Liverpool 4-0 Bayer Leverkusen (UEFA Champions League Group Stages)
It's bonfire night. Not the dogs favourite time of year. It's also election night in America. Trump v Kamala has hogged all the news in the UK. So going under the radar somewhat is Liverpool v Bayer Leverkusen at Anfield tonight. Arne Slot's red machine versus the newly efficient German champions managed by an ex Pool legend in Xabi Alonso. Do they still use the nickname 'Pool'?
Liverpool have been magnificent this season. Arne slotting into life after Klopp, a seamless transaction, like a contactless payment at the local co-op, there's not been an easier passing of the baton in English football since Shankly handed over to Paisley, it seems.
Some would say Liverpool haven't been as great to watch under Slot as they were Klopp, but they are getting the job done, and are flying high, top of the Premier League, they have three wins from three in this season's Champions League too.
Also unbeaten in the UCL with two wins and a draw, are Bayer Leverkusen whose unbeaten last season in the league helped them knock Bayern Munich off their perch after ten long tears of dominance.
I've watched a lot of Leverkusen who are easy on the eye, different in approach, fantastically drilled, modern, but brilliant, tonight intrigues me as I don't think Liverpool will have it all their own way.
I'm out the door early, leaving Nottingham just after 2pm, a three hour drive in traffic (A50/M6/M62) I arrive at a McDonald's on Queens Drive which I park opposite before a quick quarter pounder meal. It's a good half hour walk is Anfield down the Utting Avenue, fireworks already in the air as I make my way towards the ground on foot.
The Venue
Under the dark skies there's a glow in the distance, but it's not until you get to Stanley Park do you see the back end of the giant new Anfield Road End.
I'm walking past scarf sellers, approaching 6pm it still feels quiet out, the foot traffic building the nearer the ground you get as Frank Lampard and Clarence Seedorf are ushered past me whilst fans ask them for photos, it's monumental and modern is the stadium as tourists and first timers take pics in front of the glass backed stands, there's a fan zone slowly filling and when you walk past the back of the Liverpool Main Stand there's music playing on a stage with big screen above converted onto a flat bed lorry. A singer playing a guitar sings the Virgil van Dijk (Dirty Old Town) song as they show some clips on the big screen from of all players, Steve Harkness.
I'm in for my accreditation before heading up to level six in the lift, a quick wee and I'm out into the commentary positions where I pass Adrian Durham and TalkSport before sitting next to LFCTV commentator Steve Hunter.
It's cosy tonight as I count a hundred media people on the touchline pre game, there's a lot in the gantry and not much room for my work colleague beside me, I've a chair next to me free but the LFCTV commentator says "that's reserved for John Aldridge".
The view up here is magnificent but you're bloody high, by now the fireworks display in full throttle above the city, there must be millions spent in this region alone as every second seems to go with a loud bang, the arena is vibrant in anticipation and perks into life with the pre game rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone. Alan Shearer and Guy Mowbray walk past to start their comms on Amazon Prime TV before Aldo appears half way through the YNWA sing song. He sits down to do co-comms with just a minute until kick off to spare.
The Game
From up here you get to see the shape of each team brilliantly, both teams press high, Liverpool 2-5-3 in attack, defending in more usual 4-3-3. Leverkusen are playing their classic 3-4-3 which is two really high wide players and two inverted no10's if you like, behind the chunky Victor Boniface in attack. It's more 5-4-1 in defence, but it quickly turns to 3-2-5 when they burst forward. It's very exciting and it causes Liverpool some problems early doors as Leverkusen target any voids left by Trent Alexander-Arnold in the right back position.
It's an attacking version of cat and mouse as Liverpool have a go too. They often go long down the flanks to expose Bayer on the counter attack as they look to isolate Hincape against Salah who is full of running. The Leverkusen defence holds well in a first half of few chances and they might have taken the lead on the break but Frimpong is penalised for hand ball ahead of racing through to blast home.
The Score
I'm chatting to my work colleague who watched Marseille v PSG over the weekend before Atletico v Las Palmas in Madrid, I'm impressed with his jet setting ability as he shows me some pictures of a football pitch next to a block of flats he photo'd from the Notre Dame in Marseille, before you know it the half time interval is over, the two teams are back out and action is underway.
I'm of the feeling Bayer could nick something, scrap for a nil nil or even hit Liverpool on the counter attack to sneak a 1-0, my colleague feels Liverpool will wear them down and get two or three, he's proven right when a resurgent Liverpool come out a different beast, they dictate, dominate, up their level, they control the ball and it's all in the Germans half, finally Curtis Jones threads a past, Luis Diaz dinks a finish, and Liverpool on the hour, are in the lead.
