Liverpool 3-1 Leicester City
Post match analysis by Cristian Bratu
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation.
After damaging results against Newcastle and, more crucially, Wolves, a trip to Anfield to face the league leaders Liverpool seemed a daunting prospect for the struggling Foxes. Seasons are not defined by these sort of games, but a drastic improvement was needed to avoid a Boxing Day massacre, especially as the goal difference had taken a real hit in recent outings.
Ahead of the match, the aforementioned Wolves, fresh from their morale-boosting victory over the Foxes, continued their bounce back under new management to lift themselves out of the relegation zone at our expense, further emphasising just how crucial it was for us to come out of that game with a result. This left us the small matter of beating an imperious Liverpool side at Anfield to propel ourselves back above the dotted line and with just six minutes on the clock, it looked like we had gotten ourselves off to the best possible start.
A low cross from Stephy Mavididi was met in the area by Jordan Ayew, who used his body well to fend off Andy Robertson before burying the ball into the bottom corner on the swivel to give Leicester the lead in front of the travelling support, but warning signs from Liverpool were already apparent.
Premier League debutant, Jakub Stolarczyk, drafted in for the unfancied Danny Ward, made a smart stop moments before the opener to deny Mohammed Salah at the near post, with the Reds striking the upright soon after through Robertson and the crossbar via Salah’s bending effort.
After a half of resolute defending from Leicester’s backline, the recent struggles of James Justin came to light once more as the fullback committed himself and lost out to Cody Gakpo, who then curled the ball into the back of the net to level the score on the stroke of half time.
Things would only get worse for the Foxes minutes into the second half as Curtis Jones found space in the box, despite all 11 Leicester players taking up a position in the area at the time of Alexis Mac Allister’s cutback, to tap the ball home and turn the game on its head.
Stolarczyk stood firm to deny Darwin Nunez finishing off a sweeping Liverpool move with a strong save as the Reds had a second Gakpo goal ruled out for offside in the build up, but then came a glorious chance for an unlikely equaliser.
Mavididi broke down the line and crossed low as his did for the opener but Patson Daka, presented with his first opportunity of the game, seemingly took his eye off the ball and could not make the required contact to at least test Alisson in the Liverpool goal as the chance that Leicester were hoping for came and went.
Not in a forgiving mood, Liverpool made sure that we paid for not taking the chance as, from a Victor Kristiansen throw in, the hosts swiftly won the ball back before spreading the play out to Salah. The winger was then allowed to make his way into the box and cut in on his left foot before burying his effort and seemingly burying Leicester’s chances of getting anything from the game.
As mentioned previously, seasons are not defined by trips to Anfield and while there were more positives to take from this game than the outing against Wolves, Leicester’s soft underbelly was there to see once more as the Foxes conceded at least three goals for the third straight game.
With the transfer window fast approaching, there is plenty of work to be done if we want to boost any hope of surviving this season and key positions such as on the wing and fullback need to be addressed as those weaknesses are seemingly exploited every game up to this point.
Standing between Leicester and the January window is the small matter of Manchester City. While they are very much in the middle of their own mess currently, they still have the quality to blow teams away, even at half tilt and the ever charitable Foxes may just be the team they have been waiting for to get themselves back on track. It has worked so far for Newcastle and Wolves…
That being said, from our perspective, there is no better time to play a City side very much lacking in confidence and as videos from our Boxing Day victory over them in 2018 resurfaced, lets hope that we can take inspiration from that going into the game.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Gomez, Robertson (Tsimikas 86′), Mac Allister (Elliott 92′), Gravenberch (Endo 87′), Gakpo, Jones (Szoboszlai 78′), Salah, Nunez (Jota 78′)
Leicester City: Stolarczyk, Justin, Coady (Okoli 95′), Vestergaard, Kristiansen, Soumare, Winks (Skipp 65′), Mavididi (De Cordova-Reid 87′), El Khannouss (Buonanotte 65′), Ayew, Daka