Welcome to the Liverpool.com daily Media Digest. From transfers to tweets, it can be hard to keep up with everything going on in the Anfield sphere. Credible, incredible and anything in between: we round it all up in one place here, taking a sideways look at the day’s media goings-on from around the world.
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Liverpool held in Brentford thriller
Where to start but last night’s game? Liverpool played out an entertaining but ultimately frustrating 3-3 draw with newly-promoted Brentford — enough to maintain an unbeaten start and remain at the top of the table, but a missed opportunity to open a gap.
Among five things spotted from the match was the defensive fragility of Jürgen Klopp’s side, even with Virgil van Dijk and Joël Matip paired at the back. It’s far from panic stations, given that Liverpool had previously conceded just one league goal all season, but it’s a wake-up call that there is still plenty of work to be done.
At the other end, Mohamed Salah netted his 100th Premier League goal for Liverpool. He reached the overall 100 club against Leeds United recently, but has now hit the landmark without the help of the two strikes he netted during his time at Stamford Bridge. He should really have made it 101 and buried the game when Liverpool were leading 3-2, but his importance to this team should not be underestimated.
“The only surprise is they’ve not sold Alexander-Arnold yet”
That’s the assessment of Rory Lynch, former youth coach to Conor Bradley — as quoted in the Irish News.
While this might be taking things a bit far, Bradley certainly took his chance to impress in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup game against Norwich City. He showed his naivety in giving away a penalty, but otherwise looked very much at home.
As for Alexander-Arnold, he struggled in Liverpool’s draw with Brentford. He was not blame for getting constantly exposed with too many men to mark at the back post, but he didn’t look his usual self going the other way either.
Selling him is probably a little drastic, even with reported interest from Real Madrid, but Bradley certainly forms a big part of a promising crop of youngsters.
Coutinho could make January return to Premier League
There were enough transfer rumours throughout the summer to make it abundantly clear that Barcelona don’t really want Philippe Coutinho. An acceptable offer would surely have seen him depart — even a vaguely non-derisory bid would have sufficed, with the Catalans desperate to trim their wage bill.
The start of the campaign has done nothing to alter this impression, with Coutinho still struggling for starts even as Ronald Koeman is forced to turn to experimental line-ups featuring untested players. According to El Nacional ( via the Mirror ), January could finally bring an end to the Brazilian’s Barcelona nightmare.
North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham are both said to be weighing up the merits of a move for Coutinho. Liverpool, unsurprisingly, have distanced themselves from a sensational return: the player is not the same as the one who left Anfield in 2018, and nor has the team or the system stood still in his absence. However, it would certainly be interesting to see him make a Premier League comeback.
Chelsea ramp up Chiesa battle
Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich are all said to be throwing covetous glances at Federico Chiesa, but it is the London side who are apparently taking the most decisive action.
According to Calcio Mercato, Thomas Tuchel’s team were ready to bid €100m in the summer, but that even this would not really have been enough to test Juventus’ resolve when it comes to a transfer. Undeterred, Chelsea will apparently try “a new assault” in the coming months.
The efforts look destined to be futile, with Juventus apparently unafraid of the interest from Liverpool or anyone else. With Cristiano Ronaldo gone, Chiesