It was a quiet Tuesday evening, so I decided to suffer through a rewatch of Liverpool’s unimpressive win over Nottingham Forest to see if I missed anything on the first go.
These full weeks without a fixture are brilliant for the players, who need as much recovery as they can get ahead of a crucial final stretch in the season.
For the fans, and for a Liverpool writer who’s also a fan, it can be extremely boring — not unlike Sunday’s game.
The Reds scraped by with a win thanks to Alexis Mac Allister’s late winner, putting a positive spin on an otherwise dreadful performance.
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Here are some things I saw on second glance.
Federico Chiesa is proving Arne Slot right
Earlier in the season, we were all scratching our heads wondering what Arne Slot’s problem with Federico Chiesa actually is.
Well, his cameo at the City Ground — and most of his recent outings to be honest — left a lot to be desired. His touch was loose, he wasn’t playing with the same intensity we’re used to seeing from him, and he looked erratic in the final third.
Federico Chiesa of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
You can’t totally blame the Italian. It’s very difficult to find a rhythm in such limited minutes. What hurts his case in that regard is that Rio Ngumoha is in the same boat, and was maybe Liverpool’s best player on the day.
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Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo have no chemistry
Cody Gakpo has frustrated fans a lot recently. His play has become so one-dimensional, and Ngumoha makes that very apparent.
One thing I haven’t really taken notice of before is how disjointed he and Hugo Ekitike are when they (attempt to) link up.
Maybe it’s the fact that Gakpo constantly cuts into the Frenchman’s position, or that Ekitike is unable to drift out onto the left as much when his teammate is waiting out there half the time, but they just don’t play with any sort of fluidity. Both were poor against Forest.
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Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Virgil van Dijk is still world-class
This is probably the biggest takeaway from my second watch, and you might think it’s lazy.
If you keep your eyes fixed on Virgil van Dijk for a long period of time, you see just how commanding he is of the space he occupies. There was no getting past him.
When I did Liverpool player ratings after Forest, I only gave the captain a 6/10. That was because of some careless play in possession.
He was better than a six. Defensively, his presence is larger than life, and if a ball comes flying in towards the penalty box, you can be almost certain Van Dijk will be there to meet it. He may be getting up there, but this is still one of the best centre-backs in the world.
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