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Liverpool limp past Genk in second gear with minds preoccupied by bigger test to come
There was no escaping the shadow across Anfield during the most subdued European night of Jurgen Klopp’s reign. The accusation for the last few days is Liverpool have taken residence in Pep Guardiola’s head. Here was 90 minutes of compelling evidence that Manchester City were as much on Liverpool and The Kop’s mind as Genk.
Everything Jurgen Klopp said prior to this victory suggested there would be no complacency; no thinking ahead to this weekend’s epic; no thinking of tomorrow when today could come along and kick you on the backside.
Everything around this fixture screamed the opposite. The team selection was the great giveaway, Klopp including a couple of players who can pencil in a trip to Villa Park rather than Qatar this December.
Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Andy Robertson started on the bench before having to be called up to ease their side to a 2-1 win. Jordan Henderson was not even a substitute, although he is ill.
Liverpool won and top their group, so no damage was done. Their ambition of making December less strenuous by arriving in the Champions League knockout stage with a game to spare remains on target. They will be there if they defeat Napoli at Anfield in the next fixture. They also know they will not achieve it if the evening is anything like this. It is unlikely any more this season will be.
This was a European night where the fireworks were most definitely outside the stadium, Genk narrowly beaten with a limp rather than confident stride.
“The most important thing is we won and nobody is injured,” was Klopp’s accurate summing up. “Job done is the headline of the game.”
It was a peculiar match, where the stakes were as great as ever, yet it never felt that way. The sense victory was inevitable can often be impressive. In this case it created unease and almost cost the European champions.
Few would have anticipated how influential Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson would be to secure the victory, especially when Gini Wijnaldum gave Liverpool an early lead and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain struck what proved the winner at the start of the second half.
From the moment the team sheet was published it smacked of trying to win with something to spare. Regardless of the calibre of opponents, that is a dangerous game at any level, although such is Liverpool's general quality for the first 41 minutes there appeared little sense of jeopardy.
Genk’s limitations were obvious when Liverpool dominated possession, even if a crowd which was sparing its vocal chords for Sunday chose to await its moments to applaud rather than consider any need to be the inspiration.
When Wijnaldum nudged Liverpool ahead with the first meaningful attack on 14 minutes, confidence did not look misplaced. James Milner, playing as a left back, sent in an okay cross which was poorly dealt with by the Belgian defence, and Wijnaldum was able to poke it in from close range.
So far, so predictable. Such was the visitors’ fragility at the back, it seemed any increase in tempo would yield more success - except Liverpool were not playing with usual intensity, nor risking any 50-50 challenges that might have led to a player settling for watching brief on Sunday. Instead, the game meandered into what appeared an exercise in restoring the confidence of Mohamed Salah.
Such has been Liverpool’s winning streak, and Mane’s brilliance, it has gone somewhat unnoticed that the Egyptian has been struggling. It is just the small details, as the managers like to point out, but they can be transformed into a greater concern; a misplaced pass here and there and the occasional hesitation before trying to dribble past a full-back when 18 months ago he would have been through on goal before the defender could consider a challenge.
Salah had numerous opportunities which underlined his struggles, striking wide a couple of times in the first half, lamely at keeper Gaetan Coucke in the second. His habit of failing to spot and pass to team-mates in better goalscoring positions lingers, too.
By then, Liverpool had worked themselves into difficulty. Genk equalised with their first attempt, a Kop end corner headed past Alisson by Ally Samatta on 41 minutes.
Their coach Felice Mazzu had promised his players were not here to collect photographs. Now they possessed a more worthy souvenir, Genk’s confidence visibly growing as the home challenge was not as formidable as they had anticipated. “We go home with a good feeling,” said Mazzu.
As the first hint of restlessness grew, Oxlade-Chamberlain restored Liverpool’s advantage with a clever turn and strike from just inside the penalty area. It was his fourth in his last four appearances.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain loves playing against Genk!
Mohamad Salah's quick feet set him up to bury one in the bottom corner ��
Great to see him back and enjoying his football again! �� pic.twitter.com/bkF6fbABF2— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 5, 2019
When Liverpool were connecting, the Belgians could not cope. If the problem in the first half was a lack of aggression, in the second it was over-elaboration - Liverpool often prone to the backheel in the penalty area when a shot on target will suffice.
Naby Keita was again subbed leaving everyone wanting more, the Guinea midfielder guilty of slowing the play to pick his passes rather than providing the dynamism needed.
Alisson’s shoving aside of Bryan Heynen’s 80th minute drive proved was the closest the Belgians came as they ended the game with more belief than which they had begun.
Liverpool just about saw it through. Klopp will be the first to admit it was not the performance of European champions. It felt like a compromise to maximise the chances of taking a significant step towards being Premier League ones.
