It was perhaps not a classic Merseyside derby to sing its own praises down the corridors of time, though Liverpool will nonetheless be more than happy to take the lion’s share of the spoils.
One man who particularly impressed in his first league start for Jurgen Klopp’s men, judging by a combination of numbers, the eye test and fan reaction was summer signing Ryan Gravenberch.
The Dutchman played a key part in establishing the hosts’ dominance in the first half of action, with the Reds remarkably ending the first 45 minutes goalless despite being largely dominant around Ashley Young’s double yellow card dismissal.
It’s far from surprising to see so many of our fellow supporters on X (formerly Twitter) gushing over his performance and hopefully it’s yet another encouraging sign of things to come from this season’s surprise package.
The stats more than support the praise, it has to be said, with the former Bayern Munich man registering a pass success rate of 97%, winning five out of seven ground duels and conducting three interceptions, according to Sofascore.
With Curtis Jones set to sit out the final game of his three-match suspension against Nottingham Forest next Sunday, we’d be far from surprised to see Gravenberch back in the starting-XI once more.
You can catch all the fan reaction below, courtesy of X:
Gravenberch is so good. My God
— Wong fei Szoboszlai (@MrBig_Bone) October 21, 2023
A big reason our countering has been good (atleast until final pass/shot) has been because Gravenberch is very adept progressing the ball quickly with minimum of touches necessary. Often just plays a ball round the corner first time or a proactive dribble.
— Red (@TaintlessRed) October 21, 2023
Gravenberch has been exceptional. Everything he’s done so far has been with the utmost quality.
He almost reminds me of Benzema/Zizou/Mesut Özil. Every motion, every action is done with the textbook definition of the football technique he’s trying to accomplish.
— Watch LFC (@Watch_LFC) October 21, 2023
He didn't put any foot wrong sha, no one had a fantastic game aside vvd and maybe Gravenberch. https://t.co/WxZLaHN3qW
— Martins (@Martins__lfc) October 22, 2023
Shoutout to Szoboszlai, Mac Allister and Gravenberch. First Merseyside Derby and they controlled the game. All deserve a shout for MOTM.
— Samuel (@SamueILFC) October 21, 2023
Gravenberch was brilliant today. His strength, pace, eye for passing and constantly getting the ball forward really helped us today and looked like he’d played in that midfield for longer than he has.
Long may it continue ❤️ pic.twitter.com/dowolK4ORA
— Woodsey (@DWLFC94) October 21, 2023
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️