Liverpool F.C. – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly- Gameweek 2
A mean fete it ain’t, a win away against the Saints. Fans give their thumbs up, for defeating the Blues in the Super Cup. Caught sleeping, a terrible bit of goal keeping. The Good The Bad and The Ugly, another week reviewed at the world’s favourite football club, Liverpool F.C.
The Good
Coming away from St. Mary’s with all three points. Liverpool survived a late scare to see out a 1-2 win against Southampton. What was beginning to look like a stroll in the park, turned out to a tad more hairy than envisaged.
Sadio Mané put the Reds ahead before the break with a sweet effort from the age of the Southampton area. In the second half, The mercurial No. 10 provided the assist for Roberto Firmino to double the lead.
However, with seven minutes remaining, goalkeeper Adrian gifted the hosts a way back into the game. His attempted clearance hit the shin of Danny Ings and returned straight past him and into the net (see The Bad, below).
Following a nervy last few minutes, Liverpool came out on top. Ings did miss a glorious chance to square things up when he failed to connect with a perfectly centred ball when in front of goal. Shame for the former Reds striker, but that’s football.
Yes! 🙌🏾 Secured 3 points on the road in a tricky match. Great way to finish a tough but very rewarding week 💪🏾 #SOULIV pic.twitter.com/3mBwUrXnZC
— Gini Wijnaldum (@GWijnaldum) August 17, 2019
The (Not) Bad
Becoming Super Cup winners for the fourth time. After drawing with Chelsea 2-2 after extra-time. Liverpool won 5-4 on penalties.
Having gone a goal behind before the break, the Reds equalised through Sadio Mané shortly after the restart, following the introduction of Firmino. 1-1 it remained until the final whistle.
Mané was on hand to put Liverpool ahead after five minutes of extra time to send the fans into raptures at the scene of their Champions League victory in 2005 under Rafa Benitez. Their joy was however, short lived as newly-installed Frank Lampard’s men equalised after five minutes of the second half of extra time.
With the dreaded penalties approaching, both sides were unable to break the deadlock. New signing Adrian was on hand to make a crucial save from Tammy Abraham. This time the fans could celebrate. The second piece of silverware since Jürgen Klopp arrived in October 2015.
If this continues, we might just have something to shout about come May.
Congratulations to Liverpool for winning the Super Cup 👏#SuperCup #Liverpool #LIVCHE pic.twitter.com/g2NyeR9tfR
— 12thmanfootballshop ⚽ (@12thmanfbshop) August 14, 2019
The Ugly
The prospect of having Adrian in goal until Alisson is back from injury.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s only just started at the club and has a bit of a roller coaster ride so far. Hero in the penalty shootout against Chelsea in the Super Cup Final only a few days ago, to zero following his balls-up against Southampton.
I wouldn’t put him in the Loris Karius boat just yet, but I’m hoping he gets a bit more consistent over the coming weeks.
To be fair to him, he trained alone over pre-season after his contract ran out at West Ham. So to go from being, basically, unemployed (likely not a huge set back in life for him compared to those in most professions), to becoming a goalkeeper for the first team at Liverpool must take some getting used to.
So, not that Ugly, if at all really, but something to look out for. I’m not so sure the clean sheet stat will look that great for now.
https://twitter.com/sterlingomi/status/1162763565100621828?s=21
Next up, we have the visit of the once-mighty Gooners to Anfield next week. That’ll be a good test for Klopp and his men. OK, it’s not Arsene Wenger’s Team of 2003/4, but still pretty decent on their day. Let’s hope this isn’t next Saturday!
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