Liverpool v Leeds – Zonal Marking

For the eighth time in the Premier League this season, Liverpool were first to concede a goal and found themselves as pursuers again. Their proud 29 games unbeaten Premier League record at Anfield has been put to bed by a a team that sat in the relegation-zone prior to the contest. Here is a rating of defence, goalkeeper, midfield and attack after a harsh defeat to Leeds.

Defence and Goalkeeper

Joe Gomez got the nod to partner Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the defence. While, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson started as full-backs.

Leeds got an early gift from Liverpol, Rodrigo couldn’t be happier to kill it off. A sloppy back pass from Gomez, a slip from Alisson and van Dijk switching off summed up all the struggles that happen this campaign.

The English player made a fatal mistake. Rewinding the situation which he was involved in, mishitting the ball and failing to realise the positioning of his team-mates in the penalty box before making a pass, turned out to be costly.

Roughly five hours earlier, Chelsea had shot themselves in the foot as well. A unmarked Ruben Loftus-Cheek misjudged a clearance in the penalty area, fired the ball inauspiciously into his own net, which gave Brighton the lead.

To demonstrate how bad this game was, one needs to mention van Dijk’s unbeaten home league run that came to an end after five-long years. Leeds were under an immense pressure prior to the game but found a way to successfully expose the Reds’ defence on two occassions.

An underperforming Patrick Bamford came on the pitch in the second-half to change the course of the game and did it! He set up Crysencio Summerville’s late winner.

Both Curtis Jones and James Milner failed to stop his cross into the penalty box, then Liverpool’s centre-backs were slow off the mark and unable to deny Summerville from scoring.

Alexander-Arnold had another mixed night, was unconvincing at times. Subbed in the second half. His counterpart on the left side (Robertson), was lively, good going forward, and used his quality to get past Leeds players, earned a few corners for the Reds and ended up with as assist.

Score: 2

Midfield

I thought Roca, Adams, Aaronson kept up with Thiago and Fabinho. You simply can’t say that they stood out from them.

Jürgen Klopp must have been over the moon, when informed about Thiago’s availability for the contest. It’s fair to say that the Spaniard is injury-prone, having said that, the club should consider this in the winter transfer window and bring a quality player, who would be able to step up in for him in crisis.

Thiago was unbelieveable in the middle of the park one again, showed how important component he is for Jurgen Klopp. Calm on the ball and very creative with passes.

On the other hand, Fabinho had another night to forget. He looked jaded and a shadow of himself from the last seasons. Moreover, his inability to impact the course of the game in the midfield let Leeds players exchange passes with an ease.

Score: 2.5

Attack

The Reds stuck to the 4-4-2 dimond formation. Harvey Elliot, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez started as attacking-minded players. Overall, Liverpool created 22 shots, but only 10 of them were on target.

The Egyptian King didn’t produce a stellar performance, but contributed a volley-goal at the back post, turning Robertson’s inch-perfect cross into goal. This turned out to be just a consolation one after the final whistle. Salah was trying to impact the state of things on the turf by setting up a brilliant chance for Núñez that was thwarted by Meslier.

Harvey Elliot has been thrown in at the deep end this season, he’s as young as 19 and performing at such high level is still a learning curve for him. He lost possession in key areas on a few occasions, as in results his team-mates had to cover for him, but at the end of the day, delivered a decent display.

Try as Roberto Firmino might, he simply couldn’t do anything more. We could see a glimpse of his magic when he created a flick to eject the No.66 or a link-up play with Nunez. However, his energy tank was fading in the second-half. As far as Nunez is concerned, he could have done better in finishing off the chances. He worked hard along the entire length of the field and helped in the defence.

Score: 2.5