Eintracht Frankfurt 1-5 Liverpool: Big changes from Arne Slot as the Reds arrest worrying slide
Up against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, a fifth defeat in a row was quite a realistic prospect for Liverpool. But the Reds banished those fears with a superb attacking performance that paid dividends to everyone in red, but most of all to Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.
Things started on the wrong note for Arne Slot’s men when, just before the hour, Frankfurt’s Rasmus Kristensen directed a shot through Andy Robertson’s legs to fire the home side in front with a bang.
Liverpool had controlled possession and the game before that but their shakiness was evident. They appeared, for all intents and purposes, like a team who had lost four out of their last four in all competitions.
Slot had made drastic changes on the night to reflect both his desire to win and willingness to take things apart and reshape them until he had achieved that. Playing with a 4-4-2, Slot started both Ekitike and Alexander Isak as the two centre-forwards. The ineffectual Mohamed Salah was dropped and Andy Robertson was restored to the left-back position.
While the veteran Scot may be abashed that he perhaps didn’t push high enough to stop Kristensen’s shot, he soon made up for it when he released Ekitike to run at the Frankfurt goal and finish one-on-one past Michael Zettere. The former Frankfurt man held up his palms to apologise to the crowd that cheered him only a few months ago but his disposition screamed that he relished it.
After their initial goal Frankfurt hardly threatened, almost content to sit back and resist the waves of Liverpool pressure. They are renowned as a counter-attacking team but struggled to show that off to full effect.
In minute 39 Virgil van Dijk snapped Liverpool in front with a piercing header from a Cody Gakpo corner kick and the Reds roared, tails up, appetite whetted and remembering what devouring used to feel like.
Liverpool would click through a few more gears and heap more misery on their subdued opponents. Ibrahima Konate slammed in another header just before half time and Gakpo finished past Zetterer just after the hour, following a neat pass from Wirtz.
By that time Federico Chiesa was on the pitch, having replaced the ineffectual Isak at half time. A rampant Liverpool side soon made it a five-star performance when Szoboszlai collected from Wirtz outside the box and drove a low shot past Zetterer and into the bottom corner.
There was time and space for more but by then both sides were exhausted, Liverpool happy to call it a day when they looked up at the scoreboard and were pleased with what they saw.
