A frustrating result in Italy for Liverpool meant the Reds threw away a point in the 90th minute having somehow held on to a 0-0 draw for the majority of the match. The influential Insigne, who was always bound to have a say in this match, converted late on to send the tifosi wild leaving Liverpool fans utterly deflated.
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| Image via foxsports.com.au |
The game was an unproductive one for the Reds who failed really to call Napoli keeper Ospina into action. A front three consisting of Salah, Firmino and Mane would usually guarantee you a goal but not on Wednesday night.
Added to the mix was an early injury to Naby Keita who went off clutching his back. At the time of writing, I believe he is getting checked over in hospital. It's hard to tell how much of an impact something like that has, especially so early on but it will have created an issue in Liverpool's momentum.
Napoli were the ones with all the dangerous chances in this game and at one stage Mertens nearly converted only to see his deflection smash out off the bar. Alisson between the sticks had a rather busy night and if it wasn't for him Liverpool would have been in a far worse position.
One thing that really annoyed me on Wednesday night was actually away from the match itself but with some Liverpool fans in the pub. Literally everytime Mane touched the ball all you would hear is "pass, pass it though, ohhh man why doesn't he pass"... it was driving me bloody mad.
Granted, Mane is a selfish player, he's always been a forward more likely to keep his head down but in my opinion there's nothing wrong with being a bit selfish from time to time and the fact is, one of the major reasons we are joint top of the league at the moment is because of Sadio Mane. Last night he was one of few even creating any attacks and an almost perfect pass (yes pass, did you hear that?!) through to Mo Salah could have resulted in the Egyptian scoring a winner on another occasion.
The Reds did not deserve to win this game, no chance, but I do feel as though they deserved the draw. People forget that Italian sides are notoriously hard to break down, especially at home and especially underneath the instruction of Carlo Ancelotti.
I said in the preview that he's a manager I really admire and after last nights performance he only strengthened my feelings. We were outplayed in the midfield and kept extremely quiet in front of goal. My main gripe was that if I'm Klopp looking at that match unfold, I'm bringing on Sturridge at least at 70 minutes?
Despite the result and rather dire performance, Liverpool do not have time to dwell. With City at the weekend, our focus must be regained, we can have City, I honestly think we can. Their style of play suits us better and we've grabbed points in nearly every match this season so far while only playing in first gear. The spaces left open by City I believe will prove fruitful for our forwards.
Importantly for the Reds they picked up that late win over PSG. Add to this the fact that Napoli only managed a draw with Red Star and looking at the remaining group games you would hope Klopp's side have enough to get through the group.