Many 0-0 draws are tepid affairs, and if you watched some of this weekend’s opening fixtures in La Liga, you know exactly what I mean. The 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Liverpool was anything but boring. It was filled with end-to-end action, chances created, and spectacular saves. At the final whistle, both teams walked away with a point, and we walked away with some new-found knowledge about the 2015-2016 Liverpool squad.
The summer narrative surrounding Christian Benteke seemed to focus on the appropriateness of his fit within Brendan Rodgers’ system. Three matches in to the season, the 24-year-old is proving to be much more than Andy Carroll 2.0. He’s skillful, he’s confident, he’s quick and, yes, he’s strong. Benteke’s strength led to several chances created against Arsenal and, if not for Petr Cech’s heroics, Liverpool’s new target man could have had a hat-trick.
The Belgian big man’s work rate has been quite impressive. He holds the ball up, gets his team mates involved, and can break off a nifty spin move to break in to the clear. Once Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge are fully up and running, the goals are going to flow.
Yes, Joe Gomez started the first game of the season at Stoke City and yes, Mark Hughes’ Stoke City are more of a threat than Tony Pulis’ Stoke City, but they’re not Arsenal at the Emirates. The 18-year-old put in another assured performance, defending the fluidity of the Gunners’ attack and getting involved when Liverpool went forward. Let me repeat the first part of that sentence: the 18-year-old. We have to expect that Gomez is going to have a lapse in judgement at some point, but it hasn’t really happened yet.
In the latter stages of the match, when Arsenal were dominating possession and probing for the winning goal, Brendan Rodgers put on last year’s starting left-back, Alberto Moreno. However, Moreno didn’t replace Gomez. He replaced Philippe Coutinho. The longer the manager shows confidence in Gomez, the more his self-confidence will grow. Rodgers was right not to loan him out.
Do you remember Emre Can’s last game at the Emirates against Arsenal? Needless to say, it didn’t go well with the midfielder-turned-defender getting sent off during Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat in April. On Monday night, the 21-year-old not only got his first start of the season, it was in his preferred position in central midfield.
Can showed he can handle the position. At least, I think Can can. (See what I did there?). He demonstrated an impressive range of passing and did his best to break up Arsenal’s free-flowing passing game. However, he isn’t as quick as some of Rodgers’ other midfield options and Can’s lack of pace was even more of an issue when paired next to emergency starter Lucas Leiva.
That brings me to Jordan Rossiter.
PHOTOS: @jordan_rossiter made his league debut for #LFC tonight pic.twitter.com/PWC67M1FZ3
— LFC India (@LFCIndia) August 24, 2015
Lucas Leiva wasn’t expected to start. In fact, many expect him to be leaving the club by the end of the week. Leiva hadn’t seen any playing time through the first two games of the season. However, injuries to Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana forced Rodgers’ hand.
Leiva didn’t perform poorly, but he started to get overrun as the match wore on. With about a quarter of an hour remaining, Rodgers gave Jordan Rossiter his Premier League debut. While the 18-year-old kept it simple when he had possession and looked to play the easy pass, he made some key interceptions and helped the team keep a clean sheet and earn a valuable point on the road.
Rossiter has been with Liverpool since he was six-years-old and his performance against Arsenal may just have made Lucas Leiva expendable once and for all.
Key performers in Liverpool’s encouraging display against Arsenal involve a 24-year-old, a 21-year-old, and two 18-year-olds.
With three games played and seven points earned out of a possible nine, the future looks very bright indeed.
