Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 3-1 Sheffield United

Lionel Messi must be gutted.

A career spent accumulating record after record, moment after moment, trophy after trophy and for it all to culminate on that magical evening in Doha 16 months ago when he finally got his hands on the World Cup trophy after two goals in the final and a penalty in the shootout.

That was the day. The day that all the lingering doubts that his naysayers had - the last thing they had left to cling to - they could cling to no more.

He always was the greatest, but that night certified it. Lionel Messi; the GOAT. The greatest footballer whom ever did live.

As I say, the poor bastard must be devastated.

Turns out that his twenty years spent achieving undisputed GOAT status would all be undone in just over a year.

Fucking hell, he’s not even the best ever from his country now.

There’s some that might argue that he never was, for Diego Maradona is a formidable candidate for GOAT labelling.

Was, sorry. Not is. Maradona is no longer in this bracket and nor is my beloved Messi.

It’s all about Alexis Mac Allister now, the greatest Argentinian of all time, the greatest footballer of all time.

What a goal. What a bleeding goal.

It’s the perfect blend of ferocity, drive and power, married with a composure, a calm, a knowingness. 

Traits that at that point, everyone else was lacking.

I’ve seen this film countless times before. It never gets any less predictable or frustrating.

Liverpool up against a relegation-threatened (or in this case, relegation-bound) team, particularly at home, and allowing them a route into the game through profiligacy, complacency and poor attitude.

There’s red flags from as early as the first minute when Caoimhin Kelleher has to make a great reaction save from James McAtee after the entire defence were too slow to deal with a Jack Robinson throw-in.

The rest of the first half plays out as you’d want it to in terms of possession and control, but it’s death by a thousand cuts rather than one shot from the revolver.

Because Liverpool pass, and pass, and pass.

Every single Liverpool player - including Kelleher with nine - completed more passes than every Sheffield United player in the first half, and five Liverpool men; Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Joel Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk and Mac Allister - completed more than the entire Blades team combined.

But, for all of the controlled domination, there is very little in the way for Ivo Grbic to actually do. 

Of course, he’s at the centre of the main moment in the first half. Darwin Nunez’s press - one of few highlights in that opening 45 - yields a major reward as Grbic’s clearance is closed down by Nunez, and the ball ends up in the net.

It’s a freak goal but it’s an opener - usually the hardest goal to get in these kind of games - and it’s Nunez’s eighteenth in all competitions this season. With twelve assists to his name too, he’s up to 30 goal contributions. 

Whatever the fair criticisms of him have been, there can be no denying the volume of his contribution in front of goal this season.

At this point, you’re expecting Liverpool to capitalise on the early lead and make hay. But it doesn’t happen.

Pass, pass, pass.

The possession seemingly never ends but Liverpool are facing a resilient wall. And Grbic is left untroubled for the rest of the half.

For all of the possession and the dominance, it only produces a half-time xG of 0.6. 

I love Joe Gomez this season. He’s arguably in our top five players of the campaign and without him, we’d have been in trouble so many times.

But, there are games for him at left-back and this isn’t one of them. In fact, he barely spends any time at left-back, instead inverting into midfield and adding another body to an already congested central area.

Andy Robertson might not have been fit enough to start but Kostas Tsimikas definitely would’ve been and some natural width was badly lacking in the first half.

Against the low blocks, you need the width and the chance to quickly overlap and create space. On the other flank, Conor Bradley offers that - his dynamism and ability to get quickly on the front foot is unbelievable. 

Having that on both flanks might have helped speed things along and add a second goal.

At half-time, I felt uneasy. That we were just a single goal - and a flukey one at that - in front. 

It reminds me of so many of these encounters - Burnley this season, Luton away this season, Watford in 21/22, Genk in 19/20, Huddersfield in 17/18.

The equaliser feels both surprising and inevitable. It initially starts with Ryan Gravenberch losing possession in the Sheffield United half, and the Blades then breaking.

Gomez doesn’t do enough and Bradley is a little out-of-shape when Gustavo Hamer’s header is diverted in off Bradley. 

Kelleher is good all night and has no chance with this. 1-1 and both sides had scored freaky goals. 

Gravenberch has just got to do better. There’s some positive points in his performance and it’s clearly not a talent issue but he’s just got to be more intense, physical and fervent.

It’s no surprise that he’s the first one withdrawn from the action.

The manager has some balls. 1-1 at home in a title race in a game where all we need is tempo and he takes Mohamed Salah off.

