.

I’d obviously like to see a bit more courage and conviction from the ‘second eleven’. In an ideal world, it shouldn’t need Nunez and Szoboszlai to come on and change the game. They need to play with more cohesion and familiarity but in order to do that, they need more games together.

In terms of man of the match shouts, I’d be looking at Endo, who I’ve been crucifying up until now. He was very solid in the middle of the park and won his duels well. This was the first time he looked comfortable in his role, I think, and he shows tenacity and aggression. 

Konate and Quansah wouldn’t be far off - the Frenchman makes a tremendous block late on when Leicester look certain to equalise and Quansah is an embodiment of calmness and composure.

All of these players are good. You could put any of them into any league game and be confident in them. The problem is, when you make wholesale changes and put them all in at once, there’s no fluidity or connection and that’s what we see in the first half.

Anyway, with Tottenham and Man City eliminated, the Reds have a decent shot at this competition. Bournemouth away in the next round. Not easy but one I’d hope we’d have a good go at - West Ham v Arsenal and United v Newcastle means two more potential winners will be exiting in Round Four.

Obviously the league is the top priority, with the Europa League the second, but we should be targeting this cup as a realistic and very achievable piece of silverware. That Bournemouth game is slap bang in the middle of Forest at home and Luton away, which is nice.

Klopp seems to be interested too. Last year in the third round against Derby, he picks a remarkably youthful lineup and bench - I think Gomez and Oxlade-Chamberlain were the most senior players that night, with Firmino, Elliott and Nunez on the bench.

Last night though he packs his bench with quality for if they’re needed - Virgil Van Dijk, Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister are all on there. 

It might not be first priority, but it’s something the manager is at least interested in.

Now to a massive one at the weekend where you’d take a point but also feel we have a good shot at all three. We always seem to find a way against Tottenham. I think there’s only Jones and maybe Konate that will start from last night’s starting team.

Might be another one where Spurs come out of the traps well and put us under early pressure - you feel we can’t let ourselves fall behind like we have done in recent games as they’re probably going to be the best side we’ve faced so far.

In our eight first halves this season, we’ve scored six and conceded seven. 

In the second halves, we’ve scored fifteen and conceded zero.

Nineteen games unbeaten now.

Daniel