Whilst the Manchester United fans sat back and took in the drama of Eastenders we were enjoying what Liverpool in the Champions League is all about; excitement, tension, great atmosphere and of course, plenty of drama. It was far from the most convincing display in the world but it was all about the three points. There were a lot of nerves around it seemed but that was understandable for many reasons; Saturday’s defeat to Aston Villa being one of them, the fact that it was our first game in the competition for 5 years being another and because despite the strength of this tournament, we were expected to win so no matter how we did it, just getting over the line was the priority last night.
Ludogorets are no push overs though. People will point to an under par Liverpool but the away side played at a high intensity, put together some good passing combinations and they pressed really well giving the Redmen little time to settle on the ball. They also possessed some excellent individual talents, most notably Marcelinho who posed numerous problems with his pace.
The tempo of our play was much better than on Saturday but it was obvious early on in the game that this wasn’t going to be an easy match and the players showed incredible persistence, patience and character to search for that first goal. When it came, in the 82nd minute, Anfield erupted at the sight of Mario Balotelli netting for the first time with a composed and well taken finish. He looked sharper last night and as Rodgers alluded to after the game he was getting into the box more often giving him a much better chance of finding that opportunity to score. His hold up play and link up was good in the first half but he looked much better playing in a front two when Borini came on as Rodgers changed to the diamond midfield which does look like our best system moving forward. Unlike Saturday our crossing was more productive as well. Combinations were well worked to create space for decent deliveries and it was Moreno’s ball in that led to the opening goal.
There was no doubt that offensively we started to threaten more when the boss changed the system with Borini having a great chance not long after he came on, again from a cross, this time down the right. The down side to the system change was we looked frailer defensively and given the vulnerabilities within the side already that certainly isn’t good. Ludogorets’ goal came from the same position that had seen them hit the post earlier in the half, inside the box in the space behind Sakho. It would be easy to blame the French defender but the midfield has to take a large chunk of responsibility. For the chance that hit the woodwork Sakho had to step out of defence and press due to a lack of protection in front of him with Lovren failing to provide sufficient cover quick enough allowing the space to emerge and the shot to come in. For the goal, Sakho was drawn out to the left arguably too far admittedly leaving a gap between him and Lovren but on this occasion he was covering for Moreno. The full back had made a forward run to support Sterling on a counter attack and this will prove a massive learning point for him and for Rodgers. 1-0 up in the 90th minute of a Champions League tie as a full back is time to hold your position and see the game out and not a time for lung bursting runs up the pitch. The assist came from space between the lines with the midfield again too separated from their defence whilst Lovren once more failed to cover the space quickly enough. Mignolet also didn’t help the situation rushing out of goal unnecessarily.
To be honest the midfield were struggling prior to the system change with the diamond simply highlighting the issue further. We were exposed down our right quite regularly in the first half due to Lallana’s offensive involvement. The former Saints midfielder took up a variety of positions in the game and broke into the box well to support Balotelli, much better than anyone did at the weekend. He still looked rusty which is understandable and once he starts building up his match fitness then I think he will start to become a really useful player. Rodgers would have been happy for Lallana to have that freedom because Henderson could provide cover whilst Manquillo is very good in 1v1 situations however it’s a process that still needs work as Ludogorets were able to advance up that flank too often. Manquillo did end up being a bit of a hero with his work rate and desire to try and create something late in the game ultimately leading to the penalty that the skipper calmly converted to win the match with minutes remaining.
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| Image courtesy of www.whoscored.com showing the zones where Ludogorets crossed the half way line reflecting their preference to attack down their left, our right. |
Overall it was a great night, back in the Champions League and winning the game in typical Liverpool dramatic fashion. There is no doubt that we will need to improve if we are to progress in this tournament but this is a young group of players, a lot of whom are new to each other as well as being new to European competition whilst some didn’t really have a pre-season with us so are still very much settling in. In a way last night was a perfect game as the players will have learned a lot from it without getting punished. An absolute thumping of Ludogorets, as some predicted, might have given the players a false perception leading to complacency in future games and as we all know, there are no easy games in the Champions League.
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