Seperti musim lalu, Liverpool membuka kampanye English Premier League dengan angka satu. Kalau season lalu 2-2 dengan Fulham, kali ini berbagi satu gol dengan Chelsea.
“Pemain datang dan pergi. Musim baru silih berganti, tapi Liverpool dan Chelsea tetap berakhir seri.” Begitu host Vidio com memberi komentar usai pertandingan semalam. Kala tambahan waktu 5 menit babak kedua berakhir dan skor berakhir 1-1.
Dua tim sedang rebuild. Membangun tim. Jadi, nilai satu dari laga semalam wajib disyukuri. Meski rekor Mo Salah selalu mencetak gol dalam enam laga pembuka EPL terhenti.
Memang masih ada 37 pertandingan lagi dalam EPL. Tapi tetap ada rasa nyesel juga. Mengapa gol Salah dianggap offside, mengapa handsball Nicolas Jackson tak berbuah penalti bagi Liverpool, mengapa tendangan keras Darwin Nunez masih bisa diselamatkan Rob Sanchez, dan lain-lain.
Tapi, itulah, hidup, friend. Kadang sesuai harapan, kadang belum seperti impian. Yang pasti, selama kita hidup, selalu tersedia ruang untuk perbaikan.
Liverpool player ratings by NBC Sports (4-3-3)
Alisson: 6 – Didn’t have much to do but did well to smother Jackson’s first half effort.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 6 – Lovely ball forward for Salah’s disallowed goal. Involved heavily early on but faded. Did he switch off for Disasi’s goal? Klopp was angry with some of his distribution choices.
Ibrahima Konate: 6 – Caught out by Jackson’s pace on a few occasions and was dragged out of position as he stepped high.
Virgil van Dijk: 6 – One rasping effort which just flew over. Defensively okay but at times Jackson exposed his dwindling pace.
Andy Robertson: 5 – Had a tough outing. James and Sterling isolated him with little defensive help from Gakpo ahead of him.
Alexis Mac Allister: 6 – Pinged a lovely ball out to Salah for Diaz’s goal but then faded. Couldn’t control the tempo of the game from a deeper role. Late on he got a simple pass wrong with Nunez clean through.
Dominik Szoboszlai: 7 – Very impressive debut. Lovely balance on the ball, great energy in midfield and was very good in the first half. Promising.
Cody Gakpo: 5 – Struggled to impact the game from a deeper position in midfield. Worked hard but aside from one run he struggled.
Mohamed Salah: 7 – Lovely ball to Diaz for the early goal and dinked in a lovely goal himself, but VAR ruled it out for a slight offside. Subbed off in the second half and wasn’t delighted by it. Had the beating of Colwill in the first half.
Diogo Jota: 5 – Really struggled to get up to the pace of the game in a more central role. Took a heavy whack in the first half and subbed off early in the second.
Luis Diaz: 7 – Took his goal well and made some dangerous runs in-behind from the left.
Substitutes
Darwin Nunez (66′ on for Jota): 6 – Smashed a shot which deflected just wide late on.
Curtis Jones (66′ on for Gakpo): 6 – Worked hard to get on the ball and made some good runs.
Harvey Elliott (77′ on for Salah): 6 – Busy as ever and tried to get on the ball.https://youtu.be/37LIKm-JAiU
Ben Doak (77′ on for Diaz): 6 – Did his best to shore things up defensively.