Football News: Luton Town v Liverpool

Luton Town v Liverpool

A really poor performance which was made even worse by the tactical approach. Against a team which stays compact and defends in numbers, you have to utilise the space out wide to try and draw them out of their positions. Liverpool play with almost no width with this inverted full-back set up, which was then added to by playing Gomez on the left instead of Tsimikas. It just meant that the central areas were congested and it looked like one of those abysmal Man Utd performances in recent years when the approach seemed to be to hope that one of the better players creates something out of nothing. There was little quick passing and movement around the edge of the box, instead it was left to players to try and crash through a packed defence or hit and hope from distance. The quality of players in the team meant that there were still a number of very good chances created, but it was still a poor performance and would have been so even if the team had managed to pull a win out of the bag.

Luton worked extremely hard, held their shape well and defended well but barely created anything of note other than their goal. They had to ride their luck at times, not least when Salah somehow ended up putting the ball on a plate for Nunez rather than in the back of the net, only for Nunez to then miss. While Luton can take a lot of credit for their battling qualities, they will need to improve the other aspects of their game if they are to have any hopes of survival.

Quick notes on the players:

Alisson – had almost nothing to do at all until about 60 minutes in and then just the goal to deal with other than a couple of corners he punched clear. When a keeper has so little to do all match and his team still does not win, then something is wrong.

Alexander-Arnold – early on he provided a great delivery from wide which saw Nunez hit the bar, but the more we needed width, the more central he played. No idea why the coaching staff were not instructing him to get out wide and deliver the ball. Instead he ended up being totally nullified and offered little to the play.

Konate – made one good forward run early on, where he drove from his own box right up to the edge of the Luton box, but the rest of the game was fairly simple as Luton were not offering much threat. When they did he and Van Dijk were able to shut it down quickly in the main.

van Dijk – due to our lack of width, he was rarely able to use his long pass out to the flank to create an attack, something which could have been very useful in this game. Could well have had a penalty when he was brought down in the box, but those kind of fouls never seem to be given, so not really a surprise no penalty was awarded.

Gomez – got forward well down the left, but as soon as he received the ball he cut inside or turned back, leaving absolutely nothing on the left as Jota constantly drifted inside.

Mac Allister – had a terrible game once more. He looked so sluggish, on the break for the goal he was left trailing when he should have been able to get back and help out. It is a worry that he was caught out in the first place, as he should have been reading the play and dropping in the role he is meant to be performing. With a one-match ban to serve following his fifth yellow card of the season in this game, it will be interesting to see how Klopp and Lijnders deal with it and whether they finally accept this experiment is failing miserably.

Gravenberch – showed some good flashes of ability running with the ball, but lacked the final touch or ball that was needed. Just needed to do a bit more.

Szoboszlai – very quiet game and really struggled to have an effect on it.

Jota – the best I can say about him is his performance made sure the team missed Diaz all the more. When width was required he was constantly central and offered little. He did work hard, but it was a poor performance which lacked any thought about what was needed. In fact he was barely involved in the first half until late on when he had a shot saved and was sparked into life for a bit, but reverted to type in the second. Unusually for Jota he did not pop up with a goal either to make up for having a bad day.

Salah – had a poor game, his touch was loose and his finishing was worse.

Nunez – I really do not understand how a player can be so brilliant one second and then a second later so terrible or the other way around. He could have racked up the goals in this game, instead he came away with nothing.

Gakpo – brought on in the 66th minute for Jota. Failed to offer much more than Jota, even making the same mistake of playing central rather than getting out wide and using the space.

Elliott – came on in place of Szoboszlai, also in the 66th minute. At least he offered width from the moment he took the field and it made a difference as Liverpool looked a lot more dangerous with him attacking from the flank.

Tsimikas – was the third man to come on in the 66th minute, as he replaced Gomez on the left. Gave a bit of width on the left but failed to deliver anything of quality in open play at all.

Diaz – came on in the 83rd minute to take Gravenberch’s place. Probably the only player to have any credit from that match. Great header from an Elliott cross to equalise late on and he was a real threat and also provided genuine threat from the left to stretch Luton a bit defensively along with Elliott. It is no coincidence that the goal was created and scored by the pair of them.

Written by Tris Burke November 06 2023 14:31:38