LOSC is facing a mountain. This Tuesday evening, Bruno Genesio’s men face Liverpool (9 p.m.), who have moved forward since the arrival of Arne Slot. The Dutch coach transformed the difficult succession of Jürgen Klopp into a fairy tale, piling up 25 victories in 32 matches, a first place in the Premier League and a flawless performance in the Champions League.
At Anfield, his “Reds” beat the German champion (4-0 against Bayer Leverkusen), the Spanish champion (2-0 Real Madrid) and the English champion (2-0 against Manchester City ), without conceding a single goal. Fiery attack, iron defense, these are the two pillars on which the Mersey club once again relied, Sunday against Brentford (2-0).
“Technically, tactically and physically, they are very good everywhere on the pitch“, said Bees coach Thomas Frank to the BBC. “For me, they are the best team in the Premier League and in the world at the moment“. “I agree with him“, supported former Welsh defender Ashley Williams on the set of the show Match of the Day. “Right now I think they have the strongest team. In my opinion, they will win the championship and they are aiming for the Champions League“.
Slot, for his part, appreciated the “compliments” from his counterpart but tempered, Monday at a press conference. “His opinion matters to me because he showed Brentford how good a job he has done for so many years and without spending crazy amounts of money“, more “I think it’s way too early to say things like that, we still have a lot of matches to play“.
The end of the match at Brentford highlighted Liverpool’s strengths and weaknesses in recent weeks. The difficulty in converting the many chances that Mohamed Salah and his gang get, first of all: they attempted 35 shots without scoring, before succeeding in the 36th and 37th, in added time.
Brentford’s lock was finally broken, thanks in particular to the impact of two starters, Harvey Elliott as a starter and Darwin Nunez as a finisher. Against Nottingham Forest (1-1), last Tuesday, the equalizer also came from a corner from Kostas Tsimikas taken by Diogo Jota, both of whom came off the bench twenty-two seconds earlier.
-The trip to Forest was preceded by another draw in the Premier League, against Manchester United (2-2), and by a defeat at Tottenham (1-0) in the semi-final first leg of the League Cup. Enough to raise a few eyebrows, but not Slot’s.
“If you look at the number of chances created (…) you will see that nothing has changed between today and the first half of the season“, noted the Liverpool coach last weekend.
The change, “Right now“that’s what he is”harder for us to convert our chances into goals“, he admitted, however. There is the clumsiness of the attackers, sometimes, but also the “blocs bas“established and the adversaries who”throw themselves at every ball every time we have a chance“, listed the Dutchman.
Lille will have to resist the waves coming from Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, contain the percussion of Dominik Szoboszlai and the laser passes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, crack the wall erected by Ryan Gravenberch in the middle, and then hope to play Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté, probably the strongest defensive duo in the Premier League. A mission impossible? Bruno Genesio’s “Doges” must bring out the miracle box, as they did this season against Real Madrid (1-0) and Atlético (3-1).
