A tricky trip to King Power didn’t stop Liverpool from retaining the top spot in the points table, four games into the season, as they did well to hold on to all three points after a siege of second-half attacks from the home side who went two down in the first half.
Claude Puel’s men shot themselves in the foot with a mediocre first-half performance as a goal from Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino gave Liverpool a decent lead.
The Foxes came out of the blocks flying in the second half, and also pulled one back after Alisson Becker gifted the ball to Kelechi Iheanacho.
Rachid Ghezzal was at the right place to nod home but that was not enough for the hosts to make a difference, as they failed to find an equalizer against a Liverpool defence that gave away just their first goal of the season, in this game.
The Reds have a number of positives and a few frailties from this game to work upon but here are three crucial reasons why the Reds stole three points from this weekend:
Liverpool’s Centre-Back Partnership
With six aerial duels, three blocks, four interceptions, and just one loss of possession registered between them all game, Virgil van Dijk and his young partner Joe Gomez, are now one of the best CB partnerships in the league at the moment.
While Gomez answered every question that was asked of him, Van Dijk, though lethargic in possession, rarely gave the Leicester City players a chance to test Alisson. The goal they conceded came from the keeper’s mistake and the strength and determination they showed late in the game, is what kept Liverpool in the game until the final whistle.
Klopp’s Substitutions
Not long ago, the German was accused of making late substitutions, that rarely impacted the game. But in this tie, Klopp only introduced Keita almost 10 minutes after Ghezzal’s goal, giving the Liverpool players time to regroup. Keita added fresh legs and more stele to the midfield, allowing the visitors to regain possession under pressure. He also introduced Xherdan Shaqiri in place of Salah, who was evidently having an off day.
Keita replaced Henderson, who looked out of sorts in the second half and together the duo managed to give Liverpool a foot-hold back in the game.
Shaqiri held onto the ball for long periods in the final third while Keita was happy to ping passes wide, to stretch the Leicester City midfield. Surely, these changes made an impact, a positive one, and were crucial for Liverpool to hang on.
Liverpool’s Discipline
Even as Alisson gifted Leicester City a goal, the Brazilian oozed confidence all game, even after that howler and such discipline is only going to rub off on your players. VVD and Gomez were nigh unbeatable, as they kept close to the Leicester City attackers and never gave them space to create chances.
The whole team was happy to throw themselves around and take knocks to regain possession and the fact that they gave away just two fouls in and around the box all game, shows the amount of confidence they have on their abilities. They rarely made a mistake at the back, even under tremendous pressure late in the game and though a scrappy one, helped Liverpool won their fourth consecutive game at the start of this season.
Stat Credit: Whoscored.com