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Liverpool 4-3 Leeds United
- Goals: Mohamed Salah x3 (£ 12.0 million), Virgil van Dijk (£ 6.5 million) | Jack Harrison (£ 5.5 million), Patrick Bamford (£ 5.5 million), Mateusz Klich (£ 5.5 million)
- Attend: Andrew Robertson (£ 7.0 million), Fabinho (£ 5.5 million), | Kalvin Phillips (£ 5.0 million), Stuart Dallas (£ 4.5 million), Hélder Costa (£ 5.5 million)
- Extra points: Salah x3, Klich x2, Bamford x1
Mohamed salah (£ 12.0m) finally delivered on the promise he showed at the end of last season by exploding with a 20-point loot against Leeds United.
That was his highest score since Game Week 16 of 2018/19, when he racked up 21 points in a 4-0 win at Bournemouth.
The Egyptian spent the last Gameweeks of 2019/20 shooting often, hitting the target regularly and still was scoreless between Gameweeks 35+ and 38+ without finding the back of the net.
Despite a fairly flat outing at Community Shield, Salah picked up where he left off at Anfield on Saturday, bringing that shooter-laden form into the new season, and it ultimately paid off.
It’s true that two-thirds of his hat-trick came from the penalty spot, but it’s hard to count that against a man who registered no more than nine goal attempts in Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Leeds.
As predicted Jan Sienkiewicz In Gameweek 1’s Captain Sensible article, the way Marcelo Bielsa’s men prepared, pressing high up the field and asking their own questions, fit perfectly with Salah.
It opened up acres of room for him to explode, giving him plenty of time to earn a penalty in the first half via his fierce shot. Robin kochThe outstretched arm (£ 4.5m), before crashing a loose ball into the net every second.
At Gameweek 1, Salah’s roughly 30% ownership almost made him something of a differential, especially for the more than 890,000 managers who captained him. With his former club Chelsea then a team that conceded 1.7 goals per game during Project Restart, interest in the Egyptian is sure to increase in the days ahead.
As already mentioned, the space behind Leeds defense was key to Liverpool’s attacking threat on Saturday, though Sadio mané (£ 12.0 million) couldn’t take advantage of it.
For most of the night, he took a beating from the right back. Luke ayling (£ 4.5 million), but left his first Anfield outing of the season without a single shot on goal.
We should also point out the extenuating circumstances that probably helped Liverpool and Salah a little more than expected. Yes, Leeds were always going to play adventurous football at Anfield, such is Bielsa’s style, but they faced the defending Premier League champions without the starting center-back and club captain. Liam cooper (4.5 million pounds sterling).
The Scottish international’s blow is not believed to be serious, and he is likely to have a chance to face Fulham in Gameweek 2, but his absence left Leeds short on Saturday afternoon.
It was Cooper’s association with Ben white (£ 4.5m) who helped Leeds set the best defensive record in the Championship last season, but none were present at Gameweek 1. Bielsa was forced to pair up Pascal Struijk (£ 4.0m) with Koch’s new signing, and what a torrid debut it was for the latter.
It was his outstretched arm that gave away the penalty in the opening exchanges and he completely lost his man when Virgil van Dijk (£ 6.5m) nodded in a corner of the first half unopposed.
With Cooper likely back in the Leeds squad next time, they may do better at home against Fulham, while Salah might find it a bit more difficult to face. Thiago Silva (£ 5.5 million) at Stamford Bridge … though Kepa Arrizabalaga (£ 5.0m) was the main reason for Chelsea’s defensive woes last season.
Outside of Salah’s massive loot, the biggest talking point of Liverpool’s win over Leeds was one of their worst defensive displays in recent memory.
Despite coming into this game with every member of their first-choice back-four in the starting lineup, the visitors broke the Reds three times and could easily have scored even more.
That said, perhaps Fantasy managers shouldn’t be so surprised to see Liverpool struggling at the rear, as their defensive woes have been wearing thin for some time.
