Liverpool returned to winning ways in the Premier League by beating Bournemouth 3-0, with the performance at Anfield widely lauded.
The Reds got off a sluggish start on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t long before their superiority shone through.
Luis Diaz scored twice to continue his eye-catching early-season form, while Darwin Nunez scored a superb goal for his first since early April.
Here, Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) and Matt Ladson (@mattladson) discuss Liverpool’s win and to predict Arne Slot‘s team to face West Ham in the Carabao Cup.
The good…
HENRY: It’s fair to say I felt 100 times better at 5pm than I did last Saturday, which is an immediate positive!
Liverpool weren’t always perfect, but this was an ideal response to that horror show a week ago, and aspects of the first half were outstanding.
The fact that Gravenberch appears to now be peak Vieira is hugely exciting – he was exceptional, bossing the midfield.
Diaz is also proving me wrong by the game – I wouldn’t have been gutted to see him leave in the summer, so more fool me! – and his two goals reminded me so much of Sadio.
The Anfield crowd also seemed more up for it, even though it wasn’t exactly Barca in 2019.
A word of praise for Kelleher, too, whose one save on the goalline was frankly ludicrous. He may be the second-best goalkeeper in the world!
MATT: The whole midfield was superb for me and they seem to be really well balanced, understanding their roles together well now.
I actually had Mac Allister as my man of the match. This midfield system suits him far more than spending most of last season as the No.6.
Kelleher’s save was outstanding. We’d embed a video of it but Sky Sports and co haven’t bothered to clip it up.
I’m not so sure the atmosphere was that much improved, but a 3-0 win is always going to be better received than a 1-0 defeat! The atmosphere debate hasn’t been helped by having three pretty unglamorous games to begin the season – we actually needed a big game early on under Slot really to get everyone going.
Good to see Chiesa get more minutes ahead of presumably starting on Wednesday. I’d said before I can see him playing a fair bit as No.9, I’m not so sure Slot sees it purely as him being Salah’s backup!
The bad…
HENRY: Liverpool’s slow starts are now officially doing my head in – how many years have they been doing this now?!
They were a narrow offside call away from being 1-0 down early on and with an uphill battle on their hands, and this needs to be eradicated if we want to be genuine title contenders.
I thought everyone played well, so there won’t be any singling out from me.
I heard a clip of Stephen Warnock on commentary after the game, however, and it was so bad that we may have to forget he every played for Liverpool!
MATT: Bournemouth‘s tactics were bad! Playing a high line and trying to press Liverpool high in their own half was asking for trouble.
Of course, that helped us and avoided a Forest-like setup, but it’s an odd setup from their side.
After Slot said he actually prefers to play against a team playing a low block (not sure we believe you on that one Arne), all three goals were very ‘Klopp era’ like goals; direct and quick.
Not necessarily bad, but another game with a whole back four on the bench is odd. Poor Endo.
How many changes for West Ham?
HENRY: This feels like an ideal opportunity to ring the changes – frankly, if we go out in the third round, so be it.
Recent long Carabao Cup runs have arguably been detrimental to our league hopes in terms of the extra matches.
I’d obviously rather we go through, of course, and the depth we have now means a strong team will still be fielded.
It makes complete sense to use Kelleher, Bradley, Quansah, Gomez and Tsimikas in the back-line, should Slot want to use Gomez as a centre-back.
Jones needs to find rhythm in midfield, Chiesa should make his full debut and there should also be a start for Gakpo.
I’d go with Nunez again, too, just to give him a chance to score again and continue his resurgence.
MATT: Yeah I’ll be pretty concerned if this isn’t as many changes as possible to be honest.
One of the major concerns with Slot is whether he understands the differences of a season with Liverpool, playing in Premier League (a more intense league), and three cup competitions. It would be naive not to rotate for this.
A shame Harvey Elliott‘s not available for this one, I’d play Tyler Morton to avoid any of the regular midfield having to be involved from the start.
Kelleher, Bradley, Quansah, Gomez, Tsimikas, Endo, Morton, Jones, Chiesa, Jota, Gakpo.
