The captain once again patrolled the left flank and looked to support Gannon-Doak whenever the Scots went on the offensive. Had one slack back-pass that Gunn would not thank him for, and the hosts tried to go over the top of him on a few occasions. Like the rest of the defence, showed up fine.placeholder image
The captain once again patrolled the left flank and looked to support Gannon-Doak whenever the Scots went on the offensive. Had one slack back-pass that Gunn would not thank him for, and the hosts tried to go over the top of him on a few occasions. Like the rest of the defence, showed up fine. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool have rediscovered the form that saw them crowned Premier League champions with two players proving that they deserve to keep the starting jerseys.
Arne Slot made the big changes in Liverpool’s starting XI over the last couple of games and he will go into the clash with Man City a lot more confident after two strong results.
The two wins will be welcome as will the two clean sheets, however, it is the level of performance that was seen against Aston Villa and Real Madrid that will impress the Reds boss the most. The defence looked more resilient, the midfield controlled the tempo of both games and the forward line created enough chances to suggest that better times are around the corner.
Danny Murphy makes Liverpool defence claim
Danny Murphy is adamant that Slot won’t be tinkering with his defence any time soon as he praised the two wide men: “Absolutely, I don't think you'll be changing that back for Robertson should have been brought in a couple of weeks ago, to be honest with you. We all know that. But Bradley's getting back up to fitness. Yeah, he missed preseason. He's had a couple of games where there's a few question marks. So these last couple of 90 minutes or whether he's come off later on, I don't know.
“But these games and these minutes he's getting under his belt will do him the world are good. I think also as well, the settled lads in midfield, when those three tend to play, the Liverpool are generally a lot more settled. And you could argue Szoboszlai is probably playing the best football of his career.”
Has playing Szoboszlai in defence unsettled the who team?
When asked if playing Dominik Szoboszlai at right back had a detrimental effect on the rest of the team, Murphy continued: “It did temporarily. Yeah. But I mean, Szoboszlai was brought back into midfield in games they lost, let's not forget. So it wasn't the only problem, Szoboszlai. I mean, he actually had one of his better games playing at right back up at Newcastle, if I recall.
“But I think when he plays in the midfield, you're right. Liverpool are, they're more athletic and more tenacious, which means defensively they're better. And if Wirtz needs to play off the left, and so be it for a while, you know, that's not a problem because he gives teams a different problem than Gakpo's pace and more orthodox wing play. Wirtz comes inside in those pockets and he's tricky and he's got vision. It's a dilemma now that he's got moving forward, but all he had to do this week was get Liverpool back to playing well and getting some wins. And two out of three are done.”
Murphy is right, Szoboszlai did a job in defence, but he it is an entirely different position to the one that he does best in midfield. Not only did it upset the balance of the back four, but it weakened the area of the park where a lot of games are won and lost. Even if it means playing a 16-year old from the academy, his display against Real Madrid confirmed his status as one of the best midfielders in the world and playing him anywhere else is sacrilegious.
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