Liverpool is always in the right tempo. Even without being brilliant, the Reds dominated Huddersfield (0-1) on Saturday for Week 9 of the championship. Mohamed Salah regained a little confidence by scoring the only goal of the game. This success allowed the men of Jürgen Klopp to return to the lead, on a par with Manchester City.
A goal from Mohamed Salah and then leaves: on the field of Huddersfield, Liverpool put an end to a series of four matches without victory, all competitions combined, thanks to its Egyptian forward. Little inspired in intentions, small in ambitions, the Reds will settle for it while this success, very precious, allows them to join City at the top of the ranking. The Terriers may wish they hadn’t wanted more at their peak.
Liverpool don’t like to move around on the turf of unclassified teams. A paradox that happened again on the Huddersfield field, where the Reds did not show a very conquering face, one that allows them until then a hot start to the season. But, despite the changes (Sadio led absent, Roberto Firmino on the bench, Adam Lallana starting), Jürgen Klopp’s men managed to get away with it. Without real merit. All it took was a flash of lightning from Mohamed Salah, the author of a perfect call that preceded an unstoppable shot (0-1, 24′). The Egyptian, unable to get along with Daniel Sturridge in the game, was not yet in a big day.
A tiny Liverpool
The fact is, the victory was won by a thread. Because after the score opened, the Terriers bravely played their luck until the break. They could even have equalized if Philip Billing’s free kick had caught the frame (38′), if the referee had whistled a penalty from a hand in James Milner’s surface (42′) and if Alex Pritchard had not been out of the game when he had cheated on Alison (43′). The while knowing that Jonathan Hogg also found the bar on a missile from afar (31′).
Huddersfield’s mistake was not to have believed it more in a second act of Infinite Sadness, barely saved by a cross shot from Salah (64′) and Fabinho’s entry into the game for the first few minutes of his Premier League career (70′). At the finish, Liverpool retained only the result, a synonym of invincibility preserved in the Premier League. And Throne shared with Manchester City, who had inflicted a manita on Burnley a few hours earlier.