Five goals later, Pep Guardiola took stock after leaving Huddersfield behind in the Cup. The afternoon had been perfect. He had Doku, the tireless Belgian dribbler, and especially Kevin de Bruyne, back after almost five months out. So Pep is excited because the calendar will also give him a break to do something that he longs for and that his team’s ability to stay in all the competitions makes it difficult for him: train. Guardiola is looking for time to train his players and in January he will have it for several days in the heat of Abu Dhabi to take advantage of a competitive respite between the 13th and the 27th. But the award-winning coach warned after the 5-0 win over Huddersfield : “Our great rival, Liverpool, is back”. The boys led by Jürgen Klopp almost immediately agreed with him.
Liverpool are indomitable. The Cup draw, where there are no seeds or bagpipes, sent him to fight in the Arsenal field when there were still 64 teams in competition. He arrived at the Emirates unrecognizable, with a purple suit and only twelve players from the first team. Africa recruited Salah, Asia recruited Endo. He could not count on Van Dijk or his substitute Matip, nor on the Hungarian midfielder Szoboszlai. Robertson and Tsimikas, the two left backs, are injured, as is the Galician wildcard Bajcetic. Liverpool finished the game with three boys from the second team on the field, but exuberant. And they beat Arsenal (0-2) in the final minutes of a memorable second half. “I am very proud. We brought the kids and we won. That speaks of everyone’s character,” Klopp summarized.
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A look of disappointment took over the Arsenal players, who pale in the Premier after winning just one of their last five games and they received a blow in the Cup, a fetish tournament for the club that has won it the most times (14, compared to Liverpool eight). The feeling is that they missed an excellent opportunity to eliminate their rival, who wandered through the game in a crescendo in which he began overwhelmed and ended up superfluous.
De Bruyne, ante el Huddersfield.LEE SMITH (Action Images via Reuters)
Arsenal must have gone ahead on the scoreboard. In the end he left without seeing the goal and with his well-known doubts about the team’s strength. This time, once again, the one designated is Havertz, who had clear options in front of the goal, but he finished them all as if he were a cadet. Mourinho would have compared him to a cat. It also happened that in front of them were some sleeping tigers. Liverpool began in a state of stupor, with serious problems moving the ball from behind. Odegaard hit the crossbar in the tenth minute after taking advantage of one of those poor ball releases. The goal passed to White, Havertz or Saka. They didn’t get it right. And the rival stretched. Alexander-Arnold rang the alarm with a shot that hit the Ramsdale crossbar. After the break another team came out, the usual Liverpool, the one that goes up the lines and on top of its opponent to turn every dispute into hell. Impossible not to vibrate with a team like this, capable of putting that soul into the game. Guardiola does well to warn.
Ramsdale, full of reflexes, stopped an attempt by Luis Díaz, when everything had already broken loose. Arsenal had faded. Liverpool focused on working on the sides with Díaz and Núñez, pushing fiercely until a lateral foul was placed by Alexander-Arnold in the first post, where damage is done. The Polish Kiwior headed it towards his own goal and decided the tie. Klopp’s players celebrated the goal as if it were the last of their lives. Observing how the goals are celebrated is usually an excellent indicator to understand the team’s performance. Luis Díaz’s ruling on the hour added effusiveness to the celebrations. Klopp rushed towards the net stand and threw his usual three punches into the air. Then he hit his heart. It’s about that.
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2024-01-09 05:39:28
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