Liverpool v Real Betis Review

Liverpool v Real Betis Review

I’m glad that this was only a trial match because overall it was pretty poor and clearly the players have work to do. Players were crowding each other out, making the wrong runs, passes were constantly going astray and the defending was dire at times.

However, you could see them starting to get the hang of how Arne Slot wants them to play, the pressing was a work in progress and the right side showed glimpses of what we have to look forward to this season. Mind you, the pitch didn’t help, clearly 2 paced, which meant passes were constantly being either under hit or overcooked.

It probably also was connected to the ball getting stuck under players’ feet (this improved as they got more used to it). Mind you, Pellegrini had done his homework and did a very good job of making it hard to play out from the back and winning the ball in dangerous positions.

Goalkeeping:

Kelleher looked assured though didn’t have much to do. However his distribution was nowhere near the level it normally is – partly to do with the pitch but also because he kept choosing the wrong option and putting his teammates (particularly the midfield) under pressure in dangerous areas.

Jaros also didn’t have much do to (except when his teammates made some poor passes back), he looked less comfortable on the ball, but his distribution was better.

Defence:

Quansah did well in both attack and defence. Covered the wide space well, his passing was not up to his usual standard (did I mention the pitch?) and needs to be more confident in the air.

Sepp – played solidly – wasn’t helped by the left side issues but also seemed slow to react when the ball went wide. However, I thought he probably did enough to convince Slot to give him more chances.

Bradley played well – linked up well with the right side, made some smart penetrating under lapping runs. Clearly still some work to do in terms of understanding Slot’s way of play, but the link play will only improve as they play more together.

Tsimikas – still coming to terms with inverting. Solid, rarely went forward. Some of his link up play was poor but didn’t disgrace himself. One thing that did frustrate me was he was too reactive. Seems to be happy to be told what to do and not really think for himself.

Midfield:

Endo worked hard, but his distribution was not up to his usual standard – partly due to the pitch but also his passes went astray quite a bit though this improved as the game went on.

Jones – worked hard, but…