League football with any fireworks. Liverpool did what it had to do to secure the three points, moving into a very comfortable position in the group in the process, but never really got into a high gear as it went through the motions in the early stages of the continent’s second tier tournament.
Of course, Jürgen Klopp will be as keen as anyone to make the best of being in this competition, and Liverpool will aim to win the Europa League. But the fire that comes from the off in the Champions League was perhaps lacking here against Union SG, understandably so in a side that saw nine changes.
Despite the alterations, Klopp was able to put out a strong team. Darwin Núñez would have been hoping to fill his boots, but made headlines for the wrong reasons with a glaring first-half miss.
In the end, though, it did not matter, as Liverpool dug in for the win, wrapped up late on by Diogo Jota. Here are the three moments Liverpool.com picked out from the Reds’ 2-0 triumph.
The Good
It wasn’t the busiest night of all time for the Liverpool back line, but there were a reasonable number of tests for Ibrahima Konaté and young partner Jarell Quansah. They passed with flying colors.
Up against a 1.97m colossus with some pacier players around him, there were a variety of challenges for the duo to handle, but they took everything in their stride. Quansah has not looked out of place for a second since taking on a first-team role this season, and he never looked ruffled here either.
It looked a real oversight when Liverpool did not buy a center-back in summer, but Quansah is painting that decision in a new light. It says something that there would be no sense of worry if Klopp were to name him against Brighton at the weekend, with the 20-year-old having stepped almost out of nowhere right into the frame for a long-term stay in the back line. Could we have been watching the partnership of the future?
The Bad
We’re all rooting for Darwin Núñez, but there was no way he was ever going to escape a mention for his first-half miss. It was an inexplicable moment that summed up the frustrations which have dogged his Liverpool career so far.
Sharper than any defender, his run beat the offside trap, and the slide across from Mohamed Salah left Núñez with the simple task of tapping in from six yards. But a strange stutter and rushed swing later, he had somehow contrived to turn the ball wide of the far post.
Coming at 0-0, it looked for a little while as though it may even prove costly. He will have been more relieved than anyone when Ryan Gravenberch turned home shortly before half time, but that won’t stop the miss from playing on his mind.
It will bug supporters just as much, with Núñez still difficult to assess. But few are better placed than Michael Owen, a Ballon d’Or winning striker during his time at Liverpool.
Speaking on TNT Sports, Owen named the one thing that needs to happen:
“He’s one of those players isn’t he. I’ve watched him closely since he’s been at the club. He’s a great volleyer of the ball, he does certain things that you think ‘wow, you can’t teach that’. But then he does some basic things.
“I argue with people all the time, at the local pub and things like that. They say ‘oh he’s not this good’. I say he could… he’s got attributes that are just off the scale. With a bit of coaching, simple things like that, simple tap-ins… anyway.”
Liverpool will hope that it really is just a matter of time and coaching. That may feel optimistic now, more than a year into his Anfield career, but Owen gave a big-name example to offer some encouragement.
After the game, he said that he ‘always goes back to Didier Drogba’, who was ‘laughed at’ in his first year or two before turning into one of the Premier League’s all-time greats. That’s quite the path for Núñez to follow.
The Ugly
It was an end to the game straight out of the ‘ugly’ textbook. Liverpool had dominated but failed to kill it off, and Union SG came into it more, at the expense of leaving more space on the counter.
It always looked as though one team would find the net in the final few minutes, and Jota made sure it was Liverpool. The goal was suitably scrappy, too, with the assist effectively coming from a visiting defender, but the forward was alive to finally put the game to bed.
The sense of relief around Anfield was palpable. But while Liverpool would obviously rather have had this wrapped up much sooner, there was a certain grittiness shown to stay firm before finally killing the contest. This trait of winning no matter what is indelibly associated with Klopp’s title-winning side of 2019/20, and he will be delighted to see another glimpse of it here, especially after falling to such cruel defeat at the weekend.
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