Despite all the enthusiasm with which Reds defenders are seen in the Fantasy community, they only managed to keep seven clean sheets at Anfield out of a possible 19 last season (36.8%).
In addition, during the restart of the project, they conceded a total of 20 great opportunities, the seventh most in the league during that period. The last time Jurgen Klopp’s men posted a shutout in a competitive game was in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on July 5.
Since then, they have conceded Brighton (1), Burnley (1), Arsenal (2), Chelsea (3), Newcastle (1), Arsenal (1) and Leeds (3) at an average of 1.7 per game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£ 7.5m), whose summer injury prevented him from participating in Liverpool’s pre-season campaign, was the main culprit for Leeds’ first goal. He was caught out of position, allowing Stuart dallas (£ 4.5m) time to find Jack Harrison (£ 5.5 million).
Joe Gomez (£ 5.5m) was also at fault, putting very little pressure on Harrison, and neither did Alexander-Arnold, before he shoved the ball into the net.
Unbelievably, even Van Dijk’s performance was below average, his unfortunate attempt at a style punt by playing the ball straight into Patrick Bamford (£ 5.5 million) inside the box; Leeds strike need just to hook her Alisson (6.0 million pounds sterling).
More disorganization in the rear was shown as Hélder Costa (£ 5.5m) put the ball into the net in the eighth minute, Liverpool saved only by the offside flag on that occasion. Bamford was also allowed a clear run at Alisson after Liverpool scored 2-1 up.
And in the second half nobody scored Mateusz klich (£ 5.5m) when he ghosted into the box and hit Costa’s pass into the bottom corner.
After that, Harrison got behind the Liverpool defense once again, successfully tossing the ball over Alisson, which Alexander-Arnold then directed into his own net. Liverpool were again saved by the offside flag this time.
Although van Dijk and Andrew Robertson (£ 7.0 million) each ended the first week of play with an attacking comeback to their name, Saturday’s seven-goal thriller doesn’t inspire much confidence in a Liverpool defensive double, or triple in some cases. There will have to be a serious improvement before traveling to face Timo Werner (£ 9.5 million), Kai havertz (£ 8.5 million) and company at Stamford Bridge next week.
However, there is still a lot to like about what these players offer going forward.
Yes, Alexander-Arnold was very rusty defensively, but his delivery in set play was still going strong. During a promising second half he came close to registering two assists from the corners. First, he found Salah at the near post, whose shot was blocked before van Dijk nodded at the resulting corner just above the bar.
The center-back could also have added to his account, an unmarked header goal in the second half canceled by a foul for Curtis jones (£ 4.5 million) in accumulation.
And Robertson could have boosted his assists count for the night when Struijk deflected his cross into his own goal, before he was desperately brought down by Illan Meslier (4.5 million pounds sterling).
Naturally, the owners of more than one Liverpool defensive asset are likely to give the setup a bit more time to adjust to the pace this season, but they will certainly call for improvements at this end of the field going forward …
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Robertson, van Dijk, Gómez, Alexander-Arnold (Matip 89 ‘); Keïta (Fabinho 58 ′), J Henderson (C Jones 66 ′), Wijnaldum; Mané, Firmino, Salah.
Leeds United XI (4-1-4-1): Meslier; Dallas, Struijk, Koch, Ayling; Phillips; Costa, Hernández (Roberts 62 ′), Klich (Shackleton 81 ′), Harrison; Bamford (Rodrigo 62 ′).
ANALYSIS OF PREMIUM MEMBERS
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FPL Lessons Learned From Gameweek 1
- Fulham 0-3 Arsenal
- Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton
- Liverpool 4-3 Leeds United
- West Ham United 0-1 Newcastle United
- West Bromwich Albion v Leicester City
- Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
- Sheffield United vs. Wolves
- Brighton and Hove Albion v Chelsea
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