Only the result will have pleased Jurgen Klopp. This was an entirely expected victory but it was one that will only have reinforced the Liverpool manager’s belief that too many games played too quickly are taking an unacceptable toll on his squad.
“These boys have nine or 10 games in the space of four weeks. It is absolutely ridiculous,” the Liverpool manager told the television cameras before the start of a forgettable game. At the final whistle, he would be asked about further injuries – to Fabinho who has been standing in for Virgil van Dijk and to his captain, Jordan Henderson.
Only in one respect was this a memorable night. The opening goal, scored by Diogo Jota, who has become a glistening addition to Liverpool’s attack, was the 10,000th in the club’s history.
The first was scored in 1892 by Jock Smith in a Lancashire League fixture against Higher Walton. Smith, who was signed from Sunderland, was said to be “a grand acquisition who possesses rare speed and good dribbling powers.”
Whoever wrote those words could not have imagined that Liverpool’s 10,000th goal would have been created by the son of Albanian refugees who had fled to Switzerland – Xherdan Shaqiri – and finished off by a young Portuguese forward signed for £41 million. However, the description of Jock Smith could fit Jota very well.
The 10,001st came seconds before the final whistle confirmed Liverpool at the top of their group. Paulinho brought down Mohamed Salah who converted from the spot to give the scoreline a touch of gloss.
There have been many, many greater European nights at Anfield but there have been none stranger. Liverpool had last hosted a Champions League fixture in March when 3,000 Atletico fans travelled from Madrid, a city deep in the grip of coronavirus, to Merseyside.
Klopp told the Everton manager, Carlo Ancelotti, that allowing the game to proceed was “a criminal act”. It was the last major football match in England to be played in front of a crowd.
Seven long months later, Anfield staged another Champions League fixture to a stadium that was as empty as it probably should have been in March. There was not even a footballer on the field when a recording “You’ll Never Walk Alone” blared out; just the groundstaff preparing the pitch.
There were times during the evening when what seemed a potentially interesting front three of Origi, Jota and Minamino looked what it was – second string. Between them, they did not muster a shot on target during a dreary first half.
When they did in the 55th minute, Diogo Joto scored the history goal. Not long afterwards, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino were withdrawn having seen the night pass them by. By the finish the regular big three of Salah, Sané and Firmino were leading a Liverpool attack that still appeared unusually blunt.
However, this season Klopp’s concerns have been over his defence and they would only have grown when, as the match approached the half-hour mark, Fabinho pulled up with what everyone on the Liverpool bench hoped was not a hamstring injury and was forced off.
With Joel Matip injured, the Brazilian had been pressed into service as a centre-half as cover for the yawning gap left by Virgil van Dijk. His replacement was 19-year-old Rhys Williams who had made his debut last month at Lincoln in a League Cup game that was the first but not the last Liverpool game to finish 7-2 this season.
Moments later, Jordan Henderson was the victim of a reckless tackle from Jens Cajuste and, although the Liverpool captain carried on, he did not reappear for the second half.
Before the game, Klopp had talked of his admiration for Midtjylland. He studied their methods of using analytics to buy players, hired their throw-in coach, Thomas Gronnemark, and would have spent time at their base in the market town of Herning had Liverpool not come calling.
As the interval approached, his language towards Midtjylland’s manager, Brian Priske, was rather less complimentary. The club is from the flatlands of Jutland and some of the tackling was frankly agricultural.
Nevertheless, Midtjylland had the clearest chance of the first half. Anders Dreyer, who had spent a couple of years at Brighton without playing a league game, ran on to a long ball, which he allowed to bounce twice before steadying himself to shoot past Allison Becker.
However, no Premier League goalkeeper since Peter Schmeichel is as commanding in one-on-ones as Allison and Dreyer’s shot clanged against the Brazilian’s boots.
Midtjylland are owned by the reclusive Matthew Benham, an Oxford physics graduate who became a professional gambler. However, Benham does not bet on sport and that sequence appeared to show why.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2TuQerR
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