Unconvincing victories

Job done in the end then sanding you just saw the score you’d think this was a comfortable night for Liverpool but in truth, the scoreline massively flattered us and had Barnsley scored when they hit the post after 30 odd seconds, it would likely have been a different game.

One thing we couldn’t complain about was the quality of the goals we scored. Szoboszlai opened the scoring with an absolute rocket from around 30 yards out and then Frimpong fired his own rocket into the roof of the net shortly after, which really should have set us up for a comfortable evening. If only…

Having been by far the best player on the pitch up to this point, Szoboszlai then did the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen on a football pitch, attempting to backheel the ball to the keeper in his own 6 yard box, when being chased down by the Barnsley forward. Dom made a mess of it and it was 2-1 which set us up for a nervy second half. It was ridiculous, arrogant and disrespectful but hopefully he’s learned his lesson.

Second half was quite even and the result looked far from a sure thing for long spells. Slot made changes, on came Ekitiike and Wirtz and they changed things. First Ekitike set up Wirtz with a beautiful back heeled flick that Wirtz ran onto and expertly curled the ball into the top corner before returning the favour for Ekitike to tap in for our fourth.

So we got there in the end but were still not a good watch and Anfield was like a library for the majority of the game. Job done but we’ll need to be much better to get past Brighton in the next leg. With the news of Xabi’s departure from Madrid, there’s now even more pressure on Slot to try and improve both results and especially or horrible style of play that we’ve seen this season. Walk on!