That was fun, wasn’t it? And funny! So much joy in such an unexpected package. Liverpool FC once again proving that I’m right to be much more terrified to play against “Tricky Premier League Sides” than “The Big Scaries.” Now join us as we examine some of the narratives, reactions, and questions Liverpool will be dealing with and the fans will be talking about in the aftermath — though I have to admit that after recent weeks I mostly plan to have a bit of fun. Have a laugh with me, eh?
Winners and Losers
Winners
It seems hard to avoid talking about Alexis Mac Allister’s form: he’s been one of those struggling through the opening phase of the season, but has built on a very strong performance against Aston Villa with more improvement here. Leaving aside his goal, Mac Allister was a major reason Real Madrid found it so hard: he had his major footballing brain on, and was hard to cope with both in and out of possession. (Mohamed Salah, too, played well in this regard.)
Young Conor Bradley once again showed an incredible level of disrespect to Real Madrid players who are so into themselves they boycott Ballon d’Or ceremonies when they don’t win the individual awards. Bradley was absolutely faultless in defense, and proved a real problem going forward as well: he should have more goal involvements than he does in recent games, but it’s to his credit that he took on quite the physical encounter today and escaped not just as the better player but also without a yellow card.
Despite the loss, Thibaut Courtois is worth naming here: he is the sole reason this wasn’t a demolition job by the Reds, and the Belgian saved a remarkable eight shots — the stats nerds are estimating he’s saved a 1.05 goals, but given that headers tend to have a low xG value that perhaps understates his performance. Without Courtois that could have been a defeat of 3- or 4-0 at least. Lights out goalkeepers are important.
Losers
Real Madrid are in form, and Kylian Mbappé is the golden boy — while Vini Jr. is taking headlines for infighting with his teammates. Meanwhile Jude Bellingham has avoided the fray, but his skill level means he must be drawn into any conversation about Real Madrid’s Big Name Star Power (and whether they’re getting on). The headlines in Spain will only grow now, as none of the names found their way onto a scoresheet at Anfield, and Real Madrid had two shots on target. Most importantly, none of them deserved to find the scoresheet.
Early numbers, but FotMob (and Sofascore) have Real Madrid’s xG at 0.45 despite 61% possession. This really should be a “Liverpool’s defense” win column entry (particularly given how leaky Liverpool have been in recent weeks), but it’s also one of them where one team’s strengths have overshadowed the others’ success. Given Real Madrid’s extreme attacking threat, I’ve decided to put it as a loser: they’re in form, they’re dangerous, and they managed absolutely nothing when they came to face the mighty Reds.
Dissecting the Narrative
Rumors of Liverpool’s demise were perhaps premature.
While I absolutely did not give up on the Reds (and frankly lost it a bit with a mate who wanted to have a Just Asking Questions Slot Out conversation), I didn’t expect the level of performance we saw today. That Liverpool could win at home despite poor recent form is absolutely a possibility, despite the challenge of an in-form and quite healthy Real Madrid.
I don’t think even the most loyal and optimistic Liverpool supporters (myself included!) could have expected what we’ve witnessed, which was a completely dominant performance.
A performance against Aston Villa is less meaningful when you look into their underlying numbers (statistically they’ve played narrow, narrow games and usually have not been on top even if they have been where it matters: on the scoresheet). It wasn’t meaningless, but it certainly wouldn’t shift the narrative given Liverpool’s truly awful showings of late.
This was a statement performance. This was complete dominance against a hugely talented side, and two clean sheets on the bounce will speak volumes to a defense who have had a rough time of late. Onto a massive challenge at the weekend.
It is, perhaps, also worth noting that the Reds were so boss and those fellas in white were so poor that the return of That Man is really a non-story.
How The Fans Reacted
Look I could put a lot of astute commentary and good fun here, but I want to acknowledge what all of us were seeing: why was the referee always in the way?
I clocked it, but Neil Atkinson got it best:
We haven’t got to have a lot of fun this season yet and I do think it’s worth having a laugh where we can.
Comparisons to Last Season
Liverpool also beat Real Madrid last season after a long string of European defeats against Franco’s men, and it would be easy to say that this is building on something — but I don’t think this is quite true. Last season Liverpool (slightly exhausted) beat a very injury-heavy Real Madrid who were missing a few, but specifically Vinícius Júnior. Liverpool’s goalkeeper — Caoimhín Kelleher — was man of the match, and two missed penalties (one on either side) was telling between widely ranging game states (if they’d got one back after dominating early I’m not sure the game runs the same way).
Last season Liverpool conceded 1.22 xG per FotMob, which seems a nit-picky thing to mention (especially given that the Reds accrued 2.73), but the absolute defensive smothering that occurred today (2.58 xG for the Reds, 0.45 xG conceded to Real Madrid) is really quite something. It’s one thing to hold a defensive team to so low a number, but it’s hard to overstate how impressive it is against this opposition.
A leaky Liverpool defense outperformed last season’s version against a tougher test. Here’s hoping they build on it as they go away to a robot who loves a goal at the weekend.