Premier League: Liverpool v Sheffield United

Liverpool hosted Sheffield United in Sunday’s early morning kick-off at Anfield in another controversial match due to VAR and won 2-1. It was a scrappy contest as Liverpool were less than impressive in the first half while conceding a controversial penalty. Roberto Firmino scored the equalizer and opened his account for this season with a goal at home.

Liverpool were a changed team in the second half and attacked Sheffield United more. Their perseverance was awarded by a beautiful Mo Salah goal, which was however ruled out for offside. Minutes later, Diogo Jota rose highest to score from a beautiful pass from Sadio Mane.

Teams and Tactics:

Liverpool: Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Joe Gomez, Andy Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah

Sheffield United: Aaron Ramsdale, Chris Basham, John Egan, Enda Stevens, George Baldock, Sander Berge, Ethan Ampadu, John Lundstram, Ben Osborn, Oliver McBurnie and Rhian Brewster

Liverpool played in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Salah leading the line and Firmino playing as a CAM with Mane and Jota on the wings. The defence was unchanged from the Ajax game and Alisson made his return after a shoulder injury. Sheffield played a 3-5-2 formation and were defensively resilient in the first half.

Match Details:

Rhian Brewster made his first start for Sheffield United and was lively and energetic before being subbed off at the end of the hour. Sheffield played with a back five and Liverpool struggled to break them down. Liverpool went behind when Fabinho tackled Oliver McBurnie right at the edge of the area. VAR clearly showed that Fabinho had made a correct tackle and yet a penalty was awarded to Sheffield which Sander Berge scored.

Liverpool were poor after that and had a mini-revival right at the end of the first half. Liverpool’s captain Jordan Henderson sent a beautiful cross into the Sheffield penalty area and Sadio Mane headed the ball straight at Aaron Ramsdale, who managed to parry the ball right at Roberto Firmino and he didn’t miss from there. The first half ended on equal terms and Liverpool started the second half brightly.

In the 62^nd minute Trent Alexander-Arnold crossed the ball yet again and this time Mohamed Salah produced a thing of beauty as he collected the ball, juggled it in the air and lobbed Aaron Ramsdale and put the ball into the net. What was most astounding was that he did all that without letting the ball touch the ground. Tragically VAR ruled that Salah was offside and Liverpool’s lead was cancelled. It was not to be as two minutes later Sadio Mane delivered a pass into the penalty area with his weak foot and Diogo Jota veered away from Enda Stevens and headed the ball past Aaron Ramsdale.

The match ended 2-1 in Liverpool’s favour and yet again showcased their mentality, despite an average performance. Joe Gomez was decided the man of the match due to his stellar defensive performance. He will be trusted to bring stability along with Fabinho, in the absence of Virgil Van Dijk.

VAR and yet again another controversy

Yet again VAR was used to create controversy. Last week it was David Coote with two terrible decisions and this time it was Andre Marriner against Liverpool. One must wonder whether there is an agenda against Liverpool after Project Big Picture was voted out.

Jurgen Klopp perfectly surmised this situation when he said post-match “No foul. Game number six and in three of them we’ve been on the wrong end of the decisions”. It puts into perspective how VAR can be used to judge an offside by the finest of margins but can’t be used to punish blatant fouls. David Coote said that he was busy judging if Virgil Van Dijk was offside and didn’t think to review Jordan Pickford’s mindless lunge at him. Andre Marriner was busy reviewing if Fabinho had fouled on the edge of the line and not reviewing if he had actually fouled first.

This goes on to show the quality of English referees. Maybe this is the reason why you see no English referees at international tournaments.

Also Read: Premier League: Saturday Report