{"id":1118,"date":"2017-12-06T23:04:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T23:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2017-12-06T23:04:31","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T23:04:31","slug":"liverpool-7-spartak-moscow-0-match-review-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/liverpool-7-spartak-moscow-0-match-review-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool 7 &#8211; Spartak Moscow 0: Match Review &#038; Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What a crucial week this could prove to be for our season. Heading into this match Champions League qualification was in our own hands, with either a draw or a win being enough to take us to the knockout stages for the first time since 2008-2009. Hot on the heels of our biggest European match since the Europa League Final is the Merseyside derby, with a resurgent Everton having all week to get themselves into shape for it under the tutelage of Sam Allardyce. The Blues haven\u2019t won at Anfield since 1995, but I do think some Liverpool fans are being a little bit overly cocky about the impending match up. That cockiness seems to have doubled since we drew them in the FA Cup. They\u2019ll win one at our place eventually, you know.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Biggest game of the season so far for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFC<\/a> tonight.Lets get the win to top <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChampionsLeague?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChampionsLeague<\/a> group then concentrate on the bitters &amp; sundays <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MerseysideDerby?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MerseysideDerby<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 stephen O C (@steveOc7) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/steveOc7\/status\/938481945285144576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Still, that\u2019s a problem for this weekend. Tonight we simply needed to get a result against the Russians in order to knock them out and allow us to progress. The manager went about as strong as possible with his team selection, perhaps hoping to get the game won early doors in order to rest players ahead of the weekend. After our capitulation in Spain, however, that could have turned out to be a risky strategy. Sevilla had the crowd behind them that night, to say nothing of their manager revealing his health problems to them at half-time to help them come back from 3-0 down and preserve their record of not losing at home for a year. The crowd was on our side this time, though, so would it be enough to see us over the line?<\/p>\n<h2>Klopp Went Strong And It Paid Off<\/h2>\n<p>It must have been difficult for J\u00fcrgen Klopp to decide what to do with his team tonight. Though the German obviously has a huge amount of faith in his squad, he would have been forgiven if he\u2019d decided to mix things up a little bit and brought the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Sturridge or even Marko Grujic into the side to give Mo Salah, Philippe Coutinho or Sadio Man\u00e9 a rest before the Merseyside Derby. Instead he went with the strongest starting eleven he possibly could, perhaps with the sole exception of resting Jordan Henderson and brining in Emre Can. It was a decision that paid off and then some, with the Reds essentially ending the game as a contest after just twenty minutes. More importantly, he gave the front four a chance to click that they haven\u2019t actually had all that often yet this season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"tl\">Firmino Salah Mane Coutinho. Hiya.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Craig Hannan (@C_Hannan7) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/C_Hannan7\/status\/938477674145746944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Boy oh boy did the lads up front click. Coutinho may well have had his head turned by Barcelona in the summer and it\u2019s always difficult to persuade Latin American players to say no to the Spanish giants, but the Brazilian must be looking at the players he\u2019s got buzzing around him at the moment and licking his lips. Opposition defences, meanwhile, must be wondering who the hell they\u2019re supposed to be marking. If you take care of the Little Magician then his countryman Roberto Firmino is there. Mark him out of the game and you\u2019re giving space to Salah. Stop the Egyptian from playing and Sadio Man\u00e9 pops up. It\u2019s a quartet that is the stuff of nightmares for managers in the opposite dugout to Klopp. Tonight they showed just how electric they can be when they\u2019re all on the same page.<\/p>\n<h2>This Is Exactly What We Needed<\/h2>\n<p>I know I keep mentioning the derby, but it\u2019s impossible not to given the way it\u2019s looming up large at the weekend. Now we\u2019ve got tonight out of the way it\u2019s what everyone will be talking about for the next few days, after all. With that in mind, this was exactly the game we needed to see from Liverpool. The game was done and dusted before the whistle even went towards the referee\u2019s lips for the half-time interval, meaning that the players could take their foot off the gas and treat it like a training exercise. If that\u2019s what they do in training then it\u2019s little wonder that the manager is so confident in the ability of the team that he\u2019s putting together. The fact that we still scored four at half-tempo won\u2019t have done anything to harm the confidence of the lads.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Yes the Reds. This is exactly what I needed for a stressful Champions League evening. Close out the second half without much fuss thanks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 David Segar (@whichdave) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/whichdave\/status\/938506978481098752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\u201cutf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Things could have gone much worse. Spartak showed up hoping to frustrate us, with a generous refereeing decision early doors putting paid to that idea. Emre Can picked up a soft yellow card and might have got another one on a night when things were a bit tighter. Moscow essentially threw in the towel after half an hour, showing no desire to press and no willingness to try and shut us down. They\u2019ve got a derby of their own at the weekend against CSKA, so little wonder that they couldn\u2019t even be bothered to chuck a couple of fouls our way out of embarrassment at the scoreline. If J\u00fcrgen Klopp could have written down how he\u2019d have wanted tonight to go then I\u2019m fairly certain he couldn\u2019t have scripted it any better.