Fickle first halves

We’ve seen this movie before. Diabolical first half and like a different team in the second. It’s actually been happening for years now, right back to the season we almost won the quad under Klopp. It’s easy to forget that, given how close we came to winning the lot that season but that’s actually when our first half debacles began. Writing the post match articles for games means you pick up on trends, as you’re conscious of how many times you’ve mentioned them before in previous articles and umpteen times I can remember writing that it’s like we just want to get through the first half and wait for Klopp to tell us what to do to win the game at halftime. To be fair, percentage wise we’ve done just that in the second half of games more often than not but you can’t keep expecting to be able to pull a rabbit out the hat every week. Sooner or later you’ll pay the price for a poor start and last night was one of those games.

The thing I find most annoying about it is, it frequently happens in games we should be right up for, with United the other week being a classic example. Our most bitter rivals who had lost 5 of their previous 6 games, coming to Anfield on a weekend where our title rivals had all dropped points. You’d think we’d have been bang up for it and right at them from minute one but instead we were so lackadaisical, allowed them a foothold in the game and the rest is history.

Last night was much the same. Forest are the only team in the league to have beaten us this season, so you’d think we’d have been desperate to right that wrong, not to mention the team directly below us in the table. How much more motivation do you need? Forest of all teams as well. I said to someone yesterday, the first goal will decide the outcome of the game. If we score first, we probably go on to win but if they score first then in all likelihood, a draw is the best we can hope for against a team who hadn’t conceded a goal in over 7 hours of football by the time we equalised last night.

It was Groundhog Day for their goal as well. How many times do teams score against us with their first effort on goal… and again, it just seemed so EASY!!! Win the ball in midfield, one straight pass takes 3 of our players out the game and we’re 1-0 down in the opening quarter of a game. I didn’t think Alisson covered himself in glory either, his positioning seemed all wrong for me. Woods was on his weaker foot, he was unlikely to rifle it in at the near post, yet seemed to have a huge target to aim at at the far post, which he subsequently took full advantage of. I don’t know what Slot needs to do to eradicate this from our game but that’s what he’s paid the big bucks for and a solution needs to be found.

A turgid first half then and despite huffing and puffing, we still hadn’t managed a shot on target by the hour mark. Diaz was having a stinker and god only knows how he managed to make a mess of playing Gakpo through, when they were two v one against the Forest CB. He took FAR too long to play the pass and virtually tackled himself. He’d actually taken so long that Gakpo probably would have been offside had the pass reached him. The goals have dried up for Diaz as well, after a fantastic start to the season on that front and he’s needing to up his game once more.

Elsewhere in attack, I’ve been heaping praise on Salah this season, mainly the improvements to his all round game but last night was a throwback game from him. A first touch like a trampoline scuppered a couple of good opportunities, wildly shooting from stupid positions when it wasn’t on and Neco Williams did a good job of keeping him quiet for the most part. Salah being Salah, he still almost scored and was unlucky to see his effort cleared off the line late in the game but we were all screaming for subs to be made and nobody was surprised to see Jota and Tsimikas come on. I doubt anyone would have predicted quite the instant impact they would have however. Kostas first involvement being to take a corner that Jota headed home with his first touch. I’ll be surprised if that’s ever happened before where 2 substitutes get a goal and assist respectively, with literally their first touch of the game. From a manager’s perspective – If Carlsberg made substitutes…

The difference Jota made to proceedings however, was palpable and immediate, even taking his goal out of it. I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m Jota’s biggest fan, I’ve said before that I believe he’s the most underrated player in the Premier League and I stand by that. Goal aside, we immediately started looking much more dangerous from the minute he came on. We started creating proper opportunities that forced the Forest keeper into a string of world class saves, our pressing and ball retention improved and we had Forest under real pressure in the last 20 minutes and stoppage time. Alas, we couldn’t find a winner but given how poor most of the team were last night, Jota’s cameo was enough for me to make the rare move of naming a substitute my McMOTM. I was surprised to see Jota play the full 90 against Accrington at the weekend, as I’d assumed he’d start a game of last night’s importance and suspect Slot now wishes he had. We’re a far better team with Jota leading the line, his composure and in-game intelligence is by far the best in our forward line and I include Salah in that. When everyone’s fit and certainly for the biggest games, it should be Salah, Jota and whichever of the others happen to be in the best form at the time.

Ok, so I’ll admit to being a bit of a negative Nigel here and accept we do need a little perspective. A draw away from home against the team who are second in the league is a good result on paper. Forest are an anomaly in 2nd place though, more akin to Leicester when they won it, than a City or Arsenal and while they’re where they are on merit and a difficult team to play against, we still have better players than them all over the pitch and shouldn’t be dropping 4 points to them over the 2 games.

Thankfully this season, we’re seeing our rivals suffer from a syndrome we’ve been all too familiar with in the PL era – failing to capitalise on the occasions the league leaders do drop points but even with that, Arsenal can move to within 4 points of us with a win over Spurs tonight, albeit we still have a game in hand. We’ve had the opportunities to have built up a near unassailable lead at points this season though and have failed to take them.

Returning to a bit of perspective however, we were always likely to suffer a dip in form at some point of the season and with one win over league two opposition being our only victory in our last 5 games in all competitions, I just hope this has been it and we’ll get back on track against Brentford next week.

I have noticed that our dip in form has coincided with Gravenberch going off the boil a bit in recent games. Not that he’s played poorly but he was scintillating for most of the first half of the season, dominating midfields but he’s been quite quiet in the last few games. We have to make allowances though. It’s easy to forget he’s only 22 and it’s also been a few seasons since he’s been playing week in, week out. He barely got a sniff at Bayern and even last season under Klopp, he was on the fringes of the first team with most of his minutes coming off the bench. He’s maybe just feeling the effects of being one of the main men in a team again, after an extended period of being a squad player at best.

Anyway on a positive note, the fact that the mindset and expectation levels have changed so much since the start of the season, that I’ve just written such a negative article about an away draw with the team in 2nd place while we’re sitting top of the league, is actually a huge testament to the amazing job Slot and the boys have done up to now this season. I’d have considered top 4 a success in Slot’s first year but having come this far, it would be criminal if we didn’t go on to win the league this season and I still make us heavy favourites. If there’s one thing we need to sort out that could derail us however, it’s these fickle first halves. Walk on!