Match details and marks
Liverpool Alisson 7; Alexander-Arnold 6, Gomez 6, Van Dijk 7, Milner 6; Wijnaldum 7, Fabinho 7, Keita 5; Oxlade-Chamberlain 7, Origi 6, Salah 5.
Subs Robertson for Keita (73); Mane for Oxlade-Chamberlain (73); Firmino for Origi (89); Subs not used Adrian, Lallana, Jones, Lovren
KRC Genk Couke 6; Cuesta 6, Dewaest 5, Lucumi 5, De Norre 6; Hrosovsky 6, Maehle 6; Berge 6, Ito 6, Heynen 6; Samatta 7
Subs Ndongala for Ito (68); Onauchu for De Norre (84) Bongonda for Hrosovsky (84); Subs not used Vandevoort, Wouters, Piottrowski, Hagi. Booked Lucemi, De Norre.
Referee Ivan Kružliak (Slovakia) Attendance
Klopp speaks
The plan was to win the game, we did that. Job done. [Not keeping a] Clean sheet - it’s not really a worry, but it's of course not what we want. The goals we conceded recently are all different. It's not about defending it's about being 100 per cent spot-on in the situations. We have to work on that.
And James Milner
We were good at times and a bit sloppy at others, but the workload has been massive at the moment. I’m just pleased to get the result. Set pieces are always going to be dangerous and when you have six changes the hardest things to pick up is team shape and people doing different jobs. It’s something to on.
Liverpool top the group
After RB Salzburg's 1-1 draw in Naples.
Here's the matchwinner Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain:
“I feel like I’m getting better with every game physically but I think there’s more to come from me. It’s nice to be chipping in with the odd goal as well.@
Full time
After a wretched start to the season compared with last year's sensational campaign, Genk put in a commendable performance against a Liverpool side who rarely bothered with top gear. The home side did what they had to do and scored from two fine moves. Job done etc.
90+2 min
Liverpool play keepball for a spell until Alexander-Arnold exploits an opportunity to rebound it off Nodongala's shins for a throw-in.
90 min
We'll have three more minutes. Genk push players forward.
88 min
Mazy, fleet-footed dribble by Salah is contained by Lucumi's strength then Origi, a minute later, flays a shot that is deflected wide. Before the corner is taken Origi is substituted and Firmino comes on. The former Genk forward is sent on his way with the songs of both sets of supporters centred on him.
87 min
Classy Genk move down their right opens space for Cuesta who takes a second bite at a cross with three white shirts hovering at the back post. Instead he goes for the near post and Alisson batters it away with his fists.
86 min
Genk double substitution: Paul Onuachu and Theo Bongonda replace De Norre and Hrosovsky.
84 min
Neat triangle move down the left frees Heynen on a run to the byline. He whips over a cross on the run that Liverpool barrel clear. Salah chassés forward at pace with Mane in support but doesn't release it at the most opportune time and allows Cuesta to clear up.
80 min
Genk struck late in the first half and after a few minutes where it seemed as if the game was petering out, Heynen is picked out by a glorious pass by De Norre from the left wing to the left of the box. The midfielder lashes a left foot shot across goal and Alisson pushed it wide. The ball is sent back in by Maehle and Liverpool eventually see it out after some pinball and a couple of too floaty Genk headers.
78 min
Ndongala seems to have a fair case for earning a corner but the referee insists it's a goalkick much to Genk's bewilderment.
76 min
Liverpool corner after Samatta heads out Robertson's cross. Dewaest wins the header at the corner and Liverpool shepherd it all the way back to Alisson to start again.
74 min
Double Liverpool substitution: Robertson and Mane on for Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain.
71 min
Genk probing down the left pin Liverpool into their own half for a minute but Alexander-Arnold holds form and starts the ball moving in the opposite way.
69 min
Ndongala receives the ball by the byline after decent work by Maehle but runs out of space.
67 min
Genk substitution: Ito is replaced by Dieumerci Ndongala. The Japan winger blanks the manager and runs straight past him.
66 min
Alexander-Arnold snatches at a left-foot shot from 22 yards, struck it while leaning back and launches it towards Woolton.
64 min
Two 'handball' shouts, the first when Cuesta blocks Wijnaldum's shot. Liverpool's No5 had played a one-two on the right of the box and hit his shot with the outside of his right boot. It did strike the defender's arm as he slid to block but it was former close range, the shot was miles off-target and VAR is having none of it. The next plea, from Oxlade-Chamberlain, was nonsense.
61 min
'Like having a new player' alert for Oxlade-Chamberlain. Dewaest has a free header from a Genk free-kick which he bludgeons wide from an unsignalled offside position.
59 min
Salah has a decent chance 20 yards out but he sweeps his low daisy-cutter shot straight at Coucke.
