After two disappointing away trips against Luton Town and Toulouse, Liverpool promptly returned with a crisp 3-0 victory over Brentford at Anfield.
The “Bees” became the 9th “victim” to receive defeat as guests at the holy land of The Kop this season. In particular, Liverpool all scored at least 2 goals per match against 9 opponents, an achievement that the Red Brigade has not been able to replicate since 1980.
It was thought that losing 8 stars in the squad due to injury and penalty cards would make Jurgen Klopp’s team “vulnerable”, but Liverpool still knows how to show class at the right time. “My students had an excellent performance ,” Klopp rejoiced in the post-match press conference. “We scored great goals against one of the most difficult opponents in the league.”
Liverpool headed to the international break with a perfect result, and at the same time had a successful run before the “stormy” big battle with the defending champion, Man City at Etihad Stadium.
Liverpool is “resurrecting” strongly this season.
After a disappointing season of only finishing in 5th place in the Premier League and going through the 2023 summer transfer period with many changes in the squad, Liverpool has “resurrected” strongly with 8 wins after 12 matches to rise up. Second place on the rankings with 1 point worse than Man City . The race to the British throne now includes two familiar names: Man City and Liverpool, but will Klopp’s army maintain a stable performance to compete fairly with The Citizens?
“We haven’t played perfect football yet ,” Klopp said, saying it was too early to think about the championship race in November. “But we will try every match. We have to keep in shape at least until March or April and if we are in a good position around that time, I think we have the ability to conquer this tournament.”
The destructive performance of the attack
Liverpool’s top “transformation” right now owes much to its attacking stars. Mohamed Salah (12 goals), Diogo Jota (8 goals), Darwin Nunez (7 goals), Luis Diaz (4 goals) and Cody Gakpo (4 goals) scored a total of 35 goals in all competitions.
Although Nunez is someone who always receives a lot of criticism from fans for his ungainly misses, the Uruguayan star plays an important role for Klopp. “He (Nunez) is a bridge for his teammates , ” the German strategist defended his student . True to what the former Dortmund captain commented, Nunez is a solid fulcrum for the surrounding satellites to shine, especially Salah, when all 9 of Nunez’s assists since joining Liverpool have been for the star. Egyptian.
Liverpool is destroying all opponents with the sharpness of their attack.
The wall in front of Allison’s wooden frame
The Kop fans have the right to dream of a fair race with Man City when their captain, the heart of the defense, Virgil van Dijk has regained his top level. In the match against Brentford, the Dutch star had 10/12 successful duels, successfully completed 54/61 passes (89% accuracy rate), along with 4 rescue situations, 3 shots. Accurate tackles and blocked shots from opponents twice. The player wearing the number 4 shirt combined with his good teammate Joel Matip to become a solid shield to help Allison keep the net clean against the Bees.
The Van Dijk – Matip duo helps Allison’s wooden frame receive maximum protection.
However, Andrew Robertson’s long-term injury makes the Red Brigade’s left-back position more fragile than ever. Although Kostas Tsimikas had a not bad performance against Brentford when providing 2 assists to score a goal, his class as well as physical problems prevented the Greek player from being able to maintain stable performance on the long run.
Doubt in the midfield area
But perhaps Klopp is right in thinking that it is too early to think about the championship race right now when the midfield is becoming an intractable headache for the 56-year-old captain. On the day Alexis Mac Allister was suspended, “stuntman” Wataru Endo had a difficult night at Anfield. The Japanese international had only 3/14 successful disputes, committed 4 fouls against the opponent and was lucky not to be disqualified after a dangerous tackle on Christian Norgaard on Brentford’s side.
The English football environment is still too “harsh” for Endo.
Endo clearly cannot bring peace of mind to The Kop fans and Liverpool is forced to find an alternative in the upcoming Winter TTCN. Star Andre from Fluminense (Brazil) is currently at the top of Klopp’s selection list for the defensive midfielder position and this signature can completely remove the “bottleneck” in the midfield for Liverpool.
The Anfield home team clearly will have many problems to solve before thinking about “getting in the way” of defending champions Man City in their journey to defend the English throne.
However, with the current top form of the pillars along with the experience of road racing accumulated after many previous failures, Klopp’s army has the right to be confident about a bright future in the Premier League and will It’s even more special if they can do something at Etihad on November 25 as a powerful declaration of war to The Citizens.
