Job done and now we can just forget all about this game. It won’t live long in the memory, that’s for sure. This was one we just needed to win and get out of the way, and we did. We should qualify
The crowd weren’t up for it and the players rarely got out of second gear, mainly because they didn’t need to. We seem to be able to do just enough when we need to and that’s a good habit for a team to have.
All eyes seemed to be on Sunday’s game with City and as a result this was just extremely flat, on and off the pitch. The players were more up for it than the crowd, thankfully. Not much more, but enough.
The game wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests but that’s becoming a recurring theme this season. We keep winning games by one goal despite creating ten times the amount of chances as the opposition. It’s annoying but it would be churlish to get too worked up about it as after all, we’re still winning these games.
Whatever happened to those four or five goal hammerings though? Be nice to have a few of those so we can relax and enjoy these games a little more.
This wasn’t exactly stressful and I never felt that we weren’t going to win, but if we’d scored a couple more goals then the closing stages would have been less tense and maybe we could have given Curtis Jones a little run out, which would have been nice.
The way the game started it looked like we’d run away with it. Genk couldn’t get out of their own half for most of the first half but we let them score with their first attack. By that point we should have been up by three or four but we’d only taken one chance, a sharp close range finish from Gini.
We regained the lead early in the second half (good play from Mo and a lovely finish by Ox), wasted more chances and then ended up needing a good save from Alisson to preserve the win. Genk had a go in the closing stages but we mostly kept them at arms length without too much effort.
Prior to the game I’d have gladly taken a 2-1 win, especially when I saw the line up. I wasn’t expecting that forward line. If anyone was going to be rested I assumed it would be Mo. He’s had that ankle problem and hasn’t really looked sharp. Instead, he started in a front three with Divock and Ox. It didn’t exactly fill me with confidence but it was ‘only’ Genk so it should just be enough, and it was.
Ox actually started the game in Bobby’s spot, which I don’t think anyone expected. He looked lively when he was on the ball but he wasn’t involved as much as he would be in midfield. It’s hard filling Bobby’s boots as he’s so unique. It didn’t work particularly well and in the second half Mo was moved central and Ox went wide. That worked better as Mo set him up for the winning goal.
The wastefulness in front of goal made this more tricky than it needed to be, but the same thing happened against Leicester, Spurs and Villa in recent weeks. We just need to be more clinical. Origi, Salah and Keita all had good chances to score in the first half, and Salah had chances in the second too.
At the other end Genk were game but didn't have the quality to give us too much trouble. They did put together one or two dangerous moves but for the most part our defence handled them comfortably enough.
Yet I’ve seen some rumblings about Gomez not playing well. Personally I thought he was fine. The lad he was up against was bigger than him so it wasn’t easy, but I don’t remember Joe doing much wrong at all. I’d say Lovren’s place is probably safe for now, as it wasn't a game where Gomez had the opportunity to stand out, but if we had to play him on Sunday I wouldn’t be at all concerned.
Keita concerns me though. He had a decent enough game, but I just expect more from him. He’s neat and tidy, but neat and tidy is not what we paid £50m for. I watched so many clips of him from his time in Germany and this is just not that same player. By that I don’t mean that he just isn’t as good (that’s obvious), I mean he doesn’t look remotely similar in terms of his style of play.
The Keita I was expecting based on what he did in Germany was like a hybrid of Mané and Kante. A one man wrecking crew. That isn’t the Keita that we have.
If we weren’t doing so well as a team the heat would be on him, as it was with the many expensive flops that have preceded him. Fortunately for Naby we’re so great right now that we don’t need him to be good and can afford to be patient with him. I haven’t written him off but that’s more because of the trust I have in Klopp rather than anything I’ve seen from Keita himself.
As I say though, he was alright and I don’t want to focus too much on him. He nearly scored in the first half but was denied by the keeper. He faded after a bright start but that’s perhaps understandable given the lack of games. He isn’t doing enough to push for a regular place at the moment though and if anyone is going break into that regular midfield it’s far more likely to be Ox.
Mo’s form is mildly concerning to me too. I can’t really decide whether he played well or not in this game. I think he was good but I'm not sure. I liked a lot of what I saw in general play but in front of goal he was snatching at things and the longer it went the more desperate he started to look.
I’d have liked him to have scored a couple just to set him up for the weekend. He's not going into that in the greatest of form but my gut feeling is he’s going to have a good day on Sunday. We need him to, because City’s defence is garbage and if we’re going to win that game then it’ll be up to the front three to put them to the sword.
I felt as though the City game loomed large over everything. It was the most subdued European atmosphere in a long while, the players didn’t go flat out and played within themselves, but overall we played ok and with sharper finishing would have won easily.
There’s no point over-analysing the game because we’ve seen time and again with these group matches that we’re not going to play at our best, we’re just going to do enough to get the job done. In many ways this was like the previous home game with Salzburg.
What I’ll take from this game is that we won and didn’t pick up any injuries. It was also another step on the road for Ox getting back to his best. He’s looking sharper by the week and he’s a goal threat any time he’s on the field. Moving on down the road he could be vitally important for us because the other midfielders rarely score.
They contribute in other ways and allow others to function more effectively, but there are going to be times when we need that extra threat on the field and that’s clearly going to be Ox.
I doubt that he’ll start on Sunday because Klopp will go with his preferred tried and trusted line up. Given his history in this fixture though, it might be the right call to unleash Ox on City and just try to fucking blitz them. I can’t wait to be honest, Sunday can’t come quickly enough.
Star man was between Ox, Fabinho and Virgil, but I’m going with the big man who cruised through the game but stepped it up any time they looked like putting us under any pressure.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Milner; Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita (Robertson); Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Mané), Origi (Firmino):
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