Another test passed

Slot’s record breaking start to life at Anfield continued yesterday then, with what was rightly considered his biggest test to date. Eight out of nine victories had preceded Chelsea’s visit to the haloed ground but Slot himself had acknowledged the fixture list had been kind up to now, with the trip to United (on paper) being the only game involving one of the other ‘big teams’ although such is the state of that club, it turned out to be our most comfortable win of the season so far. A resurgent Chelsea were to prove a sterner test however, especially on the back of an international break – games where we’ve been known to struggle in recent years.

Chelsea started brightly, causing us some problems down our left side, where the pace and power of Madueke seemed to have the normally assured and assertive Robbo unsure whether to stick or twist. I can understand why, as normally Robbo will either have the beating of his man for pace or if not, aggression. Up against a stronger and faster opponent though, it leaves you unsure whether to get tight in the risk of getting rolled and left behind, or stand off in the hope of winning a foot race if you give yourself a head start. His recent injury woes may also have been on his mind though, as he grew into the game and improved as the afternoon went on.

Saying that however, Chelsea never managed a single shot on target in the first half, while we started to grow into the game and look dangerous. We had the incident where Jota was injured, a penalty claim on Salah waived away not long before the penalty we WERE awarded, alongside a Gakpo goal ruled out after the dangerous looking Salah had strayed just offside in the build up.

There could be no arguing against the penalty given, it was a rash challenge on Jones from a CB showing a lack of experience. Salah duly dispatched it but despite the plaudits, once again I didn’t think it was a good penalty and if the keeper goes the right way, he likely gets something on it at the very least. I stand by my opinion that Salah shouldn’t be our designated penalty taker but that’s a discussion for another day.

Penalty aside, I thought Salah was excellent and dangerous throughout. The last couple of years he’s embraced being creator as much as out and out goalscorer and he’s a much better all round player for it. I’ve long been critical of Salah’s erratic passing but ironically, it’s generally short, easy passes he messes up, while some of his penetrative final balls these days are truly world class, as we saw for his assist. I’m getting ahead of myself however.

Having effectively stopped Chelsea recording a shot on target in the entirety of the first half, I’m sure Slot will have been left very frustrated that we conceded within two minutes of the restart. The risk v reward of trying to play a high line was exposed by a clever run from Jackson which beat our offside trap. The stills from VAR as they checked the offside demonstrated the fine margins in which these goals are scored in the modern game. Konate had actually more or less moved in tandem with the rest of our back four and his body was in line with the others which would’ve made Jackson offside… if not for a long trailing leg that was just enough to play him on and just like that it was 1-1, predictably with our opponents first shot on target of the match.

Thankfully our misery didn’t last long, which brings me to the star of the show and this week’s McMOTM… Step forward Curtis Jones! Curtis is a player who has long polarised opinion amongst fans but I think most sensible people never doubted that he had the ability to play for us, his problems have come through repeated injury problems that have now spanned multiple seasons. He gets fit, it takes him around three games to get up to speed, puts in three or four really promising displays and then is out injured for three months again. Rinse-repeat for around the last three seasons.

Something about yesterday’s display seemed different though. It was probably his best display for us so far but I felt there was a coming of age from Curtis yesterday and for me, the biggest part of his performance yesterday wasn’t the goal contributions that get all the focus, it was the fact he absolutely pocketed Cole Palmer for pretty much the entire game. There was a moment early that set the tone, where Curtis won a sliding challenge against Caicedo I think it was, got up and showed great strength to hold him off and then somehow managed to skip past Palmer when it looked impossible to do so. It was everything our manager wants in one of his sixes. He showed the tenacity in the tackle that a player like Endo brings but combined with perfect close control and brilliant technique to emerge with possession of a ball he really had no right to still have. As soon as I saw that I thought “He’s on it today” and I even noticed a difference in his demeanour during his post match interview. There was no sign of the stammer he used to have and he just seemed much more mature and relaxed in front of the media than he used to be. Having just become a father too, I think we’ve seen the transformation from boy to man in Curtis this season and he looks like he now truly believes he belongs at this level.

He’s very close to being a complete midfielder now but the one glaring flaw that myself and Ataturk (amongst others) have always criticised about his game is still there in my opinion. That flaw being that he is often guilty of holding onto the ball too long, dawdling in possession and either being tackled and losing possession or missing out on a goal scoring opportunity and there were a few examples of it yesterday, including his goal in my opinion. Bear with me, I know it may sound a bit silly criticising what ultimately ended up being a brilliant goal from a technical perspective but he took so long with it, it HAD to be. By the time he actually got his shot away, a brilliant finish was the only option left for him if you see what I mean. He clearly doesn’t trust shooting with his left foot and so by the time he’d brought the ball down and shifted to his right, the keeper was right on top of him and it made the finish extremely difficult, much harder than it had to be. The penalty VAR chalked off was the same, he had plenty time to get a shot away or try and dink the keeper and had he done so, there’s a good chance we’d have been awarded the penalty as god only knows what the keeper was doing. There was another incident in the build up where we had a great chance of a quick counter. We won possession back around the halfway line and the pass was there to be played first time all day long, which would’ve sent Salah clean through. He took a couple of touches though, by which point all our runners were offside.

