Liverpool have been defeated in Istanbul for the second time this season, with Galatasay inflicting another 1-0 defeat on Arne Slot’s side, whose hopes of progressing in the Champions League now rely on a special European night at Anfield.
Profligate, passive, porous. You can pick your poison, but the truth is that Liverpool have manufactered any number of self-inflicted problems, and unless something changes, this team will not be winning silverware or indeed competing on the foremost European frontier next season.
Liverpool just don’t work or press hard enough. For Jurgen Klopp, the Reds outdazzled their opponents but they outdrove them too.
Even under Slot’s wing last season, Liverpool were ravenous without the ball, desperate to win it back and settle into the controlled, calculated patterns that wove a Premier League title triumph.
This simply isn’t good enough, and while you could pick several poor performances, this was a disappointing regression from Ibrahima Konate.
Konate’s performance in Istanbul
Though Konate has improved this season, it seems Liverpool’s calamitous ways have clung onto the shirts of the players throughout the recent upswing in form, with mistakes and attacking bluntness rife against Galatasaray.
The France centre-back was adjudged to have handled in the box in the second half and Liverpool’s equaliser was chalked off. He was unfortunate in that. However, Konate made a litany of errors and lacked fluency alongside Virgil van Dijk, who was off the pace himself.
While Jeremy Jacquet is slated to arrive this summer after a deal in excess of £50m was agreed with Rennes in January, this will do little to settle Slot’s nerves as he grasps with a position at Anfield that is far from secure.
Konate, of course, is out of contract in June, with no breakthrough found in negotiations. It is thus frustrating that he wears such a heavy burden across the business months of the campaign, with so much on the line and his defending crucial in achieving those goals.
Konate has improved over the past few months, but old habits die hard and he returned to his error-strewn ways on the big stage. Liverpool don’t exactly have a surplus of choice at the back, so Konate will simply need to recover his form – and quickly.
However, Slot does have the luxury to tinker elsewhere, and another of the club’s superstars should probably be dropped at the weekend.
Slot must drop Liverpool superstar
Liverpool will take solace in the fact that they host Galatasaray at Anfield with just the one-goal deficit to turn around. However, their form on Merseyside has hardly been anything to write home about under Slot this season.
In Istanbul, Florian Wirtz flattered to deceive, and while his trickery and inventions on the ball could be needed in the return leg, it’s clear he was lacking fluency on his return to the starting line-up after injury, missing two great chances early on and peripheral thereafter. On that evidence, the manager made a mistake selecting him in the first place.
|
Liverpool Player Ratings vs Galatasaray |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Rating |
|
(GK) Giorgi Mamardashvili |
7/10 |
|
(RB) Joe Gomez |
6/10 |
|
(CB) Ibrahima Konate |
4/10 |
|
(CB) Virgil van Dijk |
6/10 |
|
(LB) Milos Kerkez |
5/10 |
|
(CM) Ryan Gravenberch |
6/10 |
|
(CM) Alexis Mac Allister |
6/10 |
|
(RW) Mohamed Salah |
4/10 |
|
(AM) Dominik Szoboszlai |
6/10 |
|
(LW) Florian Wirtz |
4/10 |
|
(CF) Hugo Ekitike |
5/10 |
Though Cody Gakpo has hardly been in fine form himself this season, it’s clear that Liverpool needed more directness in the final third, and there’s always someone like the 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha to consider, with the teenage sensation the talk of the town after a string of recent performances.
Wirtz, however, has found things tough this term, and though he’s improved, there is much still to be desired.
Galatasaray lacked sharpness themselves, especially during the early swinging. Liverpool had their opponents there for the taking, but once again, as has been a boring theme, Slot’s side couldn’t locate the barn door – let alone hit it.
Their German playmaker, like Konate, was at the centre of their woes, failing to conjure a key pass nor make a cross. He completed just 78% of his passes, lost the ball 14 times – once every five minutes he was on the field – and lost six of his 12 duels. This was one of his most anonymous displays for the club yet, and that’s say something.
Should Wirtz make considerable progress in training over the next few days, perhaps he should start against a Tottenham Hotspur side in disrepair. But the difference bewtween his performance and those of Ngumoha in recent weeks is night and day, and Slot might want to bite the bullet and make the change.
Wirtz is a superstar. He arrived at Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for a £116m fee last year. But he was ineffective against the Turkish giants, and though he defended resiliently, winning each of his four attempted tackles and coming out on top in six duels besides, Liverpool needed more incisiveness and physicality to weather the Gala storm.
Liverpool must regret selling £12m Liverpool flop who’s now better than Gakpo
Liverpool must regret cashing in on this winger who is now way better than Cody Gakpo.