57 min
Salah slides a reverse left-foot pass from the D to meet Oxlade-Chamberlain's run into the box. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's initials twin has made some great runs down the inside-forward channels.
55 min
Another slick Liverpool passing move carves out a shooting chance for Origi.
53 min
Nicely done. Origi wriggles free down the right, beating two and whips in a cross that is headed out to 20 yards. Fabinho traps it and feeds it up to Salah who takes two gorgeous touches to lay it off to the left where Oxlade-Chamberlain controls it and harpoons in a left-foot shot.
GOAL!!
Liverpool 2-1 Genk (Oxlade-Chamberlain)
50 min
Spell of probing passing from Genk as Hrosovsky and De Borre link up down the left. They work Berge free down the right eventually and he takes it to the byline instead of shooting, cutting it back for the tightly-marked Heynen. Up goes the flag, unjustly, and because Heynen's shot was blocked, Liverpool have a free-kick rather than a VAR intervention.
49 min
Oxlade-Chamberlain wins the ball on the left, sidles forward and shifts it infield to Origi. He plays a give and go with Milner, turns and shoots, sending it whistling past the post.
48 min
Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino are warming up.
46 min
Liverpool begin at pace and Origi makes a sinuous run towards the box, jinking hither and thither until De Norre dispossesses him with a hard, well-timed tackle.
Samatta's equaliser
Half-time
The added minute ends with a Liverpool corner taken by Milner. It's headed out to 25 yards. Alexander-Arnold, knowing time's just about up, has a swing at it with his left which inadvertently tees it up for a Van Dijk glancing header which he twists wide of the right post.
Liverpool, dominant for 30 minutes, have been surprised by Genk in the past 15 as the visitors have conquered their early wobbles and started to find some accuracy with their passing. The defensive set-up and failure to pick up Samatta's run at the corner ought to annoy Klopp who smiled broadly when it went in. Is it an act?
45 min
Origi drags a left-foot shot past the far post after being played in by Keita following a tackle by Fabinho. Genk were certain Fabinho fouled Dewaest but it didn't look like it. He extended his leg and hacked the ball back with his heel, reaching the ball first.
44 min
Heynen scares the life out of Liverpool on the counter. Gomez gives him too much space to shoot and he threads a low shot past him and inches past the post. Alisson probably had it covered with his headlong dive.
43 min
Terrific run and header from the corner. The Tanzania centre-forward bullets it in at the near post, beating Alexander-Arnold and Milner comprehensively in the air. A minute earlier Salah had flashed a left-foot shot wide and conceded a corner by initially drowsing during a rapid counter-attack.
GOAL!!
Liverpool 1-1 Genk (Samatta)
40 min
If at first Alexander-Arnold does not succeed ... he tries the earlier corner routine, with Van Dijk peeling off towards the penalty spot, once more. Again he stands there scot free to hook in a sidewinder volley and misses it completely.
38 min
Liverpool corner after Salah gets to the byline at full pelt and manages to flick up a near-post cross that Origi reaches and is turned behind.
35 min
Excellent pass from Milner, fired horizontally across the 18-yard line to Salah who uses the pace with his back to goal to turn it round the corner, spin his man and scud a left-foot shot across goal that refuses to tuck in at the far post.
33 min
Alexander-Arnold rides a bad tackle from Ito and brings the ball forward, playing it up to Oxlade-Chamberlain who drives forward and is tackled fairly but with some force by Dewaest, He falls an twists his ankle and limps back into action.
31 min
Oxlade-Chamberlain receives Wijnaldum's clever pass in the D, twists to the left, then right, then left again as he tries to diddle the defender but Cuesta isn't buying, sticks with him and blocks the shot when it eventually comes.
28 min
Genk free-kick 10 yards into the Liverpool half. Heynen takes and it is headed away by a red shirt at the edge of the area. Liverpool break and for the second time in a few minutes Coucke comes racing off his line a little scarily but manages to get there ahead of Salah even if his clearance is panicky.
26 min
Ito and Origi are caught offside within 30 seconds of each other. More space now as Genk push their wing-backs further up the pitch.
23 min
Free-kick for Liverpool and a yellow card for Lucumi for pushing Salah. The free-kick from the right is well-defended but Genk can't hold on to the ball nor get out of their half and back come Liverpool. Keita tacks down the left and is found by Oxlade-Chamberlain's cute slide pass. Keita shoots twice - the first smartly saved low down by Coucke with his knee, the second smothered by his defence without sweat as the angle became even tighter.
21 min
After a long head tennis rally around halfway, Ito allows a ball to drop and, spotting Alisson off his line, lines up a long half-volley lob. But it takes so long to come to earth that Keita manages to whip it away before he can shoot. He shifts it up to Milner whose shot from 20 yards is deflected tamely and safely at Coucke.
