Liverpool may have undergone one of the most significant changes in their recent history over the summer, but one old habit from Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge has carried over into Arne Slot’s reign.
The Reds conceded the first goal in no fewer than 23 of their matches last term (just under 40%), and that anomaly has resurfaced of late, having occurred in three of their past four games.
One of those instances was Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash against West Ham, with LFC making light of the early setback to run out 5-1 winners, and the parallel to 2023/24 wasn’t lost on Richard Jolly in his post-match analysis for The Independent.
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He wrote: “Slot has emulated Klopp in one respect and as the German went on to win the competition last year, he may hope for a repeat. Comparisons with the German are unavoidable, but some are enviable.
“Liverpool were comeback kings last season; across two midweeks, they have shown they have not lost the habit after all.”
Conceding first and going on to win is obviously far preferable to breaking the deadlock but ending up drawing or losing, a fate which has befallen Everton several times already this season. However, as we saw towards the end of last term, it isn’t a sustainable method for winning major silverware.
It could be argued that Liverpool have actually been behind in each of their last four games, with Antoine Semenyo ever so briefly nudging Bournemouth in front last Saturday before his sixth-minute goal was correctly disallowed by VAR.
The Reds bounced back from losing positions to beat AC Milan and West Ham over the past few days, but they had no response to Callum Hudson-Odoi’s strike for Nottingham Forest at Anfield earlier this month, albeit with a much narrower window in which to do so.
While Slot will be pleased with his team’s refusal to panic in adversity and ability to turn disadvantageous situations into victories, he won’t want to see his players needing to exert their powers of recovery with as much regularity as was required last season.
Here’s hoping for a continuation of the winning streak against Wolves on Saturday, albeit with less jeopardy thrust upon us than there was against Milan and West Ham.
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