Not much really going on, other than Leipzig players grabbing and pulling on our players a lot. Seems to be the gameplan against us for many teams... just foul us as much as you can get away with, since you probably can't keep up a viable press against us for an entire game.
yeah, Leipzig finally had a good 5 min or so towards the end of the half. I blame tired legs, but something to watch. I've also thought that the midfield three of Fabinho behind Thiago and Keita didn't really look dynamic enough, and didn't dominate possession in the first half as much as I'd like to see. Leipzig was getting some joy in possession with this three. It almost looked like all three of them were told to play deep, and this resulted in a big open space between them and the front three during many of the attacking phases of the game.
I’ve noticed this as well. Refs tend to let a lot of it go early in the match. Then in the second half start handing yellows out to both teams !!!!
Darwin scores again on a nice layoff from TAA. He took it, gained some space with a touch, and then really calmly slotted it into the far corner of the goal. Keeper had no chance.
Seems odd to have such a big striker on the field after these last years with Mane, Salah, Jota, and Elliott...
Darwin gets his hat trick as he redirects a crossing pass from Elliott into the far corner of the goal.
Sounds like it must have been a fun one to watch! Unfortunately, I have been stuck at work today. I don't much stock in the results of preaseason friendlies, but it's nice to see the new guy finding the net. I wonder if the positive overreactions to that will be as strong as the negative ones from the previous outings were?
One way to look at this - we were playing better competition with closer to the mix of players we would see in the season. We looked really good overall.
What a great friendly. Four goals in 45 minutes is just hilarious. If he continues to be clinical like that, he is going to score tons of goals this season, because we know that we will create chances. There is just so much to be excited about with this team. Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho are superstars in the making, and I don't mean sometime in the future, I mean now. Both of them offer something that Liverpool have not had since Coutinho. They are both going to offer a different dimension behind our front three. Stefan Bajcetic, a player I never heard of 2 weeks ago, played the last 30 minutes as the number 6. He was outstanding. He made the goal for Darwin's third. The new boys lit up the 2nd half, but Bobby Firmino and Mo Salah both looked to be in great form in the first half. The 5 subs is going to be a huge asset to Klopp this season. It is unbelievable how much quality is in this squad. And now we have players who offer different attributes and allow us to play in different systems.
Darwin will have one job this season, and that is to put the ball in the back of the net. For that you need confidence. 4 goals in 45 minutes can only be good for his confidence.
Elliot is going to be a real asset this season he is back to his best and he was one of our best players before the injury. Carvalho is looking good. Exited by Núñez but a couple of his goals today were lucky. The penalty was not good
it's only preseason. BUT 4 goals! AND!! against a very decent side. agree with the Carvalho and Harvey comments. these 2 have superstar written all over them. what a squad we have.
He's been getting bigged up for the last 18 months - the dilemma is age and competition - will it translate as he makes the progressions. It seems so far he is one of those that has the tools to get there.
I agree, it was weird how Klopp went out of his way the last 2 games to avoid him and not make eye contact post game!!