A cold night in Sheffield…

Well that was a tough watch but we got there in the end. We got the result so who am I to argue with Klopp but I didn’t agree with some of the selections tonight, either in the starting lineup or with the substitutions.

For me, games like this are much more suited to Darwin’s skillset than than they are to Gakpo’s, or a false 9 in general to be fair. We saw Bobby nullified countless times by teams playing a narrow, low block and it’s because the point of the false 9 is that they occupy unorthodox spaces between the opposition’s midfield and defence, causing confusion as to who is meant to be picking him up. At times, one or both CB’s will be drawn toward him, leaving space in behind for our wingers to run into but when teams park the bus and play extremely narrow, the CB’s have no need to go toward the false 9 because he just has no space to operate and that effectively nullifies the role. This was demonstrated by Gakpo being completely anonymous first half and us barely creating a chance, with the goal eventually coming from a set piece.

If Darwin plays in that position, he’s all over both CB’s. He’s going to take them on in the physical battle, he’s gonna headless chicken all over the front line as he does, pulling the CB’s this way and that and creating that space for others, as well as giving us a target to hit from crosses, which brings me onto the next selection I didn’t agree with – Gomez over Kostas at LB. Now in a lot of games I wouldn’t have a problem with that selection but again, going back to our opposition and how they’re going to play with the extremely narrow, packed defence, the space is always going to be in the wide areas for an overlapping fullback but with Trent in midfield, our only real natural crossing opportunities were coming from Gomez weaker foot.

On the subject of Trent in midfield, I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that Szoboszlai’s form has somewhat dropped off a cliff since Trent returned from injury. I know he scored tonight and he took his goal well but that’s his first since September I think and he’s been having nowhere near the impact on games that he was having at the start of the season. It may just be coincidence and that he’s in need of a break but he was on fire for Hungary in the last international break and the fact Klopp kept him on for the full game again tonight, doesn’t indicate that the club think he’s in need of a break. I just wonder if Trent is picking up positions he normally would and/or he’s not quite sure what he’s meant to be doing positionally and tactically when Trent moves centrally and it’s somewhat blunting his game. It’ll be interesting to see how that develops as the season goes on and they get more used to playing together.

On a positive note, I feel Endo is starting to settle into the team. That goal at the weekend will have done his confidence the world of good and he now seems to be getting up to speed with the pace of the PL, which I felt he really struggled with at the start of the season. Has a rash challenge in him but as long as he isn’t getting sent off, I don’t mind my DM having a bit of nasty about them. Keeps it simple with his passing, which again I have no issue with from a DM so hopefully we’re starting to see him develop into the Klavan type stopgap player I hoped he’d be when we signed him. With the lack of a standout performance from anyone tonight, I’m giving Endo McMOTM just for sticking with it and improving. It would’ve been easy for his confidence to go, I’m sure at 30 years old and having played at nowhere near the level of a club like Liverpool in his career, there will have been some self doubt as to whether or not he belonged there and so he’s shown good mental toughness after a rocky start in my opinion.

Good to see Virgil on the scoresheet and looking a lot more like himself this season. Didn’t think Konate had his best game though. Kelleher was steady throughout, if relatively untested.

As for the subs, I was surprised to see Salah and Diaz go off but it got Harvey more minutes and although Darwin‘s play was typically erratic, we saw the impact he made, which is why I think he should’ve started tonight. Missed one gilt edged chance as we’ve done to expect but was rewarded for his hard work and tenacity with an assist. The thing is, the ball to a completely free Szoboszlai was actually on a few seconds earlier if he’d just got his head up and played it earlier. I was just about to post about it on the match thread when he won the ball back and played the pass which was subsequently scored. Typical Darwin really, has to do everything the hard way. Still a lot of work required on his all round game though and picked up a stupid booking for kicking the ball away.

Anyway, apologies that’s been a bit of a negative article considering we won the match but it was that kind of game. One to be endured, rather than enjoyed. At the end of the day though, the result is all that matters and we got there in the end. The league is anyone’s this season, with City looking a bit jaded after last year’s treble and Arsenal definitely fallible, as they’re last minute winner in a 4-3 victory over Luton last night showed. We just need to keep winning our games and staying within touching distance. We know what it is to take a title race to the final day, Arsenal’s only experience is bottling it and capitulating in the final 10 games. Anyway, at least we don’t have to play Sheffield United every week. Walk on!!