Not exactly the thumping win we were hoping for to build confidence at Anfield, but it’ll do. The positives are that we’re through and the final group game isn’t that important, so Klopp can rest people if he likes, and also that we came from behind to win, which is always a good thing as it gives players belief they can come back when they concede the first goal.
It’s good that Benteke got himself a goal too. It’s all well and good seeing us play so well without him like we did at City last week, but that’s not really sustainable over a period of games as Firmino is not a reliable goalscorer. With Sturridge continuing to be a fanny the fact is we need Benteke fit and firing if we’re to keep winning games consistently. Especially at home.
What do you make of him? It’s weird to me as one minute he looks ace and the next he looks like a big oaf. It’s not game to game, it’s minute to minute. I lean towards believing he’s quality and that he’ll score a ton of goals once he gets a good run of games and settles into a rhythm, but I can see why some aren’t buying into him yet. The thing about him is that he’s really fucking explosive. He’s turning out to be the player that Balotelli was supposed to be. A player who can be ambling around doing nothing and then out of nowhere, WHALLOP! Goal.
He’s scored some brilliant goals already, but he’s also missed some real sitters. He’s the reason we won this game though, even if his performance was up and down. The other Belgian in our team defo owes him a pint or two after this. Just what the hell was Mignolet playing at? To be fair I thought that six second rule must have been scrapped because it’s never enforced even though goalkeepers abuse it continually. I often count how many seconds keepers hold onto the ball and it’s usually longer than six seconds, but it never gets called.
So I was pissed off that Mignolet was punished for it. At least I was until I found out he had it for 22 seconds. Sorry, but that’s just asking for trouble and the ref had every right to penalise him. You could maybe say the common sense approach would have been to warn him first and if it happened again he could blow the whistle, but 22 seconds? The ref probably thought “this cheeky bastard is completely taking the piss out of me”.
I don’t think Mignolet covered himself in glory on the free-kick either, he stood behind the wall even though it was obvious the lad was going to put it to the other side. Not Mignolet’s finest hour this. The goal wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened though as it livened us up a bit. It had all been a bit pedestrian before that, with Ibe the only one showing any real dynamism.
I had hoped to see the lads come out absolutely flying and looking to pick up where they left off against City, but it was never like that. Firmino looked like a different player to the one who terrorised City, while we obviously missed Coutinho’s creative spark too. We got back on level terms very quickly when Benteke took a tumble and was awarded a pen. Harsh decision I thought, the ball was about twenty feet over Benteke’s head and he was never getting anywhere near it, plus the contact itself wasn’t really enough to put him on the floor. The lad grabbed him though and Benteke made the most of it.
Milner tucked away the penalty without any problem and then just before half time we took the lead out of nothing, when Benteke controlled a ball in from Clyne and then leathered one past the keeper from 18 yards. That’s what he can do, he doesn’t need to be having a great game but get the ball into the box to him and things happen.
While the lead was most welcome, the tempo in the first half had been too slow and we hadn’t taken advantage of what is a really poor side. Bordeaux looked all over the place in defence when we attacked and the opportunity was there for us to rack up a nice score if we upped our game after the break.
For a little while we did. I thought we started the second half well and we were winning the ball in midfield and looking to hit them quickly. Benteke blasted one high and wide after a nice cutback by Firmino and was then denied a goal by the ref who adjudged some minimal, accidental contact with a defender as being worthy of a foul. Really iffy decision that, but the defender no doubt feels a bit of justice was served after the earlier penalty decision.
Joe Allen was enjoying himself and brought a save out of the keeper before he was replaced on the hour mark by Emre Can. Decent enough outing for Allen who improved as the game wore on. No doubt he would have been disappointed to come off but with Lucas suspended on Sunday this was a sensible precaution.
Lallana came on for Firmino and although we had some promising enough situations, we couldn’t get the third goal that would have made the game safe and therefore we had to endure a more tense finale than we really should have based on the balance of play.
Bordeaux created virtually nothing all night and defensively we were very solid and organised. But it only takes one ball into the box for all that to change and they had two decent chances late on that they blazed high over the bar. Still, it is encouraging to see how much better we are defensively now.
It only really hit me today, but we had Lovren and Toure as our centre back pairing in this game and they never looked in any trouble. The goal we conceded was nothing to do with them, and both of them performed well. Could that have happened had Klopp not arrived? I doubt it, but perception has changed so much already that prior to this game not once did I look at that back four and think “uh-oh, we might be in a bit of trouble here”. Even when the performance isn’t great, at least we look like a team now.
We really do need to get better at home though, as it just doesn’t look right. This was very similar to most of our other home games under Klopp. Decent enough at times, not a great deal to complain about but there’s just something missing isn’t there? We look to have far more intensity and desire away from home, and it has to be about comfort levels. The players are not as comfortable at Anfield as they should be, and I guess only a run of wins will change that, so even though we’d all like to have seen a more convincing win than this, it’s another small step.
We could really do with hammering Swansea on Sunday though, and I’ve got a strong feeling we will. Someone is due to get battered at Anfield sooner or later, and Sunday would be as good a time as any as it would start that run of six very winnable games off very nicely.
Star man is really difficult as no-one really stood out. Milner got through a lot of graft and did some great work helping out the defence, as did Lucas, while Ibe was the liveliest of the forwards without ever really hitting top form. I’ll give it to Benteke because even though he didn’t have his best game, he won a penalty, scored the winner and also had two goals disallowed. Things happen when he’s on the field, so hopefully he can stay fit so we can keep there.
Team: Mignolet; Clyne, Toure, Lovren, Moreno; Lucas, Allen (Can), Milner; Ibe (Origi), Benteke, Firmino (Lallana):
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