Liverpool recorded their fourth victory in this season's Champions League. This time the victim of the team from Anfield was Ajax, who after this round remained with only 3 points in the group stage, which is one of their weakest performances in the recent history of the Champions League.
The team that dominated in the Netherlands in recent years has recorded only one victory against Rangers, who are clearly the weakest team in this group and it could easily happen that they remain without a single point in the group. Liverpool then suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest, a team that has made over 40 changes this summer and is tipped by most football fans in England to be relegated. The fans of Liverpool are baffled with how their team is playing in the Premier League.
They have many reasons for that, and a disturbing fact is that Liverpool has the same number of victories in the Champions League and the Premier League. This season to date Liverpool achieved four victories in both mentioned competitions. Of course, Liverpool played many more games in the Premier League than in the Champions League, but it is almost unreal that Liverpool won only four times in 11 games. Those statistics do not suggest that Liverpool could be more involved in the fight for the title this season.
Just a few weeks ago, it seemed that Liverpool was getting the right rhythm and was slowly getting into good form. The Reds demolished Rangers in Scotland, scoring as many as seven goals. A few days after that game in the biggest game in current English football, Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0.
At that moment, everyone thought that in the following period Liverpool could return to the fight for the title or at least for a high ranking. Liverpool has a real chance to be highly ranked at the end of the season in the Premier League, but they will have to find a rhythm as soon as possible and go on a winning streak. Otherwise, it will be difficult for Liverpool to reach at least the Champions League. This team is not like the one that finally became champions in the Premier League two years ago. Regardless, Liverpool has one of the best teams in England, and should easily win games against teams such as Nottingham Forest. The team led by Jurgen Klopp in the Champions League looks much better at the moment, and there is a coherent explanation for that.
In England, Liverpool is the team that dominates the matches, which spends most of the game in the opponent's half, while their rival defends and waits for a chance from a counterattack. In the Champions League, the situation is different because Liverpool plays with much better teams that are ready to compete with them. The matches against Napoli played at the stadium named after the legendary Diego Armando Maradona when Liverpool conceded four goals, speaks volumes about this.
Napoli is playing brilliantly this season, but Liverpool must not allow any team to score four goals in one game. If you look at the result from the last game against Ajax, you can think that Liverpool was three goals better than the Dutch team, but Ajax missed a lot in that game.
Every Liverpool fan is surely encouraged by such victories. That is the reason why fans of the Reds will buy Liverpool tickets. Liverpool cruelly punished all the mistakes of the Dutch champions. In football, it is not always the better who wins, but the one who can use the chances to score a goal. Ajax had a lot of mistakes, and as usually happens, a penalty comes for mistakes.
At the Johan Cruyff Arena, Liverpool was in a subordinate position at the beginning of the match. Only after half an hour of play, the team from Anfield had the first chance to score. In the meantime, Ajax missed several scoring opportunities that Tadic, Berghuis, and Sanchez had. After they did not take advantage of their chances, the Dutch team was severely punished and Salah, assisted by Henderson, scored a goal for 1-0.
Only a few minutes later it could have been 2-0, but Darwin Nunez missed an open goal after a great move that should have crowned the goal, and he instead hit the post from just a few meters instead of an empty net. Nunez has bizarrely become the object of ridicule on social networks, where many already think that the expensively paid striker is a big failure for Liverpool.
The Uruguayan striker straightened up in the second half and scored to make it 2-0, but his performance has been modest so far. Everyone expects him to repeat his goalscoring form from Benfica, although it is clear that the English and Portuguese leagues cannot be compared.
Nunez has been brought in to score goals and he will have to get in the right form as soon as possible because then Liverpool will have a much better chance of success this season. Recently, Liverpool has had problems with injuries, especially in the midfield, so as a result, young Elliott got a chance, who scored the third goal in the match against Ajax.
At this moment, Diaz, Arthur, and Keita are injured and Thiago is ill. Even Diogo Jota, who will miss the World Cup, cannot help Liverpool. This is another reason why Liverpool cannot play at the same level in England and the Champions League. Matches are played every few days, and when you have a shortened rotation, it certainly presents a big problem for you to provide equally high-quality games in both competitions.
Liverpool didn't excel at all in this game, but they won, and more than anything the fans would want Liverpool to win, regardless of whether they play well. The Reds shone against City, but it was only a momentary flash. This team must establish continuity if they want to make certain achievements this season.
Before going on break for the World Cup, Liverpool has two serious games. One game will be a duel against Napoli in the last round in which Liverpool will try to reach the first place in the group, but it is much more realistic that the Italian team, who are currently leading the Serie A, will finish the group stage in the first place. As far as the Premier League is concerned, Liverpool's more serious rivals are Tottenham, which, like Liverpool, has not excelled in recent times.
The other rivals should not be underestimated either, but Liverpool must beat teams like Leeds or Southampton. In the Champions League, Liverpool has a chance for a good result, although the real struggles await them in the second part of the season. As for the Premier League, Liverpool must not make too many mistakes in the rest of the season. It's a good thing that Liverpool beat City, otherwise, the gap would be even bigger behind their biggest rival. It will be especially important that all the players who will play at the World Cup come back healthy because Liverpool does not need new injured players in a situation where an enviable number of players are already injured.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.