A 2-0 lead is the worst lead. So goes the footballing cliché. But it’s a saying aptly applied to Arne Slot’s Liverpool as they continue to face adversity when two goals to the good this season.
Three times had Liverpool ceded their lead when two goals up before meeting Everton in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
After a barnstorming start to the all-Liverpool clash, the Reds looking back to their ferocious best, old habits crept in, with Idrissa Gueye pulling one back after the interval and casting an anxious blanket across most of Anfield.
However, this time Slot’s men didn’t need to dig deep and find a last-gasp winner, instead coming together to repel the impressive Toffees and see the game off.
Five wins from five in the Premier League. The hosts might have made a slight meal of things in the second half, but they got the job done once again, with a series of players stepping up.
Liverpool's best performers vs Everton
Virgil van Dijk is imperious as Liverpool’s leader and centre-back supreme, but Ibrahima Konate performed very well indeed against Everton, putting that shaky start to the season firmly behind him.
Against Everton, the France international won seven of eight aerial duels that came his way (data courtesy of Sofascore), while making eight clearances and two tackles, showing off that physical robustness when powering forward to stamp out danger or cover a wandering midfielder.
In the first half, Liverpool won 55% of the duels, but after the break, it was Everton who showed more impetus in the challenge, flipping that to a 56% success rate against the Anfield side.
That doesn’t tell the full story, though, and Dominik Szoboszlai is a testament to that, having only won half of his eight duels but thrived in an all-action midfield role, leading the press and showing off his first-rate stamina as the match wound down, instrumental to snuffing out a late comeback.
(GK) Alisson Becker
6/10
(RB) Conor Bradley
6/10
(CB) Ibrahima Konate
8/10
(CB) Virgil van Dijk
7/10
(LB) Milos Kerkez
6.5/10
(CM) Ryan Gravenberch
9/10
(CM) Alexis Mac Allister
6/10
(RW) Mohamed Salah
7/10
(AM) Dominik Szoboszlai
7.5/10
(LW) Cody Gakpo
6/10
(ST) Hugo Ekitike
9/10
Record signings Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak both entered the fray either side of the hour mark, but neither could write their names into the headlines as the visitors applied pressure and pushed for an equaliser.
That pairing have the skills and styles to emerge as Liverpool’s new version of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, but it’s two higher-flying members of Slot’s squad who are emerging as such stars of old.
Liverpool's new version of Gerrard & Torres
Torres and Gerrard formed one of the most iconic partnerships in Premier League history, turning aside opponents from every which way. Liverpool’s legendary skipper once said El Niño was “the best striker in the world”, before he up and left for Chelsea.
Hugo Ekitike has some stiff competition in Isak at number nine at Liverpool, but he’s playing like a man who knows it right now, having scored his fourth goal of the season after calmly collecting from a delicious Ryan Gravenberch pass and sending the ball past Jordan Pickford.
Liverpool’s £69m striker built on Gravenberch’s earlier goal, an incredible finish, dinked up and over Pickford and down and into the net after Mohamed Salah lobbed into space.
The duo have been incredible this season; they are proving invaluable proponents of Slot’s tactics, so coolly hitting the right heights under the head coach’s guidance.
Last season, Gravenberch announced himself as a major contender for a top side, but he now appears to have taken his game to the next level.
Peter Crouch remarked after the match for TNT Sports that he believes Gravenberch “has been Liverpool’s best player this season”, and it would be hard to contest that, so influential has he been across every corner of the midfield.
Now that he’s kindling a devastating attacking side to his game, the Dutchman is truly shaping into a new, modern version of Gerrard, who was the king of complete performances when in his heyday.
Moreover, Gerrard was a constant thorn in Everton’s side, with no man having scored more in the Merseyside derby than him.
Steven Gerrard
Liverpool
9
Mohamed Salah
Liverpool
8
Divock Origi
Liverpool
6
Robbie Fowler
Liverpool
6
Tim Cahill
Everton
5
Dirk Kuyt
Liverpool
5
Torres was hardly a pushover on derby day, either, scoring three times against the Blues over five appearances as a Liverpool player; all three strikes came during his first two contests.
Ekitike appears up for the task of emulating the one-time hero, and he might even be playing with an air of the Spaniard’s flair too, with former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster saying during the game that the 23-year-old “looks like prime Fernando Torres running around Anfield”.
There was something Torres-esque about the way Ekitike worked overtime, just as it should be in a meeting of intense rivalry. The Frenchman completed all four of his dribbles, won seven duels and made two tackles for Slot’s side.
Isak, to be sure, has his work cut out this season and beyond. But Liverpool want to defend their Premier League title while challenging for silverware across all the other fronts too this term, and the duality of elite options at centre-forward will go a long way toward achieving that.
Boasting a combined Transfermarkt valuation of £130m and showcasing a budding partnership when Grav threaded through for his new frontman, there’s plenty of reason to be excited on the Red half of Merseyside, with such players already shaping this new charge toward the title.
Gravenberch, too, shares the midfield with a host of world-class players, but it’s hard to argue against the Netherlands international being the first name on the team-sheet right now, immovable and brilliant in the middle of the park.
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