Match data from WhoScored, except average position from the LiverpoolFC.com app.
(Here's the formation diagram usually included in match reviews.)
That was almost – almost – more satisfying than strolling 7-0 at Maribor.
Are two matches enough for a trend? Do two swallows make a summer?
0-0 at half time, 3-0 at full time. Against a deep, deep, deep defense. At Anfield. Despite a missed penalty.
It really was Huddersfield all over again. But better, against deeper.
More shots, better shots. Four clear-cut chances, as against Huddersfield, but a higher percentage of Danger Zone shots and a higher Expected Goals total. More possession. Somehow out-tacking and out-intercepting Maribor despite having 75% possession, with ten of 19 tackles and four of ten interceptions in Maribor's half. Better goals. Liverpool didn't require an opposition error to open the scoring, but won the ball back in Maribor's half, sustained possession, and saw both an well-taken cross and finish. Liverpool's second was one of the better goals they've scored this season, and the exact type of move needed to break through 11 defenders: quick passing finished with a wonderful one-two through the heart of the defense, excellently taken by Emre Can. Even the penalty was better won and better taken, even if it ended in the same result.
There were more Maribor shots than Huddersfield shots, but it's hard to have fewer than one, and Maribor's five chances had about the same chance of going in as Huddersfield's one. Liverpool have now allowed one – one! – shot on-target in the last two matches, and that one shot on-target was about as routine as save as possible, low, central and from about 30 yards out.
The massacre in the last meeting forced Maribor to change tactics, formation, and style. Five at the back for the first time this season. An average position which saw all 11 starters in Maribor's half of the pitch.
And it took time for Liverpool to break through, as against Huddersfield. That happens when there are 11 opposition players in one half of the pitch. That happens when Liverpool make two changes to the front six, and need to make a substitution within 17 minutes. And it's frustrating. But it's not the end of the world. It's hard for us to remember there are 90 minutes in a football match, especially when Liverpool's best matches have seen Liverpool at their best from the opening whistle.
And despite that first half frustration, Liverpool score within five minutes of the restart. And Liverpool finish 3-0 winners. Mohamed Salah scores his 10th goal in his 16th start. Emre Can scores his third Champions League goal in his sixth Champions League match this season; he had five goals through all of last season. Liverpool's fullbacks both contribute assists. James Milner creates the most Liverpool chances and tallies an assist in consecutive matches, Daniel Sturridge scores in consecutive matches – something he hasn't done since April 2016. And with two games to play, Liverpool sit top of the group. Liverpool need one win from their last two games to assure qualification to the Champions League knockout rounds, a place they haven't been since 2008.
Six points from six in the last two games, against the type of sides who've frustrated Liverpool in the past two seasons. The sides who have been happy to sit deep and wait for Liverpool to fall apart, either up front or at the back. Or sometimes both. And Liverpool haven't done either.
Two swallows may not make a summer, but it's an awful lot better, and an awful lot more encouraging, than what came before.
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