While the hosts at Tottenham’s stadium struggled to maintain their possession, Liverpool struggled to stay away in Napoli.
Briefly:
Now, Jürgen Klopp’s guys are really under the ice.
Where some teams are hard to see, like Graham Potter’s Brighton (or yes, Chelsea soon), Tottenham is a widely open book.
No one raised any eyebrows in the first half at Tottenham after taking a look at the stats. 62 percent of Marseille’s possession of the ball, one shot on goal, to zero for the home team. Moreover, that is of course not a positive, but we have seen it time and time again during the league season and therefore he does not fall off the bench when it also happens in the Champions League.
More on this below. Because once Richarlison scored his first goal with Tottenham (and avoided tearing his shirt) in North London, Napoli was angry.
Liverpool revealed itself
While Liverpool’s problems have been evident for a month now, even a 9-0 against Bournemouth can cover these flaws, it’s great to witness that the once mean team is completely barefooted to secure a win.
Jurgen Klopp’s men put on defensive performances reminiscent of the disastrous night when Aston Villa fired them 7-2 driven by an enthusiastic Jack Grealish a few years ago. A season in which Liverpool finally finished in third place, mainly due to the lack of a centre-back.
At Diego Armando Maradona’s stadium, the aggressive backline, one of Klopp’s hallmarks, stood tall even when the players weren’t pressing the ball carrier. Napoli responded by lifting high and running behind the opponent with the help of James Milner’s arm, and causing a penalty for Peter Zielinsky after just five minutes.
Once again the right side of the Liverpool defense behaved in a very fragile situation. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defensive skills have never been his forte, but as in the defeat to Manchester United, the right-back was often left out of his position, only to be drawn back. Center back Joe Gomez has to face extenders Andre Frank Zambo-Anguisa and Giovanni Simeone, but even Virgil van Dijk is a shadow of his former self.
Few go free after this
A stroke of luck means the away team is ‘only’ 0-3 behind in the first half. Then 80 seconds passed after the break before two Napoli players ran behind the opponent’s defense line, at which point Zelensky was quickly selected for fourth. Although Klopp chose the unfortunate Gomez for Joel Matip.
Not many Liverpool players broke free after this breakdown. Luis Diaz at least tried to keep up with the pace and scored a superb goal, and young Harvey Elliott worked as hard as he could in midfield. Two relatively “new” players on a seemingly tired team. Plus, things got better when – listen and be amazed – Thiago changed his plan.
Maybe it’s not healthy to rely on a midfielder as Liverpool’s dependence has become in terms of copper. On the other hand, the club probably suffers mainly from the lack of its key players in good shape.
Naples is beautiful.
friendly match
Back to the Tottenham stadium, where two coaches with strong connections to Italian football were formed. Igor Theodor, close friend of Antonio Conte for 25 years, knew how this meeting would end.
In Marseille, he spotted a group of Premier League players hungry for compensation. The only Spurs fans who mocked them were Matteo Guendouzi who managed to banish most of the country – including many of his Arsenal teammates – before leaving and appearing everywhere in the first half.
But it doesn’t matter how many percent the team keeps the ball against Spurs if the points don’t come up. Without the suspended Alexis Sanchez, for example, Marseille lacked a proper edge, leading to the kind of wolves effort where most things worked except for what football is actually all about: scoring goals.
Then it is enough for Heung Min-soon to receive a deep pass, cut from the heels and see the referee pull the red card from his back pocket. In fact, Slavko Vinčić dropped the card on the lawn, at which point Emerson Royal quickly picked it up as if annoyed by forgetting the penalty. Then center back Chancel Mbemba moved towards the tunnel with his chin hanging.
Helps to forget
Ironically, Marseille came close to hitting a one-man target, but was unable to eliminate any offensive threat, not least when Dejan Kulusevsky replaced Emerson Royal. Richarlison celebrated twice tonight (still wearing his jersey) and gave Conte the perfect start to his Champions League adventure.
I hope, for the coach’s sake, that everyone forgets the first half that happened at Tottenham’s stadium tomorrow. Klopp and Liverpool will involuntarily help in this matter.