That gets the crowd up and like a boxer who sees blood, rather that sit on their laurels and protect what they have, Liverpool go for the kill and instantly score a second, Salah sent away down the right, crossing in for Gakpo to brilliantly head home at the back post.
The offside flag has gone up. John Aldridge sat next to me begrudgingly says "offside" but as we look on my monitor at the replay he taps me excitedly to say "he's on". A fan behind who looks over our shoulder to see our screen says "he's on".. there's a minute or two wait but by now we know, the whole ground sings the Fields of Anfield Road in knowing that the goal will be given, then on the Referees whistle, eruption that drowns out the by now dwindling number of fireworks that still light the sky.
Leverkusen have given it a good go, but by now they're out of ideas, it's been like a boxing match, young pretender verses the old champ, toe for toe in the early rounds, the underdog even catching out their opponent on occasion to perhaps edge some scorecards, to be blown away in rounds six and seven, they're still on their feet because they have heart, but as each round progresses the margin of victory gets wider.
On 83 Salah again from the right, stands one up to the back post where Diaz out muscles a defender to take a touch and slot home, the Colombian gets his hat trick in injury time after Darwin Nunez attempts to shoot on a four on two breakaway, the ball falling kindly to Diaz who nets his first ever Liverpool hat trick.
The Stars
The evolution of Liverpool's front three over the years has fascinated me, you wouldn't think Salah, Mane & Firmino could be bettered but I really like the combination of Salah, Gakpo and Diaz, contract negotiating Egyptian King Mo Salah it feels has a real new lease of life under Slot, he's playing with confidence and swagger which perhaps eluded him at times last season, he's simply brilliant and arguably one of the greatest footballers I've ever seen play live, now 32, he looks every bit as good as he did four or five years ago.
Gakpo is brilliant, a different kind of threat to Salah, slower in approach, elegant, shifting over to the left wing and cutting in on that right foot, he's decent in the air and intelligent without the ball, this offers space for Diaz to run into who perhaps is better as your traditional left winger, but as a number nine, occupying that central space, it could be genius, to get him more goals than he currently delivers, he certainly has the ability to regularly hit twenty plus a season.
In midfield they have Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch who have excelled this season, in defence they have the best passer of a football on the planet, whilst van Dijk and Konate hold it all together, sometimes exposed, Liverpool do every now and again look like conceding, but both handled the threat of Boniface, Wirtz and co with usual calming assurance.
Bayer Leverkusen themselves have brilliant footballers. Intelligent, they are sharp on the ball and work extremely hard off it, all possessing something different and exciting in their own makeup.
For 60 minutes I really liked their back three, individually and collectively it worked, Hincape on the left was strong and combative, a good man marker, Tapsoba on the right athletic, powerful, a pest, Tah in the middle reading and dictating, talking, I presume all will eventually move on for big bucks.
Frimpong as the right sided wing back offered pace and power and a real forward threat, Grimaldo different on the left, picking his moments to get forward and often cutting inside, but a real danger from set plays, in midfield Xhaka and Palacios kept things ticking neatly, but with a bit of nastiness and bite, whilst the mercurial Florian Wirtz floated, a bit of a taller more talented version of Xherdan Shaqiri for me, stocky with invention, you won't knock him off the ball, then there's the Ox in Victor Boniface, so strong but quick, a real goalscoring threat up front, although credit Konate who marked him, he nullified his threat and equalled him in strength.
The Verdict
Is this the best version of Liverpool we've seen in the Premier League era? I still think it has a long way to go to match the attacking threat of the 2019 title winning team, but if they win the league this year, and perhaps even take glory in the Champions League, and by now they should be favourites for both competitions, then perhaps they should be considered as one of the very best we've seen.
Which for Leverkusen states no shame in losing 4-0, a very good football outfit themselves making history as one of German soccer's best ever teams, but not nearly as good as Liverpool, tonight's result highlights a significant gulf in levels, Liverpool are world elite, Bayer, not quite there yet.
The Teams
Liverpool: Caomhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold (Conor Bradley 81), Ibrahima Konate (Jarell Quansah 88), Virgil van Dijk, Kostas Tsimikas (Andy Robertson 81), Curtis Jones (Dominik Szoboslai 74), Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Mo Salah, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo (Darwin Nunez 81).
Bayer Leverkusen: Lukas Hradecky, Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah, Piero Hincapie, Jeremie Frimpong, Ezequiel Palacios (Jonas Hoffman 73), Granit Xhaka, Alex Grimaldo (Nathan Tella 81), Florian Wirtz, Aleix Garcia (Robert Andrich 73), Victor Boniface (Patrick Schick 81).
8:00pm Kick Off. Tuesday 5th November 2024, Anfield, Liverpool (att 59,790).
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