4 things we learned: Liverpool can’t close, Benitez in trouble
By Dan Voicescu
Liverpool once again fail to hold on to a lead, and Arsenal and City come away with valuable wins. Here’s what we learned from the Premier League weekend.
Liverpool continue their habit of giving up late goals and allowing opponents to steal points, Arsenal get another impressive win, this time on the road against a physical, no nonsense opponent that the top six teams have struggled against. Tottenham fail to get what seemed like a sure win against an opponent in disarray. Manchester City get another win, this time on the road at Huddersfield, and have the best start in the history of the Premier League.
Liverpool continue to frustrate late in games
We’ve seen this scenario play out many times before. For the Liverpool faithful it’s becoming a sickening display of defensive ineptitude, a teasing spectacle leading the Anfield fanatics to wonder what could have been had management addressed their goalkeeping and defensive lapses.
Without really dominating, Liverpool played well enough to win against Chelsea, despite not creating a whole lot of chances. As usual, the Reds pressed high and looked to recover the ball quickly, employing a defensive tactic that could be described as “keep the opponents as far away from the 18 yard box as possible.”
This may seem like an obvious defending strategy, but in Liverpool’s case it looks as if the gegenpressing is explicitly employed to keep the ball and the danger away from the likes of Ragnar Klavan and Simon Mignolet, due to any lack of trust in their ability to be involved with the play both when in and out of possession.
Contrast this with Manchester City’s trust in their backline, starting with the way they build their possession out of the back from goalkeeper Ederson and through all the backline personnel, comfortably using all the space available along the end line.
On merit, Chelsea deserved to come away with a point, having created the better chances in the early part of the game, even if their goal was somewhat fortuitous. While Liverpool can feel aggrieved at the manner in which they conceded, their failure to close out games is becoming a consistent, frustrating theme.