Adrian the hero but Pulisic and Firmino impress in Liverpool’s Super Cup victory over Chelsea on penalties
Adrian played just five times for West Ham last season – all cup games, the last of which was a miserable FA Cup defeat against AFC Wimbledon in January.
Over the summer he was without a contract, training alone. Fast-forward to just his second game for Liverpool, and his first start for his new club after an injury to Alisson, and he was the hero, saving the decisive penalty to win the European Super Cup 5-4 on spot-kicks.
Considering he’d had what he called a “crazy week” and had earlier conceded a penalty in extra-time to bring the score back to 2-2, forcing the shoot-out, it was a fitting end to a long night in Istanbul.
Tammy Abraham was the unfortunate Chelsea player to miss, but ultimately the story was of another trophy for Liverpool in the city of their most famous victory.
Pulisic’s impressive
Replacing Eden Hazard in a transfer window in which your new club could not sign any other new faces was a tough gig for Christian Pulisic to land.
But when you’re a £58m wonder-kid you are used to coping with expectation, and judging by his competitive debut Pulisic is ready to accept the challenge.
Still only 20, the American attacking midfielder showed what he is all about in this game, buzzing around on the left of Chelsea’s 4-3-3 formation and linking well with left-back Emerson Palmieri.
He showed his positional sense and skill to drag the Liverpool defence towards him before feeding Olivier Giroud with a reverse pass to score the opening goal.
Liverpool’s high defensive line struggled to cope with Chelsea at times and it was frequently Pulisic causing the problems. A starting role in Frank Lampard’s side now seems a given.
Firmino’s impact
As good as Pulisic was, he didn’t have the quickest impact on the game, with that accolade going to Roberto Firmino, who came off the Liverpool bench at half-time to great effect.
Chelsea had much the better of the first period but it was Firmino’s introduction which tipped the scales straight after the break, the Brazilian striker latching onto Fabinho’s pass in the build-up to Sadio Mane’s bundled-in equaliser.
Firmino gave Jurgen Klopp’s side a focal point they’d be missing, with the Reds fashioning several chances immediately following his arrival.
With Mohamed Salah and Mane generally grabbing most of the goals and the attention, it’s easy to forget the vital role their central foil plays.
Blues’ midfield balance
Under Maurizio Sarri much of the debate raged around the role of N’Golo Kante, whose familiar deeper position was instead handed to playmaker Jorginho.
Some Chelsea fans felt pushing Kante forward and asking him to do more than just win the ball wasn’t an ideal compromise, but Lampard has followed in his predecessor’s tactical footprints so far this season.
With Mateo Kovacic as the other central midfielder, it looked like Chelsea might lack attacking threat, but the balance worked nicely, with both Kante and Kovacic driving forward and using every opportunity to slide in through-balls.
Kante, in particular, looked unaffected by a recent knock and seems to be adding more strings to his bow.
Tired legs
The importance of the Super Cup was called into question in the build-up to the match and after it drifted into extra-time, with the temperature and humidity still high past midnight in Turkey and players dropping to the turf with cramp, that debate became more understandable.
Istanbul is a fair distance to have to travel for a midweek game sandwiched in between the first two Premier League fixtures of the season and time will tell if the match has a fallout.
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Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was supposed to be rested, but an injury to Naby Keita on Tuesday meant he had to play all 120 gruelling minutes.
Although Chelsea have the luxury of a Sunday afternoon kick-off against Leicester, Klopp’s side travel to St Mary’s Stadium next to face Southampton at 3pm on Saturday. There will likely be some tired legs on show for the away team.
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