And breathe….
Liverpool managed to come out 4-3 winners against Arsenal with goals from Philippe Coutinho (2), Adam Lallana and Sadio Mané to seal the three points in a heart-pounding affair at the Emirates.
Arsenal were without their starting centre-backs in the game so there was an air of optimism that the Reds could win the tie quite comfortably. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy!
We had a horrible first half to the game, we couldn’t string together two passes and were completely overrun in midfield. Alberto Moreno proved all his doubters right with a performance that showcased all of his defensive frailties.
Poor positioning and a shocking tackle to concede a penalty. He got away with it as Simon Mignolet produced the save from Walcott, only for Moreno to make the same mistake 60 seconds later leading to the opening goal.
It looked like it was going to be a long day until Coutinho pulled out a piece of absolute magic from nowhere with an insane free kick to put us level before half time. Not long after Lallana, Coutinho again and Mané all got goals in an exciting 20 minutes of unbelievable football.
However we soon conceded two poor goals, just in case we weren’t nervous enough, but managed to see the game through.
These are the three players who I thought shone brightest for Liverpool at the Emirates:
Phillipe Coutinho
For 44 minutes of the match, he couldn’t influence the game at all. He struggled to get any passes going and anything he was trying just wouldn’t come off. Then bang! Out of thin air he wins and scores the free kick in stoppage time in the most Coutinho-like fashion possible.
For the next 20 minutes, he seemed unplayable. Everything we did well went through him and he even got another goal to add to his first. Helping set up the second goal and scoring at the end of an Arsenal-esque move to put us 3-1 up just shows just how important a player he is for us.
He went down at the 67th minute with what is luckily only a cramp. Let’s hope he shows the same again against Burnley next week.
Sadio Mané
If you had any doubt about what Mané brings to this team, this performance has surely wiped them all away.
He was lightning from the first whistle. When everyone else was playing poor in the first half, he was still pressing the opposition and working hard for the team. He makes us click and gives us that option in behind. Not only that, he topped it off with an absolutely outstanding solo run and finish to get the fourth goal.
Get ready, he’s going to be an exciting player for us this season!
Adam Lallana
It was hard to pick my third choice between Gini Wijnaldum and Lallana as I thought they both had good performances, but Lallana just edges it for me.
He was his usual self, pressing high up and being the first man ready to pounce in the midfield. I thought before the match that he’d be integral to how we play and he was and capped off a good performance with a well taken goal. An over-the-top pass from Wijnaldum to Lallana who took two good touches to control the ball and find the bottom corner.
He needed to add goals into his game to justify his place in the team, with today’s performance he’s shown to the fans and the manager why he deserves to start.
