Four things spotted vs LASK as Luis Díaz grants Jürgen Klopp wish and Liverpool gamble pays off.
Liverpool came from behind once more, this time beating LASK in the Europa League. This is what we spotted as Luis Díaz helped give Jürgen Klopp what he wanted.
RAIFFEISEN ARENA, LINZ // Liverpool went 1-0 down again early on as a pattern from the new season continued, but Luis Díaz won a soft penalty that Darwin Núñez confidently converted and the Colombian ended up being the match-winner.
Mohamed Salah even had time to come on and extend his European goalscoring to seal a 3-1 victory.
Florian Flecker has opened the scoring after touching the ball down on the edge of the penalty area after a corner was drifted into his path, before he smashed a shot past Caoimhín Kelleher. Liverpool had not switched on to his position around 20 yards from goal and were punished.
But Díaz completed the turnaround when he slammed home from close range after great work from Núñez,
Harvey Elliott and Ryan Gravenberch, giving Jürgen Klopp exactly what his side needed to start its European campaign. Salah’s late goal was an extra that he will take much delight in.
Here are the four things that Liverpool.com spotted as the game unfolded in Austria, including a new role for one young talent and a couple of vital contributions from Díaz.
Hybrid role experiment conducted
Stefan Bajčetić played the Trent Alexander-Arnold ‘hybrid’ role and struggled a little to get into the game.
As Alexander-Arnold himself has found, the idea only works in the way it is intended if Liverpool is dominating possession.
Instead, the Reds could not keep hold of the ball at all, especially in the first half, meaning that every time a Liverpool player had it, it was not long before it was lost.
That is not the kind of control that facilitates someone like Bajčetić being able to dictate things.
Things improved after half-time but Bajčetić was playing his first senior minutes since returning from injury and came off after an hour.
When fully up to speed, it is easy to see why he might be suited to the position, but it needs more practice.
Full debut complete for Ryan Gravenberch
Gravenberch, making his first Liverpool start after signing from Bayern Munich, showed some good signs.
He almost got in on goal during the first half with a promising-looking one-two on the edge of the penalty area before it was cut out.
It was his cross that set up Díaz to put Liverpool ahead and there were glimmers of what the Reds see in their new $44m (£34m/€40m) signing, with, of course, a great deal more to come from him.
The Netherlands international did not always find it easy in the middle of the pitch and it did not help that no one could keep possession.
There were bright spots in the performance but Gravenberch can be properly judged in a few months, not now.
Rustiness proves a difficulty, but is overcome
It perhaps should not have been that surprising considering that Klopp had made a full 11 changes to his starting XI, but there was more than a little rustiness on show.
Kostas Tsimikas was poor at times and he wasn’t the only one.
Harvey Elliott, so good off the bench several times already this season, could hardly find a pass for the first half an hour.
The strip sees Liverpool wear purple for the first time since the 2018/19 season.
Following on from the iconic Red and remake of a 1996/96 classic, the third kit features a purple ripple pattern with black sleeve cuffs, collarbone inserts, side panelling with matching shorts and purple rippple socks.
But the gamble paid off in the end without the need for a major panic. Eventually, Liverpool got a grip on the game and found its groove.
Klopp was screaming on the sidelines for more intensity and better quality in possession and it did eventually come, largely thanks to Díaz winning a penalty and then scoring the winner.
It took a while, but the wholesale changes proved to be the right call, despite that looking like a gamble that might be backfiring in the first half.
Díaz aided his side in granting his manager’s wishes on both the intensity and quality fronts.
There were some more promising signs from young Ben Doak, who is excellent one-versus-one.
His dribbling and two-footedness mean he can go either way and he flashed a couple of dangerous balls across the face of the box that were not pounced upon.
He will learn from this experience and should get some more time on the pitch later in the competition and also when Liverpool hosts Leicester City in the Carabao Cup next week.
When he develops even further, Doak will be a scary prospect.
It would be fair to say that he already is. It says a lot that he was trusted from the start here at the age of only 17.
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