LFC 22/23 – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly – Gameweeks #16 & 17

A win against Foxes, a draw with Wolves. Losing against Bees sadly with ease. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, another week reviewed at Liverpool Football Club.

The Good

The 2-1 win against Leicester, where despite going behind (again!), Liverpool we’re able to claim the spoils.

In what is now almost customary fashion for Liverpool, they fell behind to a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall effort with only four minutes on the clock.

The Reds reverted to type. Pressing, chasing and working the ball with no end product. As luck would have it, Wout Faes was on hand with not only an own goal for the equaliser, but also the winner as the clock ticked down for the end of the first half.

A result that totally flattered Liverpool. The story of 21 shots on goal and only five on target tell a tale of wasteful (or woeful – take your choice) finishing. Darwin Núñez came mighty close on a couple of occasions but the record books will only record the result, and not the head-in-hands “Ooooohs!” Of the Reds faithful.

Liverpool won without any of their players scoring at Anfield 🥹

FT: Liverpool 2:1 Leicester

📸: Simon Stacpoole/Offside (Getty Images) #LIVLEI pic.twitter.com/gEdjJBMxLK

— Sports Brief (@sportsbriefcom) December 30, 2022

To be honest when I look at the contribution from Luis Diaz or Diogo Jota in comparison to new boy Darwin Núñez, I’m struggling to see how one can justify the reported £64m price tag. Still, Rome wasn’t built in a day apparently, so let’s give the lad a bit more time.

The Bad

This was the drab 2-2 home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup at the weekend. Again, Liverpool wanted to give their hosts a head start by handing them the first goal. Sadly this time, the opponent weren’t willing to score the goals for us.

Núñez finally scored, and so too did Mo Salah to put Liverpool in the driving seat. However Wolves decided not to become the victims here, no matter how much the Reds pushed and dominated possession. Alisson even helped them on their way with some terribly poor goal keeping.

The simple fact Wolves had more shots on goal and more on target simply underlined how poor this current Liverpool team is performing currently. Frustration doesn’t come close to how I feel with this lot. The Red’s blushes were saved by VAR, even admittedly so by Jürgen Klopp. Yes, admitted by Klopp himself!

“On the pitch, I couldn’t see it. For me, I thought it was a goal.”

“On the pitch, I couldn’t see it. For me, I thought it was a goal. It was the player in the left corner who might have been offside, we have one angle which I saw in the dressing room which I thought was offside but I would not swear on it.” Admitted the boss in his post match.

🗣️ "We have to accept, but we can say it's a mistake for us."

Julen Lopetegui reacts to the late VAR controversy following @Wolves' 2-2 draw at Anfield.

🎤 @zmansour75 #EmiratesFACup #LIVWOL #WolvesFC pic.twitter.com/JiTV7lKkno

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) January 7, 2023

One has to wonder how a team that got to three cup finals last season can’t hit a barn door now or hold on to a lead to save their lives. The whole team is just way, way below expectations right now. And the defending? The defence has a hole to rival that in Henry’s bucket. Not even dear Liza can fix the leaky vessel that is the Red’s back line.

The Ugly

Getting stuffed 3-1 in the New Year fixture by Brentford in the first game of 2023. You’ll never guess what…?

Liverpool went a goal down! This time by an Ibrahima Konaté own goal. Now we’re returning the favours other teams have done us recently. Add to that, the Reds gifted their hosts another goal before the break.

A good goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain matching his motivated performance gave Liverpool hope, but it wasn’t enough to disguise how poor the team is. A late Brentford goal only served to underline how much the Reds need to do to get back on track. Perhaps they can restore world peace as a low-hanging fruit beforehand.

Much has been made of the midfield which is both ageing and injury-prone. However, the defence and attack must also shoulder a considerable slice of the blame. Salah looks a shadows of the player the club decided to invest in so heavily in terms of salary. Sadly for Núñez, he can’t be afforded the luxury of the time he needs to settle and really needs to start kicking on.

Virgil van Dijk was Taken off in the game injured so that’s another worry for the upcoming games. The Dutchman hasn’t been a pillar of consistency himself in truth, but his quality is unquestionable. That’s enough for this week… NEXT!

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YNWA