CALAMITY KEPA
Chelsea keeper has another stinker as merciless Mane seizes on gaffe
GOALKEEPER Kepa Arrizabalaga’s “clear mistake” cost Chelsea just hours after Rennes claimed the London club had struck a £ 22million deal for Edouard Mendy.
Liverpool’s Sadio Mane pounced on Kepa’s weak pass to score his and Liverpool’s second.
Kepa, right, also had a part to play in the sending- off of
THIAGO ALCANTARA was announced as a Liverpool player at 3.58pm on Friday. Barely 48 hours later, it looked as though he had been playing in the heart of the Reds’ midfield for his entire life.
Just so long as the Spain midfielder does not make many more rash tackles in his area.
Tripping Timo Werner in the 72nd minute was the one black spot of a mouth- watering debut for Liverpool’s £ 20million signing. His 75 successful passes was the most by a player to play 45 or fewer minutes in a Premier League game since 2003- 04.
Even then, goalkeeper Alisson came to Thiago’s rescue by saving Jorginho’s penalty. It was a top- class stop which underlined how important a good goalkeeper is if you want to challenge with the very best.
That brings us to Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Already under pressure, he had had shown he is not up to the standard that is required by gifting Liverpool their victory.
Andreas Christensen’s superb defending rescued from the first major howler when he rushed from his goal to come a distant second to Mo Salah in a chase for the ball. The Dane’s reward for his goal- line clearance was to look up a second time when in a foot race with Sadio Mane just before the break and see his goalkeeper was again hurtling hopelessly out of his area. With the goal unguarded, Christensen had no choice but to rugby tackle the Liverpool striker and the only surprise was that it took a trip to the VAR monitor for referee Paul Tierney to realise it was a clear red card.
Chelsea lasted just five minutes into the second period before Liverpool made their extra man count. A neat onetwo between Roberto Firmino and Salah enabled the former to cross to Mane, whose strong header gave Kepa no chance. The Chelsea keeper was entirely to blame for Liverpool’s second goal. Kepa tried to bend a clever pass to Kurt Zouma, but Mane intercepted and rolled the ball into the unguarded net. Game over just 54 minutes in. Chelsea still staged a facesaving late flurry, though it was still largely the Thiago Show.
Liverpool’s No6 seemed to be popping up everywhere – helping Virgil van Dijk to tidy up at the back before reappearing to clip the ball through to Firmino later in the move.
The tight hamstring that saw Jordan Henderson replaced at half- time seemed nothing more than precautionary.
The reality is that as soon as Chelsea were down to 10 men Jurgen Klopp would have been rubbing his hands at the prospect of getting the former Bayern Munich midfielder on.
Who better to put into the middle of the field with the simple instruction to pick out the extra man every time?
Thiago’s long- term brief is much more complicated. He has been signed to make the champions of England, Europe and the world even better.
Just nine days into the season and already Manchester City trail them by six points – in no small part due to the fact City have yet to play a league game.
But Pep Guardiola will already recognise the signs from his trophy- laden years working with Thiago at Barcelona. Chasing a team built around him can be a very tall order.