It looked risky bordering on suicidal to me, but the reality is it was probably planned to happen on 60 minutes.

And, the subs he brings on make a huge impact.

Harvey Elliott has been a game-changer for Liverpool all season. He comes on from the bench and time and time again, displays decision-making and game smarts.

And putting Robertson at left-back brings about the much-needed width. Suddenly, there is someone for Luis Diaz to send on an overlap and suddenly there is another dimension to the attack.

Cody Gakpo and Curtis Jones are the next two.

It’s Gakpo’s best performance in a while. Jones has been a miss and offers control. 

I don’t think there’s been a game this season that Jones has played where we’ve not had control of the midfield, apart from City away.

He doesn’t panic, he finds himself in space, he knows what to do, his game intelligence is second to none.

Decisiveness is lacking in the first half but Elliott and Jones bring it.

Probably the only player who shines in the first hour is Mac Allister. Without Wataru Endo, he’s back into his deeper role and produces another starry performance.

He’s everywhere in the first half, winning battles and interceptions and what continues to amaze me about him is how he can compete physically despite not being a typical DM.

He may not be the quickest with the legs but he’s got the fastest brain and it’s that speed of thought that keeps getting Liverpool moments and results.

In the most intense and challenging moments, he goes up a level.

The ball breaks to him at the edge of the box and he wraps his foot around it and unleashes a rocket-powered drive that ascends right into the top corner.

Ferocious. Breathtaking. Unstoppable.

The technique and delivery to hit across the ball is perfect. He’s scored six goals for Liverpool since joining in the summer, and five of them have gone into the side netting. It’s absolutely incredible technique, precision and poise.

He nearly nails another worldie minutes later with a free-kick that troubles the crossbar.

I’ve seen so many saying that the goal reminds them of Gerrard against Olympiacos and in terms of the technique and circumstance, it’s a fair comparison.

But looking at the direction and the power, combined with the precision and the straightness, it made me think of a less illustrious Liverpool player; Mario Balotelli’s famous goal, smashing it home for Italy in the semi-final of Euro 2012.

Mac Allister is probably the best creative midfielder we’ve had in the modern era - Philippe Coutinho was world-class but played on the left wing just as much as in the middle. 

This season from Mac Allister is on a similar standard to Thiago in 21/22, and Xabi Alonso in 08/09. It’s one of the best individual seasons I’ve seen from an advanced midfielder at this club.

Five goals and five assists in his last ten games and it’s so much more than just the goal contributions, it’s the control of games and the ability to get involved with and do pretty much anything.

Potent and productive going one way, and hitting Fabinho-esque numbers in terms of tackles and interceptions.

What a footballer. There’s a lot of midfielders in the conversation to make the team of the year - Rodri is a certainty, and there’s conversations to be had over Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Endo, Mac Allister and Cole Palmer, but the Argentine is finishing the season in such a way that he’s got every chance of being named in it.

He is the catalyst for Liverpool right now and he is the player, like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in 08/09, Luis Suarez in 13/14, Sadio Mane in 18/19 and Virgil Van Dijk in 19/20, that is taking on the responsibility to keep this title push alive and going.

There’s another brilliant goal with a fantastic cross from Robertson, who delivers it on a sixpence from the touchline into Gakpo, who makes the run from out to in and calmly heads home.

Gakpo does really well coming on and is good value for this goal - the type of goal he should be getting more of given his size.

And it’s job done. Not pretty, but there was always a chance of that. 

The fact that United lose to Chelsea is irrelevant. They could lose ten in a row and a trip to Old Trafford would still be enough to cause me sleepless nights.

It’s the one fixture that Jurgen Klopp hasn’t managed to improve our record in - just two wins in his ten visits there.

Team selection will be important and having Endo back would be a huge boost. He’s likely to go with Gomez over Bradley at right-back, to deal with the potent threat of Alejandro Garnacho down that side.

Raphael Varane goes off injured for them and with them missing Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez, it will be a patched-up back four for them.

There’s got to be an emphasis placed on natural width from the full-backs to allow Salah, Nunez and Diaz to operate within the half-spaces.

What Klopp does have is a bench full of players that can change a game - four of them do here and more and more are coming back. No manager has better used their bench this season and his switch to a 4-4-2 system is so effective.

But to be honest, we could have Messi, Maradona and their idol Mac Allister all playing on Sunday and it would still be a challenge.

Daniel