Liverpool match verdict as Ian Doyle reflects on 1-1 draw away to Chelsea in the Premier League and transfer situation. Liverpool owner John Henry
John Henry didn’t need to fly thousands of miles for first-hand evidence of what Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has known for several weeks.
But the Reds owner will now be acutely aware of the desperate need to recruit a defensive midfielder before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Henry, taking in his first Liverpool game since the win at West Ham United in April, watched Klopp’s side begin the Premier League campaign by chiselling out a hard-earned draw at Chelsea.
A point at Stamford Bridge, playing their first Premier League game under new boss Mauricio Pochettino, is never a bad result, even if the Londoners are an even greater work in progress than the Reds.
However, Liverpool’s performance merely underlined what has been evident throughout pre-season. They at present are as suspect defensively as they are dangerous going forward, even if a resolute collective rearguard effort in the second half – spearheaded by the impressive Ibrahima Konate and with Alisson Becker again solid between the sticks – just about masked a below-par showing on the ball, Liverpool ceding almost two-thirds of possession to their opponents.
Klopp, regularly bounding around the touchline in increasing anger and disbelief, will know such an approach is unsustainable. This was more a throwback to the wild Reds of his earlier years in charge, control in midfield an afterthought.
He wasn’t the only Reds representative unhappy, Mohamed Salah unable to hide his disgust at being substituted late on and thus denied an opportunity to score on a record seventh successive opening Premier League weekend.
The presence of Henry was all the more timely given the off-field scrap in which Liverpool and Chelsea have become entangled, both targeting Moises Caicedo of Brighton and Southampton’s Romeo Lavia to solve their similar midfield issues.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Henry and Chelsea’s maverick billionaire Todd Boehly exchanged pleasantries in the boardroom.
That the Londoners were unable, as they had reportedly wanted, to unveil Caicedo at Stamford Bridge highlights the issues they have had to overcome to match Liverpool’s £110million bid for the player. Chelsea now look set to get their man with a medical believed to be lined up for Monday. But at least the Reds’ offer was an indication Fenway Sports Group and Henry are willing to back Klopp as he attempts to fill an obvious hole, even if finding the right player hasn’t become any easier.
Certainly, an overwhelmed Alexis Mac Allister isn’t the long-term answer. The pre-season programme had seen Klopp experiment with a number of options, Trent Alexander-Arnold the number six in Germany while, in Singapore, Curtis Jones impressed against Leicester City but struggled to deal with Bayern Munich.
Mac Allister’s only run-out was in the win over Darmstadt at Preston last Monday, but that was enough for the Argentine to be entrusted with the responsibility in an unaccustomed position here. And while there weren’t many issues with his forward play, he too often had his pocket picked while his natural attacking leanings meant the defence was at times exposed. In truth, it was asking a lot of a player making his competitive Liverpool debut regardless of experience at Premier League and international level. Unsurprisingly, Mac Allister looked a little nervous.
Dominik Szoboszlai, the other major summer arrival, was unafraid to get stuck in – even if the hectic pace of the game meant he conceded more fouls than he would have liked – and his pressing and purpose, not least with one strong first-half run into the Chelsea area, suggests his acclimatisation period should only be brief.
Cody Gakpo, though, made a negligible impact in the engine room, and while the Reds started and ended the game in strong fashion, the majority in between saw them on the back foot.
The respective midfield problems contributed to an entertaining first half that was far too end-to-end for the liking of either Klopp or Chelsea counterpart Pochettino.
Liverpool had the greater intent early on with Diogo Jota twice finding his aim before Salah struck the crossbar from the edge of the area. And the Egyptian – so lively in pre-season – was the provider when the Reds went ahead on 18 minutes, sent running at Levi Colwill by Mac Allister’s searching pass and then crossing low to the far post where a stretching Luis Diaz scored.
Only a very marginal offside call then denied Salah a goal after Alexander-Arnold’s delightful throughball, and that proved the game’s turning point as the escape sparked the home side into life.
Still, it took a scrappy strike for Chelsea to level on 37 minutes, a recycled set-piece headed back into the danger zone by Ben Chilwell and falling kindly for Axel Disasi, whose mishit effort deceived Alisson and bounced into the far corner.
Chilwell then had a goal disallowed for another tight offside and Nicolas Jackson blasted a good chance over, while in the second half Alisson saved from Jackson and Chilwell and did enough to put off substitute Mykhailo Mudryk.
Liverpool responded with Van Dijk and Darwin Nunez coming close from range, while there was a strong penalty call when Jackson appeared to handle a Diaz effort from a corner. But few could grumble at the final outcome.
Twelve months ago, a draw in West London at Fulham was a worrying sign of what was to come for Liverpool. This latest stalemate a few miles down the road, however, should instead be an indicator of what has to now happen. FSG and Henry now know that more than ever.
