Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 5-1 Toulouse

No-one was jumping for joy when it was the Europa League this year rather than the Champions League, especially after six uninterrupted seasons in the latter.

And I think there was a degree of dissatisfaction with the idea of the group stages in particular. Anfield will be dead, we’ll be playing against nobodies, it’ll be boring etc.

And to some effect, the first two games for Liverpool have been a bit like that. They’ve won reasonably comfortably against LASK and Union, but neither game was exciting either as a contest or a Liverpool performance.

But this here was the kind of game that those of us who weren’t entirely against a season of Thursday nights were basing so much of that on. Here we see a mixed Liverpool team take apart a competitive outfit with some excellent individual performances, a few nice goals and some chances for fringe players.

And Jurgen Klopp affords those chances with his team selection that sees Luke Chambers start at left-back and put in a decent performance. Kostas Tsimikas is clearly being primed for the league games so it’s important that Chambers, Joe Gomez or Callum Scanlon are available to spell him for these midweek affairs.

There’s an urgency about Liverpool’s start and in particular up top with Diogo Jota. His goal is a lovely, lovely one. It rolls well for him after a bit of a miscue from Harvey Elliott but what he does from there is gorgeous stuff. A slaloming run where he dances around three completed by a calm finish.

A goal that reminded me instantly of Roberto Firmino’s famous one against Arsenal in 2018.

He’s in good form, Jota. I thought he was the best attacker on the park at the weekend and tonight is another example of him adding more to his game in terms of build-up and link play. Everything he does is so effective, no effort or energy is wasted. Very clever player.

I was guilty of thinking the game was over at this point. Yes it was very early, but you always feel that Toulouse’s chances rest on starting well and catching Liverpool cold.

And despite being 1-0 down, that’s exactly what they do minutes later. It’s a bit of a mess of a goal from Liverpool’s perspective and blame can be apportioned to three or four different parties.

Trent Alexander-Arnold seemed to take the brunt of it on commentary for his unsuccessful offside trap, but for me he was actually the least at fault. Chambers doesn’t do well at all here, while Gomez’s decision to press and engage with the ball that high up is an arrogant one and another momentary instance of Liverpool thinking they’re too good for this competition.

I’m surprised to see little discourse over Caoimhin Kelleher’s role in this, though. I think he’s very late to react to a decent, but not brilliant, strike from Thijs Dallinga. The shot kind of goes under him because of how late his dive is. It reminds me a lot of Jamie Vardy’s goal against Kelleher in 2021, or even Kasey McAteer’s a few weeks ago.  

I think Kelleher is a good goalkeeper and he’s certainly got excellent reflexes but he’s not great in one-on-ones at all. Not only is he getting beaten from them too easily but his body shape isn’t giving himself the best chance.

He makes two good saves as the game progresses, which are reflex saves. It’s when he’s got time to think about it that he doesn’t seem as convincing.

Wataru Endo is very good throughout and does his job exactly as you’d hope for him to. He wins his battles on the field and patrols the midfield with purpose and intent, in a way we perhaps haven’t seen him do yet.

The header he scores is a nice bonus to a solid performance. It’s a great leap and a strong header from Alexander-Arnold’s whipping cross.

Alexander-Arnold leads the team well. A largely inexperienced team with four starters who’ve made fewer than 30 Liverpool appearances.

By leading the team well, I’m not referring specifically to the captaincy. I mean that, as the most experienced Liverpool player on the pitch (crazy to say that about a 25-year-old), he guides the team around the park with maturity and intelligent passes. 

On Endo, he’s the only natural DM that’s currently available. Round pegs in round holes are always better than square ones and I wonder if after this performance he may have convinced Klopp that he’s worthy of being in the discussion for the Premier League team.

Two becomes three just before the break with a good finish from Darwin Nunez after the ball drops well for him. Liverpool respond well to the Toulouse equaliser and at half-time, the game is won.

Nunez and Jota are excellent up top in that first half, but the star man on the field is without doubt Ryan Gravenberch, who absolutely runs the show from the middle of the park.

His dynamism and athleticism in midfield is quite remarkable at times and you look at him and wonder how he couldn’t get going at Bayern Munich. 

He takes the ball so well on the turn and does not waste a touch. His ability to drive from midfield and link play to the attack was a big facet in that game and he’s absolutely good value for his goal, which we’ll come on to.

There’s a Juventus-days Paul Pogba vibe to him, with a bit of Yaya Toure too. He’s got a long way to go of course, but stylistically we’re seeing good things.

A delightful ball from Jota has Nunez one-on-one and it’s a glorious piece of football from the Uruguayan to present himself with an open goal. Dare I say it, the shimmy and the way he takes it around the keeper was frighteningly reminiscent of Fernando Torres.

The finish, though, was not.

I’m not sure how he hits the post from there but Gravenberch is on hand to calmly follow up and slot home a much harder opportunity than the one Nunez had wasted. 

I love how active and present Gravenberch is around the box, and with two goals and two assists, he’s already outdone the vast majority of Liverpool’s midfield in the entirety of last season.

Nunez comes off to a standing ovation and rightly so - despite that miss it was still an all-action, thoroughly enjoyable display from the forward who is right in the mix for Liverpool’s player of the season so far.

There’s a debut for Scanlon and later for James McConnell, while Cody Gakpo returns to the field, minutes for Jarell Quansah and of course, Mohamed Salah, who was licking his lips at 4-1 to the good.

Salah turns home after good work from Gakpo late on to round the game off and get the goal that he would’ve been craving so much. Another delightful finish, and a rare right-footed goal from the Egyptian. 

So, pretty much the perfect night. A win, a couple of debuts, some nice goals and good performances from the fringe players.

He would’ve hoped for more from the likes of Curtis Jones and Elliott, perhaps, but many of Klopp’s boxes will have been ticked.

Nine points out of nine and a win in France in two weeks time will guarantee qualification and the group win.

Attention turns back to the league now. 

Daniel