Football News: Liverpool v Bologna

Liverpool v Bologna

Apologies as once again I was only able to watch the game once, in a crowded bar, sat next to a group of Italians raucously cheering on Bologna. Though it did get much easier to focus after Salah added the second, as the Italians became subdued for the rest of the match.

What should have been a comfortable and routine victory, was made into an uncomfortable and difficult win by Liverpool themselves and their insistence on trying to play out from the back at a snail’s pace. It made for an extremely frustrating watch. I know I will be told that we were playing it slowly to try to draw players in, but they were not being drawn in, so all it achieved was to give them plenty of time to close up the press. They were happy to keep on their man and wait for someone in red to make a mistake, which happened with an alarming amount of regularity. At least if the ball had been moved quickly, it would have made it a struggle for them to set their press. Instead it was usually rolled back to Alisson, who was then strolling about looking for an option, any option to pass to. It did improve a little after half-time, thankfully.

When the pace was increased and the ball played forward, instead of sideways and backwards, Liverpool were able to cut through Bologna fairly easily and created chances to shoot. It just was not happening enough and instead the game was lacking in real quality for large portions.

Bologna are not the same team they were last season under Thiago Motta. The attacking play lacks the quality it showed under the exciting leadership of Motta. Italiano has kept the same defensive set up, but going forward they lack the patterns of play that brought the success last season. They had little threat to offer, their chances coming from Liverpool’s poor play and they lack the quality of player to really compete at this level. Such a shame that they were unable to hold on to Thiago Motta, as it would have been interesting to see how he could have got on with this team, which were so entertaining to watch under him. Without him, they look a little out of their depth at Champions League level.

Quick notes on the players:

Alisson – was called upon far too often to bail out Liverpool, usually after their slow paced passing got them into trouble. Often he was the worst offender for dallying on the ball, though he had an excuse as every player was man marked and unavailable to receive a pass. The movement in front was poor, but he was…