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Where do you start writing about such a match?
VAR decisions: Jordan Pickford’s no red card; Jordan Henderson’s disallowed goal will ultimately mask what was Liverpool’s brilliant response to the chaotic loss at Aston Villa a fortnight ago.
Jürgen Klopp will be disappointed in the draw, frustrated by the refereeing, but should be delighted with the performance. The freshness of the step. The urgency of the press. This was a Liverpool team that returned to champion form, with and without the ball.
Liverpool led great passages of play, with the midfield trio of Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara dictating the tempo and pace of the game.
Klopp’s team created more opportunities, and yet Everton looked like a threat every time they threw men to the baseline including the unusual combination of Joel Matip and Joe Gomez, not to mention a reeling and reliable Adrian in goal. .
Still: Amid the frustration, there were outstanding performances from a group of Liverpool players (Spoiler: Mo Salah doesn’t pick up a medal this week despite scoring his 100th goal (!) For the club).
Here’s our podium for what was a crazy afternoon at Goodison.
Gold: Sadio Mané
Mané is Liverpool’s MVP (and this is a side with Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Salah). Things work a little different with him on the side. There’s more excitement in the press, less predictability in the team’s movement in the final third, and raw, unadulterated speed and talent. Mané scored the team’s first goal and could probably should, they have finished with one or two more.
It unnerves the defenders. They don’t know whether to squeeze or sink. In the end, it doesn’t matter; Mané has counters for your counters.
He was a constant and annoying threat on Saturday, happy to drive between the lines or hover in the middle of the field to instigate the game. His quick exchanges with Andy Robertson, Roberto Firmino and Thiago were the focal points of Liverpool’s attack in the final third. He subsumed 7.7 percent of Liverpool’s possession, by far the team’s highest figure.
Always ready to deliver a spectacular moment of individual brilliance. Always ready to fit in the right place within the team building on a possession-to-possession basis. Forever, always running and running Quick.
Silver: Jordan Henderson
This should probably go to Henderson, Thiago and Fabinho as a trio. Their combined game was extraordinary. Due to prolonged passages, the Everton midfield could not get close to the ball. It was zipped up, moved and fastened. The pair of Everton guards could do little more than watch, point a little and then run once the ball had moved.
However, Henderson gets the nod. Like Mané, he was the returnee. The player is not moved by the shocking thought of Villa Park. And like Mané, things are a bit different when he’s on the side.
The late and brutal VAR decision took a goal away from Henderson to win the game. But other than that, he delivered the best captain performance. He was Everywhere, with and without the ball.
Henderson brings an extra degree of defensive disciple to the team. But more importantly, it adds a different rhythm to Liverpool’s game. It is a strong and powerful rhythm. Everything is a little more elegant, a little sharper, with Henderson in the lineup. His pass has a compound impact on his teammates. For 18 months, he it has been the player who decides when the team will go through the gears and when it will back down. Stick that next Thiago, the best director, and you have the ingredients for something special.
This wasn’t the Henderson to sit down and dictate either, though he would slip in to join Fabinho on an impromptu double pivot every now and then. This was the classic Henderson, a player who was not afraid to cough up the ball and then bombard forward into the area. Three found themselves in scoring positions upon entering the area: A) for the disallowed goal; B for a half volley that single he advanced little by little on the bar; C) for a moment so close to a tap-in of a Roberto Firmino cutout, that it resulted in Henderson being hit in the face.
But It was there. That is the key. Thiago’s tactical nous, knowing when to go and when to sit, allowed Henderson to play in a more advanced role where some of his often-overlooked qualities could shine through.
Henderson is now a shape-shifting soccer player, able to fight his way through a game in a variety of different styles, changing to whatever Klopp demands minute by minute.
Bronze: Andy Robertson
Robertson’s linking game with Mané down the left remains Liverpool’s most consistent path to attacking goodness. This was a complete Robertson exhibit. One touch fast football. Powerful and fast-paced races, with and without the ball. Smart, professional fouls as Everton headed the other way in transition.
And then there was his positioning. Robertson did more than set himself tall and wide. He was happy to drift inside while Mané pulled to the left. Those lows, combined with Thiago and Henderson’s vision and passing range Y with Mané’s ever-present threat up and the defender one on one, they were completely destructive.
There is already a strong wink-wink chemistry between Robertson and Thiago – you go here, I’ll go there, kind of unspoken understanding. Robertson drifting inward to team up with Thiago in the second half allowed Henderson to push further and further on the right side, stretching Everton’s midfield and opening up plenty of room for Liverpool’s front line.
Thiago and Mané played at another level, but it was Robertson who carefully brought them together.
You should do better: VAR
I mean, duh.
Two.
Two brutally wrong decisions that cost Liverpool three points. The aim of the VAR was to relieve some of the tension on the referees and prevent the referee team from making massive errors. And yet here he failed a great mistake and was the instigator of the other.
Klopp’s team deserved to remove all three points, the VAR stopped it. The whole system is either a joke or it was broken, probably both.
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