“As the gaffer says, the best playmaker in the world is counter-pressing,” Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders said ahead of his team’s Carabao Cup third round meeting with Leicester.
Liverpool knew that Enzo Maresca, the former Manchester City assistant who took over at Leicester and led them to the top of the Championship after their relegation, would take a risk at Anfield. And, indeed, the Foxes attempted to play out from the back with practically every goal kick, resulting in a barrage of Liverpool pressure.
Leicester would turn the ball over twice in its own penalty area and again more on the outskirts. Liverpool intercepted the ball five times in advanced positions and made three successful tackles deep into opponent territory.
The host regained possession shortly after losing it in the build-up to all three of its goals. Most notably, following Dominik Szoboszlai’s wayward pass, Harvey Elliott rushed back to make a sliding challenge, and the ball looped out to Jarell Quansah, who charged down the line and teed up Diogo Jota with his cut-back. Jürgen Klopp would have been overjoyed from the sidelines.
Ryan Gravenberch was another Reds playmaker in action, this time at the individual level. The Dutchman set up Cody Gakpo’s equalizer for his second assist in as many starts, a total only one Reds midfielder surpassed last season — Jordan Henderson (three).
Between receiving the pass from Wataru End and the subsequent release to Gakpo, he beat Hamza Choudhury with a trademark feint, chopping back after cutting inside, shuffled to the edge of the box, spotted his fellow countryman, and poked the ball through the narrow gap.
It was genuinely something out of nothing, the kind of low-block lock-picking that none of last season’s midfielders could regularly create in the final third, with the possible exception of Thiago.
Despite the assist, you get the impression that there’s more to come, much like last week against LASK in the Europa League.
Gravenberch’s role in the game was actually quite minor. Only Jota (18) completed fewer passes than his 21, and he went far short of midfield mates End (47) and Elliott (52). More importantly, he had the fewest touches (33) of any player in Klopp’s starting lineup.
Liverpool struggled to build up from the back in the 10 minutes or so before halftime, kicking it around among the defenders but making no real progress up the pitch. This was the time to see Gravenberch seize control of the game by offering himself as a passing option.
After all, as we’ve seen at past clubs and against LASK, his press resistance is his most powerful weapon. As he takes the ball, he may swiftly turn away from his marker, creating space to run into and facilitating deadly attacks.
But here, he was hesitant to move from his left-sided number eight position to make way, thus the weapon was hidden by the compact Leicester shape.
Still, if he can combine deep ball advancement and lethal final-third passing in a continuous 90-minute performance, Liverpool will have a significant talent on its hands.