Liverpool 2-0 Leicester (Jota 34′, 87′)
This is an age when received wisdom has taken something of a pounding. However, it seemed a safe bet that Liverpool would suffer during the month when Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were at the Africa Cup of Nations – especially if both men reached the final, which they did.
Salah returned to Anfield last night, although Mane, for whom the sounds of Dakar celebrating the return of the victorious Senegal team will never fade, was understandably still absent.
In that month, Liverpool have comfortably won their three Premier League fixtures, against Brentford, Crystal Palace and now Leicester, reached the final of the League Cup and the fifth round of the FA Cup.
When Jurgen Klopp says this is the best Liverpool side he has managed, perhaps equal to the men he had with him at Borussia Dortmund, this is not casual, press-conference hyperbole. The gap to Manchester City is now nine points with a game in hand. The distance is surely too wide but with this team in this mood there is no telling.
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The 25-year-old Colombian, played on the left of the front three, had the ball at his feet in the Leicester area in the opening seconds. He did not score on his debut as Luis Suarez had but the way he rode a tackle uncomplainingly and distributed the ball suggests he might be a better team-man than the mercurial Uruguayan.
But for the brilliance of Kasper Schmeichel, Liverpool might have won by a crushing margin, although Diogo Jota’s coolness in slipping the second into the goal beneath the Kop while surrounded by three defenders three minutes from the end, ensured there would be no comeback by the men from the Midlands.
Right place, right time!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 10, 2022
Diogo Jota is on hand to score from close range to give Liverpool the lead over Leicester ???? pic.twitter.com/8LGPfvccRh
When he was manager of Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers famously showed his players an envelope. In it, he claimed, were the names of three players who would have let him down by the season’s end.
The suspects, if they ever existed, were never revealed but after enduring one of the most humiliating defeats of his career – Leicester’s 4-1 humbling by Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup – Rodgers was not so reticent.
This time the names were not put in an envelope, they were kept off the team sheet. Out went Youri Tielemans, whose spectacular goal at Wembley had given Leicester the first FA Cup in their history but who has been wondering aloud what further glory the Midlands can offer him. Out went Kelechi Iheanacho, Harvey Barnes and Caglar Soyuncu. Tielemans and Iheanacho returned after an hour; a time when Leicester were rather fortunate to be only one down.
Like asking the victims of a car crash to take the wheel on a skid pan at Silverstone, Anfield is no place for a side whose confidence has been shredded. However, while they may not have won here for 22 years, Leicester looked a sight more organised by the Mersey than they had ever done during Sunday’s debacle on the banks of the Trent.
Liverpool (4-3-3)
- Alisson – 7
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7
- Virgil Van Dijk – 8
- Joel Matip – 7
- Andy Robertson – 7
- Fabinho – 7
- Curtis Jones – 6
- Thiago Alcantara – 6
- Diogo Jota – 9
- Luis Diaz – 7
- Roberto Firmino – 6
Subs:
- Harvey Elliott – 6
- Mo Salah – 7
- Takumi Minamino – N/A
Leicester (4-2-3-1)
- Kasper Schmeichel – 7
- James Justin – 6
- Daniel Amartey – 7
- Wilfred Ndidi – 7
- Luke Thomas – 6
- Boubakary Soumare – 5
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – 5
- Marc Albrighton – 5
- James Maddison – 6
- Ademola Lookman – 6
- Patson Daka – 6
Subs:
- Youri Tielemans – 6
- Harvey Barnes – 5
- kelechi Iheanacho – 5
Nevertheless, Trents of any description have done more than their fare share of damage to Rodgers over the past seven days. Now it was Trent Alexander-Arnold who delivered a corner that provided the breakthrough. Alexander-Arnold had already forced one fine save from Schmeichel, controlling the ball with his right foot and then shooting with his left almost in the same movement. Not bad for a man whose job description is “full-back”.
Now, he proceeded to exploit Leicester’s chronic inability to defend a set-piece. This one was met by a powerful, downward header on the run from Virgil van Dijk. It was aimed more or less straight at Schmeichel, although the keeper, whose view was partially blocked by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, pushed it away two-handed to the feet of Jota.
Diogo Jota's striking instincts are incredible! ????
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 10, 2022
A quick swivel and he finds the bottom corner.
He gets his brace for the night and Liverpool get a well deserved second goalpic.twitter.com/f3ZU7dUZbC
There was probably no worse player the Dane could have picked. Jota had scored 10 in his previous 15 matches and now made it 11 with complete ease and there would be a 12th by the evening’s end.
The player you most felt for was Thiago Alcantara. He had also pounced on a two-handed clearance from Schmeichel but Thiago had met it on the edge of the area with what used to be called a bicycle kick. It flew dangerously close to the edge of the post. Thiago, unlike Jota, would not be appearing on the scoresheet. He did, however, receive more marks for artistic merit.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/n69orML
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