Liverpool –
his absence Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane does affect sharpness Liverpool. However, the Reds should not be whiny because they have to be “independent” without their two goal machines.
Salah and Mane should be out at least until the end of this month due to appearances at 2021 African Cup of Nations. The match against Chelsea on January 2 was the last time they both defended Liverpool, coincidentally Salah and Mane scored.
The loss of Salah and Mane was not felt at first when Liverpool beat Shrewsbury Town 4-1 in the third round of the FA Cup. However, the duel against Arsenal in the first leg of the English League Cup semi-final, Friday (14/1/2022) in the early hours of West Indonesia Time proved otherwise.
Liverpool, which fielded Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, and Takumi Minamino, struggled to dismantle Arsenal’s defense. Even the advantage of the number of players can not be maximized by Liverpool since the 24th minute
Made a total of 17 attempts, only one that Liverpool could direct towards Arsenal’s goal and had to settle for a 0-0 score. This is Liverpool’s first failure to score at home this season.
It is natural that there are concerns that Liverpool will be like this during Salah and Mane’s absence. Jota, who is expected to become a goal machine, has not been able to perform optimally.
A tough test came again for Liverpool’s front lines when they hosted Brentford, Sunday (16/1/2022) night WIB. For managers Jürgen Klopp, it was a moment for Jota et al. prove that Liverpool is not just Mane and Salah.
Liverpool must be able to score a lot of goals and get three points in order to maintain the competition.
“The only way to avoid questions like this (barren attacking line) is to score goals,” Klopp said at the club ESPN.
“The conditions are clear. They are world-class players and they are not here. Did we miss them? Yes, but it’s not about who is missing, but how we can do better. They started very well, we troubled Arsenal. , we were able to press well, we created a lot of chances, and came the red card.”
“We couldn’t break down their layered defence. We couldn’t take advantage of that moment. But we can do better and that’s what we’re going to do.”
(mrp/raw)
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