It was all Liverpool for 90% of the match. But PSG had goals in them. Tied at 2-2, Liverpool needed a hero to get their well-deserved three points. Yet again against a Thomas Tuchel led side, they found a second half injury time winner from the one-eyed Brazilian, Bobby Firmino. It gives Liverpool immediate control of their group and a massive confidence boost as the toughest part of their season to date has seen them take six points out of six.
What Happened:
Liverpool opened with immediate pressure, as one could easily see with six corners in the first thirteen minutes. Chances came via both center backs as, first, Virgil van Dijk's volley forced a nice one-handed save out of Areola, while Joe Gomez had a chance about eight minutes later with a nice header just wide. Liverpool had to deal with a bit of PSG pressure too, Neymar's nice move forced an Alisson save and Edison Cavani's rebound was a tame effort into Alisson's arms, but for the most part it was one way traffic in attacking. In the 30th minute, this paid off in dividends for the Reds as Andy Robertson's beautiful cross met the head of Daniel Sturridge, who headed it straight past Areola to give Liverpool a fairly quick 1-0 lead. Just five minutes later, Gini Wijnaldum made a run straight through the PSG midfield and defense and won his side a penalty. James Milner stepped up and coolly took it almost into the corner of the net, just out of reach from Areola. The Reds' lead was doubled just like that.
PSG would have a counter punch. A cross is sent in by Angel Di Maria, and Robertson's attempted clearance found the feet of Thomas Meunier, who thumped home a spectacular finish. It was tough to deal with for Robertson, who was sparkling on the evening, and Meunier was in the perfect position to finish it. The thought was that perhaps the goal could wake up the French visitors, but it was Liverpool who came out into the second half dominant. They were steady with the ball and held strong in possession, and in the 58th minute they seemed to find a third with a Mo Salah tap-in. It was not meant to be. Sturridge, who charged in for the ball, caught Areola right in the place you don't want to be kicked. The ref ruled no goal as a result of that foul before the goal, and Liverpool still held a one-goal lead.
The one goal separating the two sides seemed to be a mountain as Liverpool would dominate play. PSG had occasional dangerous bits of play, but nothing fully challenging. Sadio Mane even had a nice chance nearly beating Areola far post after getting past two defenders. Just a minute later, though, out of thin air, it was 2-2. Salah, very tired at this point, gave the ball away once, then again. That second time was fateful as it went straight to Neymar who threaded a ball through to Kylian Mbappe, who finished well. Neither of the two involved in the goal had very good evenings at Anfield, but the assist and goal for both will make their days look a bit better.
Liverpool needed another big chance, and they got it. Roberto Firmino, off the bench, on the second attempt of a corner, took a short pass from van Dijk, skipped past a defender with a fake shot with his left, then finished past Areola with the right. The Anfield crowd erupted, the PSG fans who were in full voice were silenced, and Firmino held a hand up to his injured eye as if to say, "I only need one eye to do this better than most can with two." As the master of the no-look goal, it's only fitting that Firmino snagged a winner the match after injuring his eye. Fabinho came on for Mane immediately after the goal, a final long ball skipped into Alisson's hands, and Liverpool claimed all three in another classic European night at Anfield.
What Happened:
This marks the second match in a row where Liverpool won by one goal, but really should have had a greater lead opened up for them. The game's flow fed right into what Liverpool wanted to do, and the home side took advantage of this throughout the game as they won the possession battle only 52/48, but seemed to be in full control of the game situation. But how exactly did that happen? There's a lot that went into the match. Let me delve in and try to tackle everything.
