Fans impressed by Liverpool’s ‘evolution’ win – but send “foot off the gas” warning

Liverpool may have made life a bit harder for themselves than they needed to, which was not lost on fans, but there was plenty of praise for the “professional” 1-0 win at Leipzig.

Three Champions League games, three wins for the Reds.

Darwin Nunez‘s goal was the difference on the night against Leipzig, but Caoimhin Kelleher proved just as important at the other end of the field – as did Liverpool’s defensive line.

Slot’s side finished the match with 17 shots but managed to convert just one, allowing Leipzig the opportunity to ask questions late on – and fans noted that is where this team can improve next.

It was a controlled, professional win for the most part, but it leaves room for improvement in the weeks to come.

Great win on the road for the Reds. Only issue was didn’t killl the game off during most dominant spell of the game. Need to be more clinical. Made it more interesting than it needed to be. Side note. Looking forward to seeing Harvey Elliott as the 10 in this set up

— keith costigan (@KeithCostigan) October 23, 2024

Liverpool and Villa are the only teams with nine points, and Liverpool have had the harder games – Pot 1 and Pot 2 aways done ??

Decent enough tonight if a little nervy late on. This new CL just feels like a slog, though, doesn’t it?

Up the Reds.

— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) October 23, 2024

Tighter than it perhaps should have been in the end but this was, in theory, Liverpool's toughest fixture of the draw given it's their away game against a Pot 1 side and they fully deserved to win. Three from three in the Champions League and, incredibly, 11/12 under Arne Slot.

— David Lynch (@davidlynchlfc) October 23, 2024

Tough end to the game. Mainly down to the reds jumping out of challenges and allowing RBL the impetus. One of them where I think they had it in the bag so took foot off the gas.

— Dan (@worksopdanic) October 23, 2024

Made a bit too much hard work of that last 15 than we needed to, but got the job done. Got to be better in the final 3rd, gave it away far too much. Defended brilliantly though and Kelleher excellent again when needed.

Brilliant start to the CL campaign ?

— Stephen Evans (@StephenEvans75) October 23, 2024

“Arne not only intent on evolving us, but in the process setting new records along the way.

“That should have been more comfortable than it turned out, yes, thanks again VAR, but no one can be dissatisfied with 3 wins out of 3 in this competition.

“Some lovely football tonight that deserved more goals, that Macca move with Szobo was sublime.” – Speelautomaat in the comments.

“Professional win, lucky for us that Openda guy pulled a classic Nunez performance as our defensive line managed the offside trap to perfection.”

– Divock in the comments.

“This might sound very odd, but I was as impressed tonight than I’ve been all season, purely because u could see some clear tactical tweaks that really helped us control the game, they only really threatened when either yards offside or individual errors!”

– Simon Hulance on Facebook.

Arne Slot has now won 11 of his 12 first matches a LFC coach. Incredible. The journey continues & we appreciate the work our boys are putting in ? pic.twitter.com/oI1AGte1OR

— Moby (@Mobyhaque1) October 23, 2024

Great result that. Sloppy at times and nervous towards the end, but I will never understand how Nunez wasn't awarded a pen for the clearest foul in the box you will ever see. What a start for the Arne Slot Reds

— Jeff Goulding (@ShanklysBoys1) October 23, 2024

Bit sloppy after the changes but decent. Need to be much better at the weekend

— iHyypia (@iHyypia) October 23, 2024

Typical Arne Slot performance for #LFC. Controlled, dominant, professional.

Caoimhin Kelleher was outstanding but way too much made of Leipzig on the TNT commentary considering almost all of their chances were offside.

— Jack Lusby (@LusbyJack) October 23, 2024

 

And the ref didn’t get much love, understandably so!

Still thinking about Mac Allister getting a yellow card for being kneed in the leg by Geertruida.

— Josh Williams (@DistanceCovered) October 23, 2024

That's one of the poorest refereeing decisions you will ever see not to give #lfc a penalty. Appalling.

— David Phillips (@lovefutebol) October 23, 2024

You know when everyone says the referees are better in Europe?

— David Lynch (@davidlynchlfc) October 23, 2024

That pen and yellow card for Mac Allister are 2 of the maddest decisions I’ve ever seen.

— Shorty (@KeithLFC6) October 23, 2024

Wouldn't like to get in a car this referee was driving mate

— Mike Kearney (@MikeKearney1) October 23, 2024

It’s good to see that European referees are as poor as the English ones. MacAllister’s booking this evening is such a bad decision, it’s almost laughable & the referee we had against Bologna in the last CL match day was also ridiculously poor.

— Jack Gill (@jacklfcgill) October 23, 2024

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While Liverpool can certainly look to kill off games on the scoreboard, this was still a professional European victory on the road for Slot’s squad.

The Dutchman is creating a strong foundation in the Champions League that will, hopefully, enable him to utilise his squad with greater effect later on in the league phase.

Let’s not make it more nervy than it needs to be at the death on Sunday, though. Thanks in advance.