18 min
Better from Dewaest to stick to Salah and nip the ball away from him as he was played through the inside-left channel - just offside.
16 min
Genk free-kick, 40 yards out. It's hung up from left to right for Dewaest's run, peeling off Milner but even though he telescopes out his right leg he cannot control it in his ballet pose and toe-ends it out for a goalkick.
14 min
Origi rolls the ball down the penalty box on the left for Milner's overlapping run. The captain fores in a left-foot cross that pinballs into the stomach of Dewaest in the six-yard box and drops perfectly for Wijnaldum who hooks his volley past the keeper and into the roof of the net from about four yards.
GOAL!
Liverpool 1-0 Genk (Wijnaldum)
11 min
Milner runs into Maehle and crashes his forehead into the back of the Danish wing-back's bonce. Free-kick to Genk.
9 min
Liverpool corner. Alexander-Arnold feeds the ball towards the edge of the area as Van Dijk setps back off his marker in a training ground routine. Van Dijk, in the clear, goes for the Sheringham half-volley and slices his shot wide.
6 min
Keita at the edge of the area feints outside, opens his body and fires a 20-yard shot off Lucumi and out for a throw. Wijnaldum beats De Norre and whips in a cross that is delivered too close to the keeper. Origi, a Genk alumnus, had made a fine run to the back post but Wijnaldum, his fellow lowlander, could not pick him out.
4 min
Steve McManaman said before the match that he thought Liverpool would try to expend as little energy as possible in picking up a drama-free victory. Passing lacks poise and precision so far and Genk are pressing energetically.
2 min
Maehle makes a promising foray up the right, stretches Milner's legs into the corner and is hounded down by Keita. Liverpool earn the benefit of a tight offside call that the referee should have allowed to continue as Genk's Ito broke free.
1 min
Liverpool attack immediately up the left. Genk, despite Uefa's team sheet, are playing five at the back. Flare and firework smoke hangs over the pitch as Liverpool's attack fizzles out after switching to the right.
The captains toss up
Sebastian Dewaest, the Genk captain, has one of those lipstick kiss tattoos on his neck. Hmmm.
Flags are waving
And scarves are raised as Gerry Marsden sings. Fireworks light up the Anfield sky and the players are in the tunnel.
Jurgen Klopp on making six changes
"We wanted fresh legs, fresh ideas, new ways to play. We need to be very clear in what we do. We have to make the pitch wide, use it, be strong quick and direct. It's a lot of things to do."
Mbwana Samatta
Tanzania's Genk centre-forward, who scored 20 goals in the title-winning campaign, had a goal ruled out in his home match against Liverpool and is a lifelong Manchester United fan. Ianis Hagi, son of Gheorghe, is on the bench and the club is fuelled by young talent from the same production line that develeoped Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Leandro Trossard.
Genk starting XI
Coucke, Cuesta, De Norre, Lucumi, Mæhle, Dewaest, Heynen, Hrošovský, Berge, Ito, Samatta.
Subs to follow.
Six changes for Liverpool
#UCL team news ����
Tonight's line-up for matchday 4️⃣...#LIVGENhttps://t.co/soXURstQgu— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 5, 2019
Die Meister, Die Besten
Good evening. Genk visit Anfield tonight with their chances edging closer to none than slim since the champions of Belgium, whose inspirational manager Philppe Clement defected to Club Brugge after winning the title, have lost their last three Champions League away games 5-0, 7-0 and 6-2. They are eighth in the Jupiler League after 13 games, having lost five (they were defeated only twice last season) and arrive in Liverpool after going down 2-0 at Eupen on Saturday, 10 days after Liverpool had whacked them 4-1.
Liverpool, by contrast, are in fine fettle and, should Red Bull Salzburg lose in Naples tonight, would need four points from this and their next two games to secure qualification to the round of 16 in their campaign to defend the Champions League in a final, coincidentally, taking place in Istanbul.
Jurgen Klopp’s principal concern will be Sunday’s match against Manchester City and will shredely use this opportunity to rotate some of his starters. Fabinho, having sat out the trip to Aston Villa to avoid the risk of a suspension-triggering caution, should return and starting places may be available for three or four of James Milner, Joe Gomez, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana and Divock Origi. Joel Matip and Xherdan Shaqiri are out until the end of the international break and may by then be gunning for places in the stiffs squad staying at home for the League Cup quarter-final the following month.
As an aside, when did the Champions League group stages become so routinely boring? There were plenty of tight groups up to 2014 but they seem to have been dwindling ever since, an indictment of the general gulf between the richest clubs and those who once challenged them on a more competitive footing or an inherent flaw in the six-match group schedule that has become increasingly evident. Anyway … to Anfield and team news at 7pm for the 8pm kick-off.
