Digging Deeper into Liverpool's 3-1 Win over AC Milan

09/17/2024 05:54 PM

After the Reds' return to the Champions League ends in a deserved victory, we look at some of the winners and losers on the night.

After a year on the outside looking in, Liverpool started their comeback campaign in the Champions League with a stupid goal conceded in the third minute of the match. It was perhaps a commemoration of sorts of a trend from last year, a final goodbye to a time now gone, at least one can hope.

In any case, the Reds then beat AC Milan soundly for the next 80 minutes — the shot count in the middle hour of this game was 18-0 to the visitors — and ran out deserved winners, courtesy of a pair of centre-back goals and a second half tap-in from Dominik Szoboszlai, as they brought three points back home to Merseyside, collecting the maximum rewards from one of their tougher away dates in the competition.

Below, then, we give a quick word on the winners and losers on the night.

Winners

Good Gravy: Like a new signing, they said. Ryan Gravenberch has been phenomenal in defensive midfield role for the Reds to start the season, and he continued the trend tonight. Sitting deeper than he ever has in his career, the Dutchman has improved his ability to position himself prior to receiving the pass, allowing him the space needed to let his directional first touches wreak havoc, and off the ball, keeping play largely in front of him lets the Ajax prodigy read the game and use his range and mobility to interrupt opposition play.

The 22-year old racked up six interceptions on the night, as he continuously demolished any attempt from the hosts to play through the middle, and maintained a 90% pass completion average as he kept things simple and allowed others to dominated ball progression.

Cody's Showdy: After 18 months of bouncing around between the left wing, the false nine and occasionally an eight to little effect, Cody Gakpo showed his wares at the Euros this summer, cutting inside from the left flank like he used to do at PSV. He continued in that vein tonight, and although he had a pair of turnovers due to overly ambitious mazy runs, he also finished the match with three shots, two key passes, four successful dribbles and one gorgeous assist, as he ran at the Milan defense at every opportunity, and eventually wore them down.

Luis Díaz is likely the still the first choice left winger in Arne Slot's starting XI, but Gakpo has shown that he can off many of the same things and threaten the Colombian's supremacy at the position, and the two could plausibly be looking at shared minutes as the season develops.

Espen Eskås: Exactly how he's managed to develop this sort of ability in the musky football mire that is the Norwegian league is difficult to understand, but the referee was really good tonight. Allowing the game to flow without encouraging foul play, booking players when appropriate rather than after losing control of proceedings, and getting the big calls exactly right, the Norwegian set himself in stark contrast to the refereeing stands in The Best League in the World, where they're now calling offsides on corner kicks.

Losers

Strikers: Pretty much every position group has looked largely improved from last year under Slot, with certain individual players in particular looking to have made significant steps forwards, but the Dutchman does not seem to have entirely figured out what he wants from his central strikers. Diogo Jota has been largely ineffective, seeing much less of the ball than in his previous years at the club, and the Portuguese spent most of tonight moaning at team mates while failing to contribute much on the ball.

His replacement, Darwin Núñez, has looked less chaos himbo and more lost at sea in his appearances under the new gaffer so far, and tonight forced three bad shots under pressure and little else.

It's early days, and the team has largely done alright on the goalscoring front, but unlocking the pair of historically prolific strikers could be the thing that eventually separates a good season from a great one.

Strahinja Nah-vlovic: Dreadful game for the Serbian defender. Could not deal with the Liverpool press at all and constantly misplaced his passes out from the back. The former RB Salzburg defender arrived at Milan for €20m this summer and will hope to put this game behind him as quickly as possible as he looks to build his career in Italy.

What Happens Next

The Reds are entering a busy period before the October international break, and will face 11th placed Bournemuth in the Premier League on Saturday, before they play hosts to West Ham in the EFL Cup third round next Wednesday.