There were talking points aplenty as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 to maintain their one-point advantage over Man City at the top of the Premier League table.
Of course, we’ll be praising the Reds and Curtis Jones after a win over one of their rivals, but we’ll also have a look at how Liverpool might set up in this busy period ahead.
With Dominik Szoboszlai continuing to be somewhat of an enigma who delights but also frustrates, we ask if he could be displaced by Jones and how that might look in an Arne Slot midfield.
Here, Sam Millne (@sam_millne) and Adam Beattie (@beatts94) discuss the good, the bad and the midfield after Liverpool’s 2-1 win against Chelsea.
The good…
ADAM: There were loads of positives to take from that performance.
Jones was the obvious standout but the resilience everyone showed in what will probably be one of our toughest home tests of the season was really promising.
I was also really happy with the way the crowd stepped up. The constant chat about the atmosphere can be tiresome but we showed a spirit befitting the significance of the occasion.
Honourable mentions go to Darwin Nunez for his shift off the bench and Trent Alexander-Arnold for dealing admirably with two of Chelsea’s many wingers, for someone who supposedly can’t defend.
SAM: This wasn’t Liverpool playing at their best but it was Liverpool battling at their hardest.
The Reds started the game well, not showing any sign of an international break hangover and neither the crowd. While Chelsea grew into the game, so did the supporters and they provided real backing for the players.
As the match went on and Liverpool looked content with a one-goal advantage, anxiety built and the final moments were hard to watch.
Under Jurgen Klopp, the Reds might have continued pushing on after Jones put us back ahead. This team, though, whether it be due to Chelsea‘s quality or their own defensive confidence, decided to hold back.
There will be days when Liverpool control the match but Sunday wasn’t one of those. It was a day to win your battles and the Reds won their biggest of the season so far.
The bad…
SAM: The main negative would have to be Diogo Jota going off injured.
While Darwin Nunez came on and pressed extremely well, Jota’s all-round game seems much more suited to Slot’s Liverpool than Nunez’s does.
Hopefully, the Portuguese just suffered a knock, hence his substitution, and will be fit again soon. If it was a muscle issue that forced him off, that is more worrying.
Other than that, I suppose Chelsea actually looking like a half-decent side is no good thing.
Come the end of the season, they will hopefully be none of our business. However, at the moment they look like a team on the up under Enzo Maresca.
They were able to play through our press impressively at times and whisper it quietly, but Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia both showed to some extent why the Londoners paid combined £173 million for them.
It feels strange to give them any credit as, given the amount of money spent, they should be a technically very good team. Now, they are finally beginning to show it.
ADAM: Does the referee count?
He had one of those afternoons after which he sent both sets of supporters home with a reason to grumble, and that’s never a good sign.
Jota picking up another injury is frustrating. He struggled to have much influence and the impact of the foul probably didn’t help.
Nunez hasn’t had many chances to make an impact under Slot yet and he simply has to take this one. I imagine he was a strong contender to start against RB Leipzig anyway, but this feels like a big opportunity to catch the manager’s eye.
Is it time for Dominik Szoboszlai to drop out and if so, how does the midfield look against RB Leipzig?
SAM: Having played 180 minutes as Hungary’s talisman during the international break, Szoboszlai returned to start his 13th game of the season for the Reds.
Despite how often he is playing, the midfielder isn’t showing signs of tiring but Sunday’s game was another example of fans feeling they were left wanting slightly by his performance.
Like his teammates, Szoboszlai worked exceptionally hard and put in some important challenges, but on the ball he failed to create any chances as Liverpool’s highest midfielder.
With Alexis Mac Allister likely playing against Leipzig, you would also now expect Szoboszlai to be rested and replaced by either the Argentine or Jones.
It will be interesting, should Slot decide to play a midfield three of Ryan Gravenberch, Jones and Mac Allister, to see who plays on the left and who takes up Szoboszlai’s position that was verging on a second striker at times against Chelsea.
ADAM: Szoboszlai’s recent struggles were compounded to an extent by the brilliance of Jones.
I did think that while he was wasteful at times in possession, his work rate was second to none and his off-the-ball efforts will serve us well against most opposition.
I think we will see a bit more rotation in that area over the coming weeks and a bit of time away from the firing line might be no bad thing.
It’s clear he’s got all the assets to be a world-beater and it’s worth remembering that he’s still only 23 years old.
The only issue is we’re still light on numbers while Harvey Elliott is out, so Jones might be the one to step in as the most progressive of the three if Szoboszlai sits out.
