Opening Ceremony
The stakes have been risen; the race has begun. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Premier League is back. Liverpool kicked off proceedings at home against Bournemouth, the atmosphere was befitting to that of an opening ceremony — every fan, home and away, played their part. A minute’s silence was observed for our wonderful Diogo and his brother Andre, life transcends football in these moments, and it is important for one to acknowledge that. This fact was beautifully respected by those in the stadium during the minute silence, a very special moment. Let us now see what we can parse from the match.
Once the whistle commenced proceedings, the first 5–10 minutes was simply a battle for dominance, with every player trying to impose themselves on each other through various ‘fights’ for the ball.
Tactically, within the build-up phase, Liverpool had the edge. Bournemouth’s front 3 were often eager to pressure our centre backs which essentially freed MacAllister from any cover-shadowing and was available to receive. This coupled with a hesitancy by Tyler Adams to get closer to MacAllister allowed him the space operate between the lines.
This specific tactical advantage was crucial in the earlier stages of the game in getting Liverpool up the pitch with relative ease. From a Bournemouth POV, the advantage was a defensive measure, as by committing less players forward, they would be in a better position to defend their box once Liverpool entered. Soon Iraola abandoned this idea, and we then saw Tyler Adams constantly on the back of MacAllister trying to fight for the ball, more frequently.
The battle to dominate the centre then took a turn, as we saw the magisterial Hugo Ekitike drop and occupy the space behind the backs of Alex Scott and Tyler Adams more stealthily, if left alone he was able to turn and run forwards, however if he was followed by a centre back, we saw array of moves which allowed him to continue to find value; flicks, wall passes, feints and so forth. The variety of his moves were most impressive; he was constantly able to execute different actions to suit the situation at hand.
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In the absence of Ryan Gravenberch, Liverpool’s double pivot was intriguing to watch. With both players (Macca and Szoboszlai) having the ability to dribble and run we saw a very dynamic interpretation of the position, against Crystal Palace, Curtis Jones played with Szoboszlai, that performance felt more positional, more static, with Jones specialising in slowing the game down rather than speeding it up. Against Bournemouth I agree with Slot’s midfield pairing as at times both were able to be faster than the marker and play forwards, though this occasionally led to rushed decisions.
I strongly suspect that Arne Slot’s decision to position Szoboszlai on the right side was influenced by Frimpong’s inactiveness in the first phase of possession, I am somewhat surprised by Frimpong in this regard, I feel Liverpool would benefit much more if both full-backs were contributed to play behind the ball as much as ahead of it, will his value as an outlet outweigh this deficiency? This remains to be seen, obviously.
Gakpo’s goal was crisped and at this point, that move should be trademarked, cutting in on his right foot, a few feints, fake shots and there! Separation is made and his ball-striking does the rest. Gakpo has a degree of effectiveness which makes him unique. Though I do not profile him as a left-winger, it would be dishonest to downplay the value he possesses in that position.
The topic of rest defence has arisen in recent weeks, following Liverpool’s pre-season fixtures, now following on from this game, it seems it will continue to be the talk of the town. For the Bournemouth’s first goal it cannot be denied that on an individual level, blame can be attributed to Szoboszlai, he attempted a risky pass with a risky technique (the flick), Endo had made a run beyond the ball so was not able to at the very least chase the lost ball. Should Endo have made the depth run? Perhaps not. A universal remedy for this situation seems to be that Szoboszlai should’ve slowed down and looked around.
For the 2nd goal, I would argue Liverpool did not respect the laws of game-states. Now Mohammed Salah attempted to lay it off for Szoboszlai on the edge of the box, who unfortunately slipped there were 7 LFC players in the box. With the game on a knife edge, was there really a need to commit so many players to this attack? The answer seems obvious. In some ways this tendency is strongly reminiscent to what we saw under Klopp. In such a game-state there should much more patience in trying to score, for instance, Andy Robertson could have been positioned slightly narrower, closer to the centre, which would have given him a chance to at the very least chase Semenyo. The 2nd goal is down to the team not being able to analyse the state of the match to act accordingly.
This game was befitting to that of an opening ceremony, both teams were at the races, expressing passion in all their endeavours, Chiesa’s goal, the endearing Salah moment at the end. The clapping for Jota & Andre at minute 20, Semenyo’s performance was scintillating, pace, power, flow. He’s nailed on to have an eye-catching season.
Arne Slot has questions that will need to be answered, fast attacks effective because they catch the opponent by surprise and put them into a state of reactivity, however they can also be fatal, as by playing too fast and overcommitting players to attack you leave a vast amounts of space which almost guarantees the opponent a high quality chance on your goal. The question then becomes, can you play fast in the right way, at the right moment?
3 points. The reds go marching on.
