Ajax 0 Liverpool 3: Salah, Nunez and Elliott strike as Reds forget Prem woes and secure last-16 spot with game to go
NO-ONE expected this a month ago – certainly not Jurgen Klopp.
On the night of his worst night as Liverpool manager, a 4-1 humiliation at Napoli, Klopp would have laughed had you told him his team would be through to the last 16 with a game to go.
But four successive wins have followed that nightmare in Naples. At a noisy Johan Cruyff Arena last night, goals from Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott sealed an easy win over a desperately-poor Ajax team.
When you look at Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, no-one on Merseyside will be getting carried away with themselves.
If we are being realistic, Liverpool have been lucky to feature in the same group as both Ajax, along with Rangers, who have been absolutely hopeless.
The fact Ajax have conceded 15 goals and Rangers 19 sums it up.
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But Klopp will still take heart from the fact that his team, although still visibly low on confidence, put away an Ajax team two weeks after thrashing Rangers 7-1. These have been Liverpool’s only away wins this term.
In theory, Liverpool can still win their group. But when teams are level, places are decided on a head-to-head basis. So even if Liverpool beat Napoli, the scoreline in southern Italy would be taken into account.
Instead, Klopp can now concentrate on somehow getting some consistency in the League as their rotten injury situation slowly improves.
Klopp will wish he could face more teams as defensively inept as Ajax who are clearly rebuilding after the loss of their manager to Manchester United along with key players.
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Maybe it would have been different had Ajax taken their early chance when Liverpool were looking nervous.
Steven Berghuis should have capitalised on some static defending but he blasted a shot against the base of the post.
And there were still problems across the defence with Andy Robertson getting caught out on the left and Trent Alexander-Arnold teeing Ajax up with a suicidal pass across the pitch.
Luckily for Alexander-Arnold, Berghuis’ long-range strike fizzed past the post.
In fairness to Alexander-Arnold, he did deliver one block to keep out a goal-bound shot from Dusan Tadic in a move which once again saw Andy Robertson exposed on the left.
Liverpool had been so poor and preditacle going forward and they did not manage their first attack through Salah until the 29th minute and that shot was blocked by a defender.
Yet Liverpool remained patient, they started to pick away at their Dutch opponents and they enjoyed a decent spell towards the closing stages of the first half.
Robertson fired a shot against the sidenetting and Elliott forced a save from Remko Pasveer.
Finally, just before half-time, Liverpool delivered the type of classy move we have seen on so many occasions away from home, apart from this season, which has already seen Klopp’s side lose four times on their travels.
It was a terrific finish by Salah, his ninth of the season, although the credit must really go down to Jordan Henderson.
Despite not having the best of games until then, he delivered a brilliant pass with the outside of his boot after having too much strength for floundering right-back right-back Sanchez.
Equally, keeper Pasveer helped by rushing off his line. Before the game, Pasveer was asked about the state of the pitch due to a rave which had been staged at the stadium on Saturday night.
Pasveer joked that he had not been at the electronic music event but he certainly danced off his line for no particular reason to invite Salah to shoot first-time.
That goal took the sting out of the atmosphere and Nunez should have scored a second before the break. He wasted an easy chance and fired against the post after Bobby Firmino had selflessly squared.
Nunez made up for that miss by scoring with a brilliant, glancing header from Robertson’s corner.
And then the Liverpool of old returned, causing mayhem on the counter attack.
They went for jugular and grabbed a third when Elliott, who scored his first Champions League goal against Rangers, hammered the ball into the roof of the net after a clever pass from Mo Salah. Once again, Ajax keeper Pasveer was all over the place.
With most of the second half to play, Klopp was fortunate that his team could shift back into second gear and with one eye on Saturday night’s home game with Leeds, he made some changes to keep his players fresh.
You would expect Liverpool, who have been okay at Anfield this season, to see off Leeds.
But it is away from home where Liverpool must improve. Spurs away, on November 6, will once again give us a better indicator of where Klopp’s team are at.
