A game of two halves. First half was pretty blase I thought. Second half was heart-attack inducing. Those long throws from Moussa Niakhaté absolutely killing us, dear God. Don’t we have a ‘throw-in Specialist’ at Liverpool? That dude must’ve been salivating watching that.
Moussa Niakhaté getting ready for a long throw:
https://giphy.com/embed/oiKOrCoS68J8LG8cti
Thoughts:
- I was sure this was going to end in a tie, the final few minutes were nervy as hell.
- Watching Konate and Awoniyi battle all game was both entertaining and hilarious. They were wrestling basically.
- Curtis Jones is quietly solidifying a midfield role. I just hope he can remain injury free for a while.
- Also, quietly, don’t look now, but Fabinho is getting back to his better form.
- Diogo Jota: what a G. The first goal was a poacher’s instinct, the second was sublime…with a LEFT-foot finish! Zero goals in 20 league games and then four in 2. The lack of celebration for the second goal was interesting too, I thought HE knew that he was offside for sure. Thank goodness he wasn’t. Speaking of Jota: I can’t believe some fans were willing to sell him this upcoming summer. Yes, our forward line is stacked…but I like it that way. He’ll be crucial again as soon as one of our forwards get injured.
- Just when you think Salah was on the periphery all game, he scores the winner, while being dragged/held back. Brute strength. The goal looked that much better, hitting off the right post and in. Wow.
- We got away with this one. Van Dijk with yet another mistake (at 17 mins), when he won the ball from Awoniyi but played it right back to Forest with a sloppy pass, leading to a break. I feel like he’s getting better (less mistakes), but still kind of alarming. When I say ‘getting better’, I mean the mistakes are less than in previous games. I have faith in him he can get back to his world-class best.
- Trent Alexander-Arnold in the midfield again, and looking good there again. Mind, you it’s only game 2 and it’s against a relegation-fighting team again, but another successful outing so far.
- Crazy thought: I wouldn’t mind seeing Kostas Tsimikas play right back, as a back-up. I know he’s left footed, but in emergency situations, he’s too good to sit on the bench . He’ll never replace Robertson in left-back, so why not try him in right-back? Not saying it’ll work, just worth a look. Milner is aging out and Tsimikas has the pace.
- Forest manager Steve Cooper looks like he’d make a great villain in a Guy Ritchie movie.
- I’m glad the Niakhaté ‘handball’ (around 34 mins) didn’t result in a penalty to Liverpool. Some of the handball calls are getting ridiculous, and this would’ve been harsh.
- Sometimes I wish Alisson would just boot the ball out instead of always playing with his feet. This is not the season to take those risks.
- Right before Salah scored the winning goal, Steve McManaman: “surely not another goal from another set piece”…and that’s exactly what happened.
+ There are no comments
Add yours