<\/p>\n<h2>Who\u2019ll Want To Face Us Next?<\/h2>\n<p>Scoring seven goals isn\u2019t something that teams do very often. The fact that we\u2019ve done it twice in the Champions League group stage is reason enough to get excited. We could get any of Bayern Munich, FC Basel, FC Porto, Juventus, Real Madrid or Shakhtar Donetsk and I\u2019m not sure even Bayern or Real will be all that excited about the possibility of going up against us. That we\u2019ve finished top of the group also means that the second leg will be at Anfield and that\u2019s a proposition that few teams will be happy about. We scored twenty-three goals in the group stage, a record number by an English team in the Champions League. The only team that have scored more than us is Paris Saint-Germain who did that this year too.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#x23f0; Liverpool 7-0 Spartak Moscow!<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the second time Liverpool have won by a seven-goal margin in this year&#8217;s group phase. &#x1f633;<\/p>\n<p>They have scored 23 goals in the group, the most ever recorded by an English side! &#x1f525; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/94huXnPre4\">pic.twitter.com\/94huXnPre4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 kwiff (@KwiffOfficial) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KwiffOfficial\/status\/938522613902606337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no getting away from the fact that we\u2019ve had a couple of dodgy moments during the campaign. Drawing with Sevilla twice when we really should have put both games to bed is slightly alarming, but it\u2019s easy to forget that most of these players haven\u2019t played in the Champions League under this manager and will be learning from their mistakes as they go. We also need to remember that Klopp took his Borussia Dortmund team to the final of the competition back in 2013. He\u2019ll have learnt plenty from that experience too, of course. Which side heading into the knockout stages is definitively better than us when we\u2019re in full flow? Obviously we\u2019d much rather face Basel or Porto than Real or Bayern, but I\u2019m not sure we should be scared of anyone.<\/p>\n<h2>Milner Is Still Best At Left-Back<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve been critical of James Milner\u2019s last couple of appearances for Liverpool for one simple reason: I don\u2019t think he should play in midfield for us. We\u2019re at our best when we\u2019re quick in the interchange, especially when moving things through the middle. I find it extremely bizarre that some Liverpool fans are so desperate to criticise Jordan Henderson that they say that he slows down our play, yet the same people also think that Milner\u2019s a better option in the middle of the park. I think he\u2019s proven in two appearances against Tottenham and Chelsea when he\u2019s played there that he\u2019s far too slow to do it regularly. At left-back, on the other hand, it was a different proposition entirely.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">3 assists in 45 minutes for Milner at left back. Decent cameo, that.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joel Rabinowitz (@joel_archie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joel_archie\/status\/938520917348704257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I think Alberto Moreno has had a genuinely good season for us in the left-back slot. He\u2019s had one poor game all season and that came against his former club just three days after the birth of his son. If you\u2019re desperate to slag him off, as some of our fans have been, and you have to wait until mid-November before you can stick the boot in then you might have to accept that your narrative is weak around the edges. It was disappointing to see him limp off midway through the second-half and I hope it\u2019s not too serious. If it is, though, then James Milner should be the player that comes in to replace him. I don\u2019t think Robertson\u2019s done anything wrong when he\u2019s come in, but Milner\u2019s got more assists in the Champions League than anyone else at this point.<\/p>\n<h2>Karius Is Settling In Well<\/h2>\n<p>So many people were happy to write Loris Karius off after just a handful of games in his first season at the club after having broken his hand early on. I heard lots of people I respect saying things like \u2018he\u2019s not a goalkeeper\u2019 and \u2018he\u2019s made of smoke\u2019, yet he\u2019s performed well in his appearances in the group stage. He\u2019s conceded goals, but few if any of them have been directly his fault. He was responsible for keeping us in the tie out in Spain a fortnight ago, though, making a couple of brilliant saves and coming out quickly to shut down the angles at one point.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Karius didn&#8217;t have a lot to do tonight. But he was brilliant in the way he distributed the ball and sent the front men on their way. Exceptional team performance all-round! Buzzing<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Y.N.W.A (@JLDLFC1892) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JLDLFC1892\/status\/938540502034583552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Everyone who\u2019s read one of these blogs will know I\u2019m no fan of Simon Mignolet, with the Belgian goalkeeper having reached the end of the road at Liverpool in my opinion. I think it\u2019s time that the manager moved his compatriot front and centre and I think his performances in Europe have proven that he\u2019s now settled to life in England. This team is going to concede goals, such is the nature of the way we play. What we need in the goalkeeper\u2019s slot is someone who can help put this exciting team on the front foot as quickly as possible. In terms of distribution alone Karius is head and shoulders about our current number one. Even if you don\u2019t agree, it\u2019s now difficult to argue that the manager is getting his decision to rotate the goalies between Europe and domestic competition wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What a crucial week this could prove to be for our season. Heading into this match Champions League qualification was in our own hands, with either a draw or a win being enough to take us to the knockout stages for the first time since 2008-2009. Hot on the heels of our biggest European match since the Europa League Final is the Merseyside derby, with a resurgent Everton having all week to get themselves into shape for it under the tutelage of Sam Allardyce. The Blues haven\u2019t won at Anfield since 1995, but I do think some Liverpool fans are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1119,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions\/1119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}