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Mohamed Salah led the way to Ajax for his teammates in Liverpool, but they didn’t use their passes well.
Liverpool returned to England with a 1-0 victory over Ajax in the first round of the Group D round of the Champions League.
And now with the most outstanding features of the game.
** Defense without Van Dyck
Against Ajax the first game was without Virgil van Dyck; Despite clean sheets, the defensive performance was not good enough to help Liverpool compete for the titles.
Fabinho left the pivot and returned to join Joe Gomez on the defense line, but unusually the latter was the center back on the left side, which is where Van Dyck plays, while Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold kept their places left and right.
Liverpool lacked defensive stiffness and were available to Ajax forwards, but the Dutch side’s delay in making their decisions in the penalty area allowed the Red defenders to improve their conditions and either extract the ball or scatter it.
Despite the lack of stability in Liverpool’s defense, Fabinho showed a good individual performance that reassured and may indicate an improvement in the level of the defense in the future, as he continues to play on the baseline and adapt as a defender.
Fabinho managed to extract the ball 4 times, 100% of his attempts, and scattered the ball 9 times, including a ball from the goal line, and intercepted the ball 4 times.
He also made sure to send the longitudinal balls back to front, and his passing rate was 84% after completing 41 of 49 passes.
** pet attack
Ajax’s attack was not fierce enough to threaten Liverpool’s goal despite the England team’s lack of organization.
The Ajax players fired only 5 balls between the posts and the crossbar, Adrián defended it and Fabinho took the fifth from the goal line in the most dangerous opportunity of the match.
At the opportunity industry level, Ajax players provided 10 chances to score, Dusan Tadic had the most of them with 3 chances, but they weren’t used to losing a single point in the Champions League career.
** Salah paves the way for the goal
Liverpool players did not score and were content with Nicolas Taliavico’s counterattack.
Although Liverpool reached the goal of André Unana, the hat-trick in attack was resolved with a single shot on goal, which was for Firmino.
As for Mohamed Salah, he was more responsible for creating opportunities and making passes that put his teammates facing the goal, or passing balls for Robertson with a Scottish back to send the cross balls to the penalty area.
Mane did not shoot towards the goal and did not generate any chance to score like Firmino.
** Think about the league
From minute 59, Klopp began to think about the next matches of the Premier League, so the trio withdrew Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Firmino from the pitch at half-time.
The departure of the trio was too risky because the change happened at once and provoked three substitutes who had never played together before.
However, Diogo Jota, Xherdan Shaqiri and Minamino seemed acceptable, especially the first name, which was a source of danger for Liverpool in the minutes they played without their main line of attack.
The bench was put to the test in a strong confrontation like that of Ajax, and during this lapse of minutes Klopp calms down with their level, allowing him to use them in the next period without worrying about the level drop.
** Adrian’s confidence
Liverpool kept a clean sheet with Adrián in goal with a scene not repeated often when the Spaniard is between the players and the crossbar.
Adrian’s involvement has always been linked to fatal mistakes and lapses leading to goals.
As for Ajax, Adrian’s performance was different.
Adrian appeared more confident against Ajax, and was successfully present on more than one ball, including a shot from the edges of the 6-yard box, which was blocked by his foot.
In total, Adrian saved 4 balls.
Adrian didn’t play with much confidence, but unlike in previous games, he didn’t seem very nervous; Therefore, the start of the Ajax game is the beginning of him gaining more self-confidence, reducing the percentage of fouls.