I could be accused of being hyper critical here, which I don’t mean to be but slight improvements to small details of his game could be the difference between him being an international class, or a world class midfielder. Everyone remembers Stevie G’s wonder goals and dynamism, everyone remembers Alonso’s 60 yard diagonals and goals from his own half but one thing I always appreciated about those two when they were playing was their decision making. They pretty much ALWAYS made the correct decision on the pitch and that’s what the truly great midfielders do. It’s such a shame Thiago missed the whole of his last season with us through injury, as I honestly think it would’ve been huge for both Macca and Curtis to have trained alongside a master like that for a year. Jones has a brilliant attitude though and so I believe he will continue to work on his game and develop over the next two seasons. Most importantly though, it’s imperative he puts his injury problems behind him if he really wants to stake his claim as more than a squad player.

Gravenberch had another good game I thought, although he spent most of the first half getting kicked. Second half though, he was showing the turns and passing range that’s had fans drooling up to now this season and I thought Macca was really good when he came on. Managed the game brilliantly, slowed everything down and was a big part of us seeing the game out so comfortably.

Our sixes are all performing exceptionally well then. It’s ironic given it’s the position that (almost) everyone – including the club, had identified as the weakness in our team but between Gravenberch being a complete revelation in his new role, Macca being his consistently reliable self and a resurgent Jones, we’ve looked really strong in that area. It’s further up the pitch that’s a little more worrisome.

Szoboszlai continues to flatter to deceive. He shows quality in flashes but I always feel like he’s waiting for opportunities to come his way, rather than trying to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and impose himself on it by MAKING things happen. He really needs to find some aggression in the tackle as well. I mean I get it, us devilishly handsome men have to worry about our looks but just as I had to, he’ll need to learn to overcome that worry 😉
In all seriousness though, he needs to do more to justify starting every game. The form Curtis has shown in his last couple of appearances should now be putting pressure on Dom for his place and he’s been a little fortunate Harvey’s been out injured I reckon, as he was superb in preseason and looks ready to take the next step in his development. Dominik was a big money signing and is now playing in his favoured number 10 role, so he has no excuses and needs to start bringing more to the party.

Speaking of which, that brings us to Darwin. On for the stricken Jota in the first half and as is always the case with Darwin, there was a lot to like about his display, particularly defensively as he put a real shift in. He also played one absolutely outrageous, eye of the needle pass out to our left wing at one point, bending and passing through a narrow gap between two Chelsea defenders. Pirlo would’ve been proud of that pass but it’s what makes Darwin so frustrating. All the pieces of the jigsaw are there but it’s like they’re being assembled by monkeys. Sublime to ridiculous one minute to the next, driven by pure instinct and emotion without a calm thought in his head and that temperament gives me the fear. He can’t help but get dragged into a fight as he was with Badiashiele(sp) yesterday. Picked up a silly yellow and could’ve had another and I always feel he’s a red card waiting to happen and that’s all without mentioning the distinct lack of goals. He’s not without his uses as a squad player but he’s got a long way to go to justify being our record signing, or even to prove he’s better than being 4-5th choice in our attacking lineup. Whether he’s got it in him to bring all the tools he has together and become a complete player, time will tell but I’ve more than a few doubts.

Another test passes for Slot then, as he quietly goes about being very impressive. His influence is definitely becoming more visible in the team and that was most evident with our game management in the last 20 minutes yesterday. We haven’t seen a game out as comfortably as that since the year we won the title. We’ve been useless at holding onto leads the last couple of years and even when we’ve managed it, it’s been with the squeakiest of bums. We were comfortable yesterday though, we stopped Chelsea building any real pressure or momentum and limited them to half chances. It definitely helps to be able to bring on a player of Macca’s quality and skillset though, as he’s brilliant at controlling and dictating the tempo of games.

I’ve said it before but it’s such a unique situation Slot has come into. In some ways he has the impossible job of succeeding Klopp but at the same time, it wasn’t like Klopp left a well oiled machine. He left a great squad but the system had very obvious flaws and so in that regard, it was quite obvious what Slot had to address first and that’s what he’s done. First and foremost, he answered my prayers and ditched that inverted, free role Trent was playing. I hated that system and just having Trent playing as more of a traditional fullback has much improved our defensive shape. I’ve long called for us to flip the midfield triangle as well, play a double pivot and effectively a front four and we look much more solid for that extra body a bit deeper in midfield too. Subtle but fairly obvious changes that have significantly shored up our defence. You can only admire the job Slot has done up to now though and with every passing week, he looks more and more like an inspired appointment by the club.

This is his most testing week so far though, with the crown jewel of Klopp’s new employers – Leipzig up next in the CL. A side we should beat on paper but then you could’ve said that about Atalanta. Leipzig are established and experienced in European competition these days, so they can’t be taken lightly. After that, we have a gargantuan match against Arsenal, a true 6 pointer but a game where a win would leave them with a mountain to climb in the title race, even this early in the season. Let’s not start dreaming just yet though…

Anyway that’s plenty out of me for one day and respect to anyone who could be bothered reading this far 😂. Walk on!!