Isak is disenchanted, Gakpo expands and Paquetá ends up expelled; Away triumph relieves pressure on Arne Slot and ends series of three defeats
Still far from the offensive and dynamic football that crowned them with the English title last season, they managed to defeat the threatened West Ham 2-0, this Sunday (30), at the Olympic stadium in London, and showed a reaction after suffering nine defeats in the previous 12 games. In addition to ending a sequence of three consecutive defeats, between and , the team led by pressured coach Arne Slot reached 21 points in the table, in eighth place, and became closer to their rivals in the fight for the title – Arsenal and Chelsea close the round this Sunday.
In the confrontation between the current English champions – in a terrible phase – and a team fighting to get out of the last positions in the table, the first half was uninspired. The two teams exchanged many side passes, but were not incisive in their attacks. Thus, the only chance of a goal in the first half was a point-blank shot by Liverpool’s Isak, saved by goalkeeper Areola.
Under pressure in his role, Arne Slot gave up top scorer Salah, who is going through a bad phase and was left on the bench, but he took the contested Wirtz and Isak to the field, the two most expensive signings of the last English window, and got lucky: in a play started with a throw-in, in the 14th minute of the second half, Wirtz activated Gakpo, who rolled the ball for Isak to open the scoring.
Scorer of 20 goals with the Newcastle shirt last season in the national championship – surpassed only by Haaland and Salah -, Isak scored only his second goal for the new team after 11 matches, being the first in the current Premier League, a timid start for the most expensive reinforcement in English football – overall, the figures involved in negotiating the Swede are only behind and .
In his second match since September, when he was removed for treatment of an injury to his right thigh, Alisson was practically not required in the duel with Brazilians Lucas Paquetá and Luis Guilherme, ex-Palmeiras, despite West Ham surrounding his area. Uninspired, Paquetá was unable to get past the visiting defense and his performance was limited to a lack of direction from the midfielder before being sent off for complaining in the 38th minute of the final stage.
With one down at the end of the match, coach Nuno Espírito Santo’s team, which had been reacting in the competition, did not have the strength to put pressure on the visitors and leave the field with at least a draw. In stoppage time, Gakpo received the ball in the area and scored Liverpool’s second, leaving the visiting fans, finally, relieved.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Nícolas Robert