First off, what has to be discussed is PSG's tactics and the personnel. Tuchel could have gotten the tactics spot on, but what was very clear is that he did not have to players to do whatever he wished out of his side. Let's look at midfield first. Marco Verratti's suspension affected PSG's midfield three gravely. A side that already lacks in depth, alongside Adrien Rabiot were Marquinhos and Angel Di Maria, neither of whom are midfielders by trade. Marquinhos was the defensive midfielder of the three while Rabiot and Di Maria got forward, but he did not offer any serious resistance to Liverpool's own midfield and attack. Di Maria worked himself in an average position wider than Neymar on average, and with the Brazilian center back dropping deeper, it forced two things: Rabiot to essentially hold down midfield on his own and Edison Cavani needing to time-and-time again drop deeper, hurting his own effectiveness. In short, the middle of the park was a mess and allowed Liverpool's more disciplined three control the entire match in that area.
What about Neymar? Neymar looked dangerous plenty of times with his movement and speed in getting around and past defenders, but when not on the ball, he was very poor. Tuchel got the formation wrong in my eyes. Neymar was constantly drifting centrally getting forward and ignoring defensive responsibilities giving Trent Alexander-Arnold endless space on the wing. If you look at a heatmap of the match, you see that Liverpool's strategy throughout the match was to advance via that right wing and get forward at left back Juan Bernat, who had no cover in front of him. If Tuchel had run a 4-2-3-1, you get Neymar centrally where he needs to do less defending, even perhaps overtaking Cavani while he drops back to defend at times, and keep Di Maria on the wing given his ability to defend at least at a better level than Neymar. In terms of the PSG key man, and also throwing in Kylian Mbappe, both players were neutralized very well and their speed and trickery could not lead to more than a single goal that they combined on off a giveaway. The full backs of Liverpool did well getting back, and I marked that out as a key in the game, and that really helped them win the match.
Of course, not all this is about PSG, and I do focus more heavily on Liverpool in my writing, so let's look at their performance. First and foremost, Mo Salah was a weak point for Liverpool, and a lot of that is coming as a result of teams marking him far tighter than usual. His giveaway was costly, almost fatal, but he still has the potential in his feet to create moments of magic, and especially in the first half he had some brighter spots. Now that we've covered the bad, the rest was stupendous. James Milner had one of the finest matches you will ever see in midfield as he dominated with several key tackles, including quite a few on Neymar himself, a brilliantly taken penalty, and his ability to play the entire field being seemingly everywhere at once. Gini Wijnaldum won the penalty and continues to show up in big games and big moments as a holding mid. Finally, Jordan Henderson got the start and in the big match he was rock solid for Liverpool, as he and Milner combined for eight tackles on the evening. The midfield three of Liverpool continues to be a bright spot, and this even without Naby Keita or Fabinho (outside of a quick minute-long cameo to kill the game off).
The final topic of note has to be depth. Daniel Sturridge came in for the injured Roberto Firmino and snagged a goal while building his confidence well through the match. Likewise, Xherdan Shaqiri was very good for Liverpool in his limited time off the bench, but he showed off nice technical skill and won a key corner for Liverpool. This does not even include that Liverpool left Naby Keita on the bench as well as Fabinho on the bench until a minute remained. PSG, for comparison, has Julian Draxler to turn to, yes, but after him was Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who played with Shaqiri last season with Stoke, and performed I would say a good deal worse than Shaqiri. PSG's other options included very young players (Christopher Nukunka, Thilo Kehrer, Sebastien Cibois, and Stanley N'Soki, who rumors swirled that he may start) and veteran Lassana Diarra, who spent last season in the UAE. PSG has their shiny players in Mbappe and Neymar, and they are obviously supremely talented, but if they want to compete in the Champions League they're going to need better depth signings. You can certainly rely on youth eventually, but a bench full of young players, a talented Draxler, and two veterans who have past their prime is not a Champions League winning bench.
