After securing their place in the Champions League last sixteen in mid-week, Liverpool had another fixture against relegation battlers, having lost to Nottingham Forest last week.
Jürgen Klopp made just one change to the side that beat Ajax, with Thiago Alcântara replacing Jordan Henderson. Liverpool continued with the 4-3-1-2 formation.
Jesse Marsch made three changes to the team that lost to Fulham. Out went Luke Ayling, Sam Greenwood and Luis Sinisterra; in came Rasmus Kristensen, Tyler Adams and Crysencio Summerville. Leeds lined up in a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Leeds took the lead after just three minutes in comical fashion. Pascal Struijk beat Harvey Elliott down the left then poked the ball through to Brenden Aaronson making a run in behind Trent Alexander-Arnold as the Scouser moved up onto Summerville. Joe Gomez defended well though, calmly coming across rather than aggressively sprinting and shaping his body to defend a run down the outside while blocking the inside with his body, so when Aaronson tried to cut inside, Gomez simply clipped the ball away with his trailing leg. Having reclaimed the ball, he passed it back towards Alisson Becker, but hadn’t got his head up to check where the goalkeeper was. Alisson had come out to provide an easier passing option, yet Gomez played it behind him, to where the goalkeeper would usually be positioned in the goal, handing the ball to Rodrigo to finish into an empty net.
Liverpool soon equalised though. A corner ran all the way through to the other side and many Leeds players pushed out, but they didn’t actually get the ball away. A cross was then sent in from the right, which ran back through to the opposite side again, where Robertson sent it back into the box. The Leeds players had pushed out but the danger was never gone, so there were just two Leeds defenders up against five Liverpool men in the six-yard box, allowing Mohamed Salah to easily finish at the back post.
Despite the goals, both sides looked devoid of ideas.
Liverpool focussed their attacks down the right. Salah would pull out to the right flank, as would Elliott, while Alexander-Arnold pushed down the flank. The idea was presumably to overload this area, but Leeds were happy to shift across and plug up this area too, meaning Liverpool had several players combining, but through a squashed up area with little space.
Pushing Elliott up into attack or pulling him wide also created defensive problems for Liverpool, as he would be too far from the midfield when Liverpool lost the ball, allowing Leeds to counter, although, as Thiago held back next to Fabinho, this wasn’t quite as big an issue as it was against Ajax.
After starting the game energetically pressing high up the pitch, Leeds soon began to drop off into a mid-block instead. In a 4-4-2 shape, Rodrigo and Aaronson would look to block passes into midfield, but when Liverpool passed to Virgil van Dijk, Rodrigo would push up to press the Dutchman, while Aaronson stuck to Fabinho. Leeds would typically leave Gomez alone though, and this only encouraged Liverpool to play down their right more.
Leeds would typically go long when they had possession though. This generally meant handing possession back over to Liverpool, but Leeds would then pressure the second ball, often winning it back with their more energetic midfielders.
This was how Leeds got their late winner. They sent the ball long but then pressed the second ball, eventually cornering substitute James Milner near the corner flag. Under pressure, he punted the ball into midfield, where Adams intercepted it and sent it wide to substitute Wilfried Gnonto. Curtis Jones and Milner doubled up on the Italian but the teenager managed to squeeze a pass in between them into the box, where Patrick Bamford was first to the ball thanks to Liverpool’s defenders all getting caught flat-footed. Summerville controlled Bamford’s touch, before nudging the ball to create a shooting angle and toe-poking it into the far corner in one smooth motion. It was appropriate that Van Dijk finally lost his unbeaten Anfield record lackadaisically walking around with just a few minutes left to play, allowing Bamford to get to the ball first despite him being closer to it.
For the second week in a row, Liverpool have offered nothing against the worst teams in the league.
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