Crisis over? Not quite yet. Sure, Liverpool put five past woeful Eintracht Frankfurt to get their Champions League campaign back on track, but fans will now expect a continuation of that performance carried into the weekend.
Liverpool travel to Brentford on Saturday evening, having lost three on the bounce in the Premier League. Last week’s Anfield defeat at the hands of Manchester United was a low ebb, and Arne Slot will no doubt have been chagrinned by this polarising level of performance.
Last season, of course, the Reds romped their way to the Premier League title. Few, if any, anticipated a title battle after Jurgen Klopp up and left, but this football club has a funny way of disproving doubt, and the charge was ultimately processional.
Frankly, Frankfurt were shocking defensively, inviting 18 shots and 14 on target. Liverpool amassed an xG (expected goals) total of 3.26.
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
The club-record signing, Alexander Isak, might have been withdrawn at half-time, having still not hit his stride after that contentious summer move, but Hugo Ekitike continues to show why he has been one of the signings of the season – and that’s accounting for all teams across Europe.
Hugo Ekitike's prolific start to the season
Ekitike, 23, joined Liverpool from Frankfurt this summer, choosing the Reds over Newcastle United. An initial fee of £69m was chequed over to the Germans, with a further £10m payable through add-ons.
Liverpool have been freighted with tactical imbalances and new crises of confidence, but Ekitike has been cool and calm and clinical in the final third, with his well-taken strike against his former club, respectably not celebrating, taking his tally to six goals and one assist this year.
As per Sofascore, the France international also won five of seven contested duels at the Deutsche Bank Park, emphasising a wider level of quality. Not just a sharpshooter, he links up play, fights for loose balls, drops deep and carves openings for teammates. Ekitike is the real deal.
As content creator Asim Mahmood puts it, “Right now, he’s undroppable.”
Right you are, Asim. But Ekitike isn’t the only one, with one of the club’s longest-serving stars proving he’s still got a few tricks up his sleeve.
Liverpool veteran is now as undroppable as Ekitike
In his post-match interview, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk baulked at the suggestion he was relieved after turning around this tough run of losses. He has, after all, been in this game a long time.
And so has Andy Robertson, who for many years ran up Liverpool’s left line as a turbo-charged creative force, whipping in crosses and beating his man with blistering speed and neat dribbling.
Robertson has known criticism, these past 14 months or so. The 31-year-old no longer brings such energy and snap to his game, and has been somewhat remodelled into a less mobile full-back. His technical quality remains, though.
And against Frankfurt, this was on full show. You will have seen Ekitike’s opening goal, the deftness and composure to angle inward when played through and dispatch into the net. It was Robertson, though, who saw the opening and played a weighted pass through.
This is what he brings to the table. Sofascore also record that the Scotsman took 114 touches, attempting five crosses, making five ball recoveries, winning his one attempted tackle and making three interceptions.
Die Roten fell apart, and tougher tests will come for Slot’s side, but Robertson brings the balance, and it may well be that he has proved he is every bit as undroppable as Ekitike right now.
(GK) Giorgi Mamardashvili
6/10
(RB) Jeremie Frimpong
5/10
(CB) Ibrahima Konate
8/10
(CB) Virgil van Dijk
8/10
(LB) Andy Robertson
8/10
(CM) Dominik Szoboszlai
9/10
(CM) Curtis Jones
8/10
(RM) Florian Wirtz
9/10
(LM) Cody Gakpo
8/10
(CF) Alexander Isak
6/10
(CF) Hugo Ekitike
9/10
Milos Kerkez, of course, would have something to say about that, but Kerkez has flattered to deceive at Liverpool so far this season, and he does not look at home in the boss’s tactical system.
While the 21-year-old joined from Bournemouth for £45m and was named in the Premier League Team of the Season for 2024/25, he has not yet found his feet on Merseyside, where the spotlight shines much brighter and the calendar is more unforgiving.
He simply isn’t quite right – yet. Robertson started his first game in a month this week, and he must now retain his role. Less pacy he may be, the £160k-per-week veteran is one of the most distinguished creators in the Premier League, with his assist tally in the competition a testament to that.
The problem with Kerkez is that he’s not a natural ball technician. That is to say, to move him into a principally ball-playing role would be an erroneous move.
Correspondent David Lynch noted he is perceived to be “getting torn to shreds every week”, but that this isn’t actually the case, with the Hungarian simply misused across these opening months of the term.
Kerkez is more of a touchline full-back. He has pace and power and incisiveness, and these are faculties sure to work in his favour down the line.
But we are not yet down the line. Liverpool are at the beginning of a transition, and Slot, for all his brilliance, has yet to crack the wider tactical nut.
Wednesday’s win was a step in the right direction, but Robertson dangled among the bunch of keys to victory; he added balance and coherence and stability down Liverpool’s left side.
The vice-captain simply “has to be in the line-up at Brentford”, according to The Athletic’s James Pearce, and this is a sentiment many would share after the events of recent weeks.
If Liverpool fail to pass the Gtech test – a stadium they have won at twice in a row – questions will be thrown back at Slot’s presser table. If the elusive synergy is to be captured and contained within Liverpool’s tactical make-up, players like Robertson and Ekitike have to reprise their starting roles.