What's Next:
Liverpool will get to remain at Anfield this weekend as they'll take on Southampton this Saturday at 10 AM, a heck of a sports day as Michigan football has their 'Maize Out' against Nebraska at noon that day. In terms of Champions League, there is a break until October 3rd when Liverpool travel to Napoli, who drew at Red Star Belgrade 0-0 in their group opener. Liverpool continue their busy schedule, they will hope that Southampton does not provide too much resistance and they can put them away ahead of a mid-week League Cup showdown with Chelsea.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for more LFC coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
What Happened:
Liverpool opened with immediate pressure, as one could easily see with six corners in the first thirteen minutes. Chances came via both center backs as, first, Virgil van Dijk's volley forced a nice one-handed save out of Areola, while Joe Gomez had a chance about eight minutes later with a nice header just wide. Liverpool had to deal with a bit of PSG pressure too, Neymar's nice move forced an Alisson save and Edison Cavani's rebound was a tame effort into Alisson's arms, but for the most part it was one way traffic in attacking. In the 30th minute, this paid off in dividends for the Reds as Andy Robertson's beautiful cross met the head of Daniel Sturridge, who headed it straight past Areola to give Liverpool a fairly quick 1-0 lead. Just five minutes later, Gini Wijnaldum made a run straight through the PSG midfield and defense and won his side a penalty. James Milner stepped up and coolly took it almost into the corner of the net, just out of reach from Areola. The Reds' lead was doubled just like that.
PSG would have a counter punch. A cross is sent in by Angel Di Maria, and Robertson's attempted clearance found the feet of Thomas Meunier, who thumped home a spectacular finish. It was tough to deal with for Robertson, who was sparkling on the evening, and Meunier was in the perfect position to finish it. The thought was that perhaps the goal could wake up the French visitors, but it was Liverpool who came out into the second half dominant. They were steady with the ball and held strong in possession, and in the 58th minute they seemed to find a third with a Mo Salah tap-in. It was not meant to be. Sturridge, who charged in for the ball, caught Areola right in the place you don't want to be kicked. The ref ruled no goal as a result of that foul before the goal, and Liverpool still held a one-goal lead.
The one goal separating the two sides seemed to be a mountain as Liverpool would dominate play. PSG had occasional dangerous bits of play, but nothing fully challenging. Sadio Mane even had a nice chance nearly beating Areola far post after getting past two defenders. Just a minute later, though, out of thin air, it was 2-2. Salah, very tired at this point, gave the ball away once, then again. That second time was fateful as it went straight to Neymar who threaded a ball through to Kylian Mbappe, who finished well. Neither of the two involved in the goal had very good evenings at Anfield, but the assist and goal for both will make their days look a bit better.
Liverpool needed another big chance, and they got it. Roberto Firmino, off the bench, on the second attempt of a corner, took a short pass from van Dijk, skipped past a defender with a fake shot with his left, then finished past Areola with the right. The Anfield crowd erupted, the PSG fans who were in full voice were silenced, and Firmino held a hand up to his injured eye as if to say, "I only need one eye to do this better than most can with two." As the master of the no-look goal, it's only fitting that Firmino snagged a winner the match after injuring his eye. Fabinho came on for Mane immediately after the goal, a final long ball skipped into Alisson's hands, and Liverpool claimed all three in another classic European night at Anfield.
What Happened:
This marks the second match in a row where Liverpool won by one goal, but really should have had a greater lead opened up for them. The game's flow fed right into what Liverpool wanted to do, and the home side took advantage of this throughout the game as they won the possession battle only 52/48, but seemed to be in full control of the game situation. But how exactly did that happen? There's a lot that went into the match. Let me delve in and try to tackle everything.
First off, what has to be discussed is PSG's tactics and the personnel. Tuchel could have gotten the tactics spot on, but what was very clear is that he did not have to players to do whatever he wished out of his side. Let's look at midfield first. Marco Verratti's suspension affected PSG's midfield three gravely. A side that already lacks in depth, alongside Adrien Rabiot were Marquinhos and Angel Di Maria, neither of whom are midfielders by trade. Marquinhos was the defensive midfielder of the three while Rabiot and Di Maria got forward, but he did not offer any serious resistance to Liverpool's own midfield and attack. Di Maria worked himself in an average position wider than Neymar on average, and with the Brazilian center back dropping deeper, it forced two things: Rabiot to essentially hold down midfield on his own and Edison Cavani needing to time-and-time again drop deeper, hurting his own effectiveness. In short, the middle of the park was a mess and allowed Liverpool's more disciplined three control the entire match in that area.
What about Neymar? Neymar looked dangerous plenty of times with his movement and speed in getting around and past defenders, but when not on the ball, he was very poor. Tuchel got the formation wrong in my eyes. Neymar was constantly drifting centrally getting forward and ignoring defensive responsibilities giving Trent Alexander-Arnold endless space on the wing. If you look at a heatmap of the match, you see that Liverpool's strategy throughout the match was to advance via that right wing and get forward at left back Juan Bernat, who had no cover in front of him. If Tuchel had run a 4-2-3-1, you get Neymar centrally where he needs to do less defending, even perhaps overtaking Cavani while he drops back to defend at times, and keep Di Maria on the wing given his ability to defend at least at a better level than Neymar. In terms of the PSG key man, and also throwing in Kylian Mbappe, both players were neutralized very well and their speed and trickery could not lead to more than a single goal that they combined on off a giveaway. The full backs of Liverpool did well getting back, and I marked that out as a key in the game, and that really helped them win the match.
Of course, not all this is about PSG, and I do focus more heavily on Liverpool in my writing, so let's look at their performance. First and foremost, Mo Salah was a weak point for Liverpool, and a lot of that is coming as a result of teams marking him far tighter than usual. His giveaway was costly, almost fatal, but he still has the potential in his feet to create moments of magic, and especially in the first half he had some brighter spots. Now that we've covered the bad, the rest was stupendous. James Milner had one of the finest matches you will ever see in midfield as he dominated with several key tackles, including quite a few on Neymar himself, a brilliantly taken penalty, and his ability to play the entire field being seemingly everywhere at once. Gini Wijnaldum won the penalty and continues to show up in big games and big moments as a holding mid. Finally, Jordan Henderson got the start and in the big match he was rock solid for Liverpool, as he and Milner combined for eight tackles on the evening. The midfield three of Liverpool continues to be a bright spot, and this even without Naby Keita or Fabinho (outside of a quick minute-long cameo to kill the game off).
The final topic of note has to be depth. Daniel Sturridge came in for the injured Roberto Firmino and snagged a goal while building his confidence well through the match. Likewise, Xherdan Shaqiri was very good for Liverpool in his limited time off the bench, but he showed off nice technical skill and won a key corner for Liverpool. This does not even include that Liverpool left Naby Keita on the bench as well as Fabinho on the bench until a minute remained. PSG, for comparison, has Julian Draxler to turn to, yes, but after him was Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who played with Shaqiri last season with Stoke, and performed I would say a good deal worse than Shaqiri. PSG's other options included very young players (Christopher Nukunka, Thilo Kehrer, Sebastien Cibois, and Stanley N'Soki, who rumors swirled that he may start) and veteran Lassana Diarra, who spent last season in the UAE. PSG has their shiny players in Mbappe and Neymar, and they are obviously supremely talented, but if they want to compete in the Champions League they're going to need better depth signings. You can certainly rely on youth eventually, but a bench full of young players, a talented Draxler, and two veterans who have past their prime is not a Champions League winning bench.
What's Next:
Liverpool will get to remain at Anfield this weekend as they'll take on Southampton this Saturday at 10 AM, a heck of a sports day as Michigan football has their 'Maize Out' against Nebraska at noon that day. In terms of Champions League, there is a break until October 3rd when Liverpool travel to Napoli, who drew at Red Star Belgrade 0-0 in their group opener. Liverpool continue their busy schedule, they will hope that Southampton does not provide too much resistance and they can put them away ahead of a mid-week League Cup showdown with Chelsea.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for more LFC coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
Comments
Post a Comment