Liverpool v Brighton and Hove Albion
500 words on “PlayStation Football”. An alternative Match Report.
500 words on “PlayStation Football”. An alternative Match Report.
My Editor has stressed that I must stick to just 500 words for this match report and frankly dear reader, you and I know both know that I’ll never stick to such alphabetical communism. It could also be construed as a numerical restraint of trade too but words such as these fly over the head of my Editor and frankly his mathematical skills leave a lot to be desired too, so perhaps we’ll just leave him in the corner of the room as he pores over the statistics of the managerial reign of Graeme Souness.
Anyway, hasn’t he heard of an application called “Word Count”?
And hasn’t he heard of Liverpool’s injury crisis?
Injury crisis?
I thought this was a brief dissection on the Reds “PlayStation Football” in today’s game? It is, and we’ll get to that in due course. But injury crisis? Last season was an injury crisis, necessitating Alisson Becker’s surreal headed winner at West Brom. This current injury crisis or perceived injury problems are being experienced by a well drilled team playing PlayStation Football! Yes you can argue that the owners should have deep pockets and buy every player known to mankind. But they’d still get injured. Just like the marvellous Thiago, a magician with the ball and the head up awareness playing style of Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso of Reds past. Thiago is injury plagued and it’s a damn shame to the game of football. Naby Keita too, and despite being in the form of his Liverpool Football Club life, goals, energy, pitch coverage, confidence, he went off injured today for the second game running. Keita was replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain, he too of the “injury crisis” that perpetually swirls around the fields of Anfield Road. James Milner, arguably the best “free transfer” of recent times is, at 36, injured again, as is Fabinho who has fast become the Reds engine room and a huge miss when not playing. Joe Gomez is fit and firing and fully returned from injury and 18 year old Harvey Elliott will be back better than ever from his horrendous injury at Leeds earlier in the season. Elliott was a starter for Klopp and his performances merited that trust of faith fully. He’ll be a long term starter again. Elliott has some future ahead of him.
But there’s an injury crisis and here comes the veiled accusations again (from some quarters) that it’s always a certain type of player in a common footballing position that gets injured (midfielders Oxlade Chamberlain, Keita, Milner, Fabinho AND you could even stretch this example to the number 14 of today’s visitors, the returning Adam Lallana) and so because of these commonalities and forgetting that all of these players are merely human beings and not robots, it’s the Manager’s fault. Or it’s the coaching staff. Or a combination of the two. They’re working the players too hard, hence the injuries. This particular accusation was levelled at Klopp when he first arrived at Anfield. His players would always arrive at April and May too tired to compete, or too injured. Jurgen has a bag of medals he’d like to show you one day. All of them collected in May. Except when he managed his team to be the champions of the world and the same accusation was heaped on Rafa Benitez when he was overlapping between winning the Spanish League with Valencia and winning the European Cup with Liverpool.
And don’t talk to me about an injury crisis unless you lived through the “Phil Boersma years” under Graeme Souness! There were no press conferences in those days or “puff pieces” from the training ground. Instead, Souness led the press into a darkened room, switched off the remaining lights and made them watch a loop of “Casualty” whilst he slowly rocked in the corner of the room and gently cried. I went a lot during the Souness era and unconfirmed reports suggest that many in the Kemlyn Road stand would bring their boots just in case they were needed to cover at left back. That was an injury crisis.
This is “PlayStation Football”.
Brief capsule review of today’s game: In terms of numbers, stats, VAR and football clichés we have a full house. There were 4 goals, 3 more disallowed (rightly) and the very epitome of the cliché “A game of 2 half's”. Whilst the Reds of Liverpool dominated the first half they were more than matched by their South Coast visitors in their pleasing to the eye old fashioned Blue and White stripes. The second half saw the massive game favourites Liverpool completely outplayed but not by a cliché ridden “plucky underdog” but by a stylish and well coached Brighton who thoroughly deserved their point and, according to my grumpy Editor, were deserving of all 3. Lallana “stood” on his mate and former team mate Jordan Henderson in the second half, and Brighton then really played, outplayed the Reds and were a vastly superior attacking threat to score a winning goal.
But this only partly tells the “PlayStation Football” tale. Liverpool’s first goal was a 9 touch, 2 pass sweeping move from Van Dijk’s ridiculous pass to Salah’s control, teasing touches and release to a brilliant first time strike from the Skipper Henderson. Back to front, sweeping move, perfect strike on goal. Oxlade-Chamberlain bent the perfect ball over the Brighton defence for Mane’s head and it was 2–0 Liverpool and they were being clinical if a little sloppy and highlighting of their defensive holes and frailties, for they have them, and this must continue to annoy Manager Klopp. Regardless, Liverpool were fantastic for 30 minutes, harrying, pressing, hunting in packs (epitomised by Mane’s disallowed goal as he hunted the goalkeeper 4 yards from his own goal line) and were 7/10 to their own high standards of the Klopp inspired game they play, the game of “The Ball is my Friend” and chasing their opposition to distraction if they don’t have that precious commodity.
But Brighton were more than playing their part, forcing a smart save from Alisson Becker onto the post and were still playing their own style of football through the pesky, waspish, Trossard and Sully March. Lallana was trying on his Anfield return but would be much more effective after the half time break and Brighton fully deserved their first goal and a “PlayStation” goal it was, with Mwepu taking a sneak peek at Becker’s positioning before unleashing a beautiful curling shot over the Brazilian keeper. 2–1 to Liverpool became 2–2 twenty minutes into the second half and we had a recurring theme running through the match at this point: Brighton were on top, Lallana was influential, Liverpool were being pressed and harried, Brighton fully deserved their equaliser and it was a thing of “PlayStation Football” beauty, back to front, from a sweeping kick from keeper Sanchez and smartly moved immediately onto the dancing and blooming annoying feet of the diminutive Trossard who twisted and turned before slotting home.
2–2 and game on with 25 minutes to go. Huge chunks of the final 25 minutes were played in the Liverpool half with a quietened crowd and a retreating team in Red. Brighton came close to the winning goal and would have deserved all 3 but it finished 2–2, spoils divided.
Injury crisis? PlayStation Football? Is Christmas overrated? All of these questions can be posed but I’m not going to answer them and nor is my Editor. What I can say with supreme confidence is my Liverpool team are playing “PlayStation Football” even when they sneak an undeserved draw at home to Brighton. Unbeaten, 2nd in the League, Goal Difference of +21. And it’s not even bonfire night yet. The Reds are playing the cohesive unit type of pressing football that is no doubt making Klopp smile over a late night beer at home. 5–0 last week, 2–2 this. Two more games down. Unbeaten in the League.
Just don’t overlook the part Alisson Becker played today, yet again demonstrating he’s the best goalkeeper in the world. Klopp just needs to re-purpose and re-focus the back 4 that play in front of him and the Reds will play even more “PlayStation Football” in the future, injuries or not.
