A two-word expletive from Virgil van Dijk after Villarreal’s second goal pretty much summed up Liverpool’s first-half performance, a 45 minutes which threatened to derail their quadruple bid.
“F___ing hell,” he bellowed, his words unmistakable, as the cameras zeroed in on Liverpool’s captain for the night. There would be no replay of this, of course, but by half-time a mini-montage of exasperated players in red had already been compiled.
Two crosses caught Liverpool’s defence on their heels, with Van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold all guilty of reacting too slowly. If you ain’t first, you’re last, and if “wanting it more” was ever to be personified it was when Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin both pounced to level the tie on aggregate.
“We’ve had to eat our words,” Rio Ferdinand said during the break, although BT Sport’s pitchside pundits had not been alone in underestimating this Villarreal side.
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The tone changed in the second half, however, and the mood had audibly shifted inside the ground with the introduction of Luis Diaz swinging the momentum back Liverpool’s way.
Credit will rightly go to Jurgen Klopp for making this change, but going forward he may well think twice about starting his most lethal match-winners on the bench.
Liverpool player ratings
First half
- Alisson – 5
- Alexander-Arnold – 4
- Konate – 5
- Van Dijk – 5
- Robertson – 4
- Fabinho – 5
- Keita – 3
- Thiago – 5
- Jota – 5
- Salah – 5
- Mane – 5
Second half
- Alisson – 6
- Alexander-Arnold – 7
- Konate – 7
- Van Dijk – 6
- Robertson – 6
- Fabinho – 7
- Keita – 6
- Thiago – 6
- Diaz – 8
- Salah – 6
- Mane – 7
- Jones, Tsimikas, Henderson, Milner n/a
With a date in the French capital now penned into the diary, there are six games left of Liverpool’s season and three trophies still to play for, and while there are few passengers in this squad, Diaz is up there among the first-class players who must simply play from the start.
Has one team’s season ever been so finely poised with one month to go? Perhaps not, but their final trophy haul will be determined by those on the pitch. Diogo Jota is no slouch, but Diaz is a cut above.
Analysis: Issues for Liverpool despite victory
i‘s chief football writer Daniel Storey
There were individual issues. Ibrahima Konate launched the ball forward too far too often, the false economy of attempting to relieve pressure that only allows it to accumulate by handing back possession. Naby Keita, the surprise selection in Liverpool’s starting XI over Jordan Henderson, was desperate before the break. Klopp will have demanded control; Keita repeatedly ceded it with poor decision-making. I’m afraid it’s also time for another instalment of the “Trent Alexander-Arnold as a defender” discourse. It’s one thing to lose a header at the back post, another entirely to fail to spot the run and so not even jump for it.
It’s hard to know how much to credit Liverpool for their response, given that they were simply restoring the natural order of things. They did indeed look transformed after half-time, presumably after some dressing-room home truths from a coach who can be bad cop as well as good. Klopp would presumably prefer his team to perform in both halves between now and the end of May, but if there was one fixture where Liverpool could afford to clock in part-time, it was this.
Read Daniel Storey’s full piece from Estadio de la Ceramica here
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