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Football News: Liverpool v Hoffenheim Match Review - A Liverpool Perspective

Liverpool v Hoffenheim Match Review - A Liverpool Perspective
Image from: zimbio.com

Liverpool v Hoffenheim

A fantastic flying start won the game and tie for Liverpool. The players came out of the blocks at it and ripped through Hoffenheim. They tried to go toe-to-toe with us, playing a back 3 against our front 3 but they were outclassed completely. Mane tore them apart, had the left wing back and left sided centre back arguing between themselves over who should pick him up and it was just a matter of time before the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Liverpool got three goals in fairly quick succession, playing some lovely flowing football, and the tie and game was over after just 20 minutes. To be fair to Hoffenheim, they kept on going. They pulled one back, fairly quickly, following a substitution and tactical change to a back four to give them a man over as cover in defence. While the crowd had a few jitters, they never really looked like they were capable of scoring enough to save themselves.

Second half kicked off and Liverpool just took charge and were totally dominant, in complete control of the game and eventually added a 4th and killed the game stone dead. While Hoffenheim added a 2nd in the 79th minute, it was just a consolation, as they had clearly lost all belief. They had their heart torn out by the three first half goals but the 4th was when it stopped beating.
Offensively Liverpool were brilliant, everything was done quickly, the team were always looking to get the ball forward and there was some real quality on display. As Jurgen Klopp said after Can's second, "that's football!" And he was right, that was football at its best, fast, incisive, exciting and attractive attacking football played at pace, with the whole team involved.

However, it was the same old story in defence. Mignolet has been back to the old dodgy keeper this season, Lovren has looked lost in every game, Moreno still has the odd rick in him and never spots someone running in behind him and Alexander-Arnold is still learning the defensive side of the game. At least Matip stood up to be counted, though he still had errors in his game.

It did not help that they had little protection from midfield as the game was more like a basketball match, with only attack and defence and very little inbetween the two. There is still a lack of tactical understanding in that midfield, as Moreno was being overrun by 3 or 4 players targeting the left back's area of the pitch and his only help was when Mane was getting back. Even then that left Hoffenheim with an overload.

Towards the end, as Liverpool looked to see out the game getting everyone behind the ball, there was more help for the beleagured left back, but it could well have been too little, too late. On another day, when the attack is not flowing, exposing the left back like that could have been a fatal. It was not due to quick counters that the overload was happening either, so it could be easily fixed by the central midfield spotting the danger and one of them going over to help, as happened in the final few minutes when Liverpool just saw the game out.

Overall, in both legs, the best team won and won by a deserved margin. While Hoffenheim gave it their all, there was a significant gulf in class between the two sides, unsurprisingly as Hoffenheim have been playing well above themselves in the Bundesliga.

 

Klopp - Went back to the team that won the first leg and the hard hitting harum scarum rollercoaster ride football of the early part of last season. With Firmino pulling the strings superbly up front, it worked and rolled over Hoffenheim early on. If only he could motivate the team to play like that every game.

 

Mignolet - back to the old indecisive jittery Mignolet who struggled with his kicking all night. While he was not directly at fault for any of the goals, he could well have been with his flap at one cross that he got nowhere near and then his inability to follow up with a simple catch. That is not going to help with the defence's confidence when they see their keeper do that.

When there is a keeper like Grobbelaar there, who also had a tendency to make a rick, it did not affect confidence because the defence knew that it would not affect his game and that he would pull a wonder save out of the bag later on to make up for it. With Mignolet it clearly does affect him when he makes an error and he looks jittery afterwards and it transmits itself to the defence.

 

Alexander-Arnold - showed his inexperience last night as he was caught out of position a number of times in the first half defensively. However he worked hard at chasing back and mostly made sure to rectify his errors. Going forward was a different story and he had a good game on the attack.

 

Matip - had a good game, there was an error or two here and there, but nothing major and he grew into the game as it went along. He looked much more comfortable facing a Bundesliga side than he does in the Prem.

 

Lovren - returned to the team but it was difficult watching for all concerned as he was haphazard at best with his decisions. His rash attempts to get in front of an attacker can work brilliantly or end up looking embarrassingly inept or anything inbetween. Last night he managed both extremes at times. An accident waiting to happen.

 

Moreno - had a mainly good game, but the same old mistakes are still there defensively waiting to happen. He still does not spot runners, he still gets caught out positionally. Both come from ballwatching. He has problems with his concentration, that is clear. When the ball goes over the top of him and he turns to chase it and finds opposition players there, it always seems to come as a surprise to him, as he lacks awareness of what is going on around him.

It did not help him that Hoffenheim sought to overload down that side of the pitch and he got little help initially. He was often facing 3 players on his own, which left him unsure of what to do. While Mane got back to help when he could, he needed more help earlier.

 

Henderson - that was much more like the old Henderson. Not just on the ball, but his closing down showed more energy and he managed a few charges forward, one in which he got an assist with a well timed pass across when one on one with the keeper. Now he just needs to stay fit.

 

Wijnaldum - at times excellent, though he did try and do too much on the ball, which saw him lose possession a few times. Overall though he had a good game and was much more involved and visible than he often is.

 

Can - take a bow son! Not just his two goals, but his all round play was excellent last night. Can really can can't he?

 

Mane - ripped their defence a new one until the made a change to a back four, but it was too late for them by that point. Got back a fair bit to help out defensively as well.

 

Salah - was a real threat with his pace and workrate but completely outshone by the two up top alongside him.

 

Firmino - sensational. Just sensational last night. His through balls were on another level. It shows what happens when his team mates are on the same wavelength as him, usually it is only Coutinho that sees what he is trying to do and makes the move to receive his passes. Usually that ends up with his passes going astray and him looking like he is playing a bad pass. This time his teammates were on the same wavelength, moving to receive the ball before he played it.

He was utterly unplayable last night, chasing back, hounding their players, his touch, his control, he was taking it past players, playing excellent passes, creating chances and scored a goal. Only thing I was not sure about was his goal celebration. At least he remembered to keep his top on this time so he did not pick up a booking!

 

Subs:

Gomez - with the game in the bag, Alexander-Arnold was taken off in the 65th minute to allow the more defensive minded Gomez to see out the game. With Hoffenheim loading up with attacking players and looking to hit them early, it was a sensible move. Did well enough, but had little to worry about as they were targeting the opposite side of the pitch.

Milner - came on in the 70th minute for Can, who must have been gutted as he was on a hattrick. Hard to judge his performance as the game was effectively dead and Hoffenheim were missing out the midfield by that point.

Klavan - came on in the 88th minute to provide some extra protection against the long balls to the left back area but had little to do.

Written by Tris Burke August 24 2017 07:26:28