Ipswich Town 0-2 Liverpool: A satisfactory start

The Slot era has finally begun in earnest then, with what ended up being a fairly comfortable win in the end and had you only seen the second half, you’d have assumed the game had been a routine win for LFC, against a team playing their first PL game in over two decades. That would be far from the full story however, in what was truly a game of two halves.

Watching the first half, you could have been forgiven for thinking you were watching one of our games from last season or even the season before if we’re being honest, as a familiar pattern played out. We were pretty poor in almost every department first half – our passing out from the back was horrible, nerve shredding stuff to watch, we were ponderous in possession and creating no chances of note, while our opponents looked dangerous every time they attacked, with our defending looking far more panicked and last ditch than calm and assured. The only thing missing from last season’s script was us conceding the obligatory early goal, although that was really down to poor finishing and final ball from Ipswich, rather than anything we did and had we found ourselves a goal or two down by halftime, we couldn’t really have had any complaints.

I was actually quite surprised by this. Klopp was probably the best ‘in-game’ manager I’ve ever seen. The amount of times his subs or change of tactics went on to win us games were countless in his time with us and my theory was always that it was that which had led to these poor first halves we became so used to seeing – that somewhere on a subconscious level, the team had just got used to getting through the first half of games and waiting for Jurgen to tell them what to do at halftime to go on and win the game. Whether today was just a hangover from the Klopp era or something that runs deeper, I guess time will tell.

Second half however, it was like a switch had been flicked and it was like watching a different team. Everything was quicker, our passing sharper and we were suddenly causing them all kinds of problems and creating chances almost from the off. Diaz and Jota were both guilty of squandering gilt edged chances after some good build up play but we didn’t have to wait long until Jota broke the deadlock, expertly finishing a nice move that started with a textbook long pass from Trent that was also more in keeping with the Klopp era than the intricate triangles we’d seen in preseason from Slot’s fledgling system. It’s not really surprising to be seeing echoes of the previous regime this early in Slot’s tenure though, especially given the fact that most of the players on show today had missed most of preseason.

The second goal put the game to bed and who else but Mo Salah, breaking yet another record by becoming the first player in PL history to score in NINE opening games of a season. It really is astonishing and although Salah can be something of a polarising player with the fans at times, you simply cannot argue with his numbers. They’re extraordinary in anyone’s book and with a goal and assist today, he’s rewarded for his efforts with the prestige of being named my first McMOTM of the season, with an honorary shoutout going to Gravenberch who I thought was excellent today also. May have drifted in and out of the game first half but second half I thought he was different… erm… gravy, if you’ll pardon the pun.

We also got a glimpse into what we can expect from Slot’s man management style, with the bold decision to hook Quansah at half time, citing too many individual duels lost by the young CB. I’d have to watch the first half again but my initial thought was that it seemed quite harsh and he’d been no worse than anyone else in what was a poor first half. Certainly Robbo at least seemed guilty of more obvious individual errors, especially in the opening 20 minutes and given his injury problems and lack of preseason minutes, it would have been more easily explained away if Slot had decided to hook Robbo at halftime but clearly he saw something in Quansah’s game that he was unhappy with, as he had Konate warming up 10 minutes before the first half ended.

Time will tell whether that’s been a good move by the new boss. Getting the nod to start the season ahead of the much more established Konate will have been a huge confidence boost for Quansah but getting hooked at halftime will have brought him back to earth with a considerable bump and it’s up to the player now how he reacts to that. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to man management though. Some players need a kick up the arse and respond to that, others need an arm around the shoulder and gentle encouragement. Klopp was a master of knowing how to get the best out of individuals and I’d hope Slot has similar skills in that regard. If you take a strong ‘my way or the highway’ stance across the board, you better be winning because you’re going to upset players and we have two restless CB’s at the club as it is, in Gomez and Sepp. Not to mention I suspect Konate’s nose was a bit out of joint, not to be named on the starting sheet today.

People will point to how ruthless Guardiola is with players but he is in a unique position as a manager, both in terms of his stature and success making his word and management style beyond reproach but also because he has the funds to get just get rid of a superstar at the drop of a hat and replace him with another. To that end I’m going to withhold judgement on the Quansah decision for now, although I do accept our second half display and final result vindicates the decision in this instance, at least in the short term, although I’m not convinced subbing Quansah was the catalyst for the change in performance and suspect it would have happened anyway.

In hindsight, I’m not really sure what I expected from today, it’s such a long time since we’ve had a new manager in our dugout that I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like and so on reflection, I guess it’s not a surprise to see some of the same issues from last season rear their head again. It will take time for Slot to properly get his ideas across and realistically, it’ll probably be closer to Christmas than August by the time the team truly starts playing in his image.

As always though, the most important thing is the result and despite the concerns I’ve expressed above, there was also a lot to like about todays display and ultimately, we’ve got the win and a clean sheet in a tricky away fixture against a newly promoted team with a top young coach, who’s stadium was bouncing. It was also a 12:30 kickoff, a time slot that we’ve become notorious for being flat in the games so overall, today is a positive one.

I’d like to see the club make a signing or two over the next couple of weeks now. Being the only team in Europe’s top SEVEN leagues not to make a single signing is a poor show in my opinion, especially given the fact we’ve recognised the need for a new number 6 since we tried to sign Tchouameni a couple of years back. That was followed up by last summer’s debacle of spending months haggling over a couple of million for Lavia, before out the blue bidding a record fee and WAY over the odds for Caicedo who only had eyes for Chelsea and didn’t want to come, upsetting Lavia in the process who would have appeared to be our first choice target in the first place and available for half the price we bid for Caicedo. It was a mess and made no sense, either at the time or since. Couple that with this summer’s attempts at addressing the position where we’ve had another very public pursuit of a player who didn’t want to come and turned us down and it’s getting a bit embarrassing. Not to mention the fact we’ve lost Matip and Thiago, sold two of our most promising youngsters in Carvalho and Clark who were capable of providing adequate depth should injuries hit us hard (as they so often do), as well as making it known that Endo, Gomez and Sepp are available should a suitable offer come along. I’m struggling to see the plan right now and Hughes and Edwards need to sort it out in my opinion. Football doesn’t stand still and it’s very rare that a team does and isn’t left behind.

Anyway, that’s another discussion. For now we can celebrate a winning start to the Slot era and a good three points taken from a potential banana skin. Well done to the boys and a shout-out to the travelling support who made that long journey for an early kickoff. Another shoutout to the 4KK community who have kept our little site thriving over the close season. It’s great to see the comments section as busy, if not busier than ever and I know I speak for all the mods when I say it makes us really proud to see people form genuine friendships and feel a freedom to express themselves openly and honestly about all manner of topics on our site. Lots of us are in contact with each other offsite these days and the community in general has grown and become stronger than we could ever have expected when we first started out with just a handful of us. So I raise my glass to all of you, as well as the team today. Thank you all and Walk on!!