A prominent Liverpool journalist has said that Jurgen Klopp “would’ve flipped his lid” over what he saw from some Reds players in the 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, had he still been the manager at Anfield.
The champions’ season hit a new low on Saturday as they were thoroughly outfought by Sean Dyche’s team (who sat 19th in the table before kick-off), and despite the justified controversy over Murillo’s opening goal, both teams got what they deserved with the final result.
LFC’s lethargy was summed up by one moment in the first half where Cody Gakpo seemingly pulled out of a 50-50 against the Brazilian defender, much to the disgust of many home supporters and David Lynch.
David Lynch bemoans lost duels from Liverpool players
Speaking to Anfield Index as he sifted through the wreckage of Saturday’s defeat, the journalist was critical of the Dutch forward and some of his Liverpool teammates over how easily they were beaten in duels against Forest.
Lynch said: “There was one from Cody Gakpo in the middle of the pitch and you just roll your eyes at it. I can’t believe that happened at this level of football. This is a guy who’s 6 foot 4 and he just didn’t fancy it.
“What would Jurgen Klopp have said at the sideline if that had happened? He would’ve flipped his lid! That was one thing that Klopp spoke to Gakpo about behind the scenes, about his lack of aggression.
“Liverpool are in this run at the moment where if Gakpo crashes into that challenge and wins the ball, it would get the crowd right up. It massively matters.
“He wasn’t the only one pulling out of challenges. Ryan Gravenberch did it, Alexis Mac Allister did it. You just expect so much more from them. Of all the issues and mitigating circumstances around the squad, you’re going to be rightly questioned for pulling out of 50/50 challenges.”
Liverpool were totally outfought by Forest on Saturday
It’s inevitable that teams will lose football matches. Sometimes the opposition are simply of superior quality. Sometimes a result can be decided by a moment of sheer luck or a hugely controversial refereeing decision.
However, nothing can excuse a lack of fight, and unfortunately that’s a charge of which Liverpool were guilty against Forest on Saturday afternoon, as typified by the examples that Lynch mentioned.
As per Sofascore, the visitors won 55% of the ground duels contested on the day and were dispossessed only four times compared to the Reds’ nine, and Gakpo certainly wasn’t the only player culpable of falling short in the physical stakes.
Gravenberch and Mac Allister, usually the team’s reliable heartbeat in the midfield engine room, won just five of the 15 duels they contested between them. Alexander Isak, who was criticised by Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter for a ‘completely anonymous‘ display, lost every one of his seven duels.
From his very first competitive match in charge of Liverpool, Slot has spoken about the importance of coming out on top in duels, and he’ll have been livid that so many of his players were all too often outmuscled by their Forest counterparts.
The head coach can devise all the tactical plans that he wants, but when it comes to full-blooded commitment in terms of winning individual battles on the pitch, that comes down to the players, many of whom will know they can (and need to) do so much better than they did on Saturday.
Not everyone is like Conor Bradley who gives it all in full blooded tackles.
I love Conor for that. He seems to able to time them well and cleanly, without leaving his studs up on an opponent or injuring with follow through.
There’s no sense of the poker-faced pretence with him that one often sees in some players after trying to snap an opponent’s ankle.
The “tackle” on Mr. Foden at the w/end is one of a whole bunch of prime examples.
Having played the game oneself as a teenager and into one’s late twenties (not to any high level, but enough for it to be competitive), one knows it is more than possible to pull out of a tackle if one knows it’s going to be late.
That level of scruples appears to be knocked out of a lot of players at the highest level now.
Over time, we appear to have adopted into the EPL what Shanks and Bob tried to avoid in the early 80’s, from what the South American clubs felt was just “part of the game”.
Conor tackles well, I don’t want to see football become like basketball, but at some point and especially with anomalous refereeing, he could be susceptible to an unfortunate red card/penalty to cost us a game.
All it would take is a rush of blood or a clever simulator.
A recollection of Bobby Moore’s tackle vs Brazil in Mexico ’70, or Paul Ince’s superb display vs Argentina in France ’98, spring to mind.