The idea that a 2-1 win somehow “flattered” Liverpool doesn’t really stand up if you replay the chances in your head. You can have a scrappy finish without it being a robbery. That’s football. Sometimes you’re a bit ragged, but you’ve still done enough.
Chances were there, not just lucky moments
The match wasn’t some tale of two lucky goals and then hanging on for dear life. We hit the post twice in the first half. After the break, Gravenberch had a really good opening, and there was also that clever set-piece routine where Flo had a chance of his own.
If even one of those goes in, the whole conversation changes, doesn’t it? Suddenly it’s “professional” or “managed well”. Instead it becomes “flatters us” because the last 15 minutes are a bit tense.
The real issue: set pieces and momentum swings
The frustrating part is familiar. Like against Spurs, we conceded from a daft set piece and you could feel the momentum shift. It gives the opposition belief, it lifts the crowd if it’s away from home, and it makes every clearance feel like an emergency even when it shouldn’t.
But that’s different to being carved open over and over. If most of their threat is basically the set-piece shot and the follow-up, that’s not them “creating and creating”. That’s us handing them a moment, and then spending a spell trying to get our control back.
Entitlement creeps in when it gets tense
A lot of the noise around performances feels like entitlement dressed up as analysis. “They went down to nine, we should be blowing them away.” “They’ve only got two points, we should be knocking the stuffing out of them.” In the Premier League, it rarely works like that, especially once teams drop into a low block and make it ugly.
And to be fair, plenty of good sides end up going a bit direct when a game turns into second balls and territory. It’s not pretty, but it’s hardly unique.
There were clear positives in the pattern
There were things to like if you weren’t watching with your arms folded. The press looked better in patches. We actually found ways to get our wide players in behind, rather than everything being in front of the block.
Kerkez looked like a proper warrior up and down the left. Frimpong had moments where he turned his man with raw athleticism and a sharp change of direction. And if you’re looking for evidence that Arne Slot isn’t just digging his heels in, Chiesa starting is a pretty straightforward rebuttal to the “vendetta” shouts.
None of that says we’re perfect, because we’re not. Set-piece defending clearly needs sorting. But it’s also fair to say there are differences between games, and there are improvements. It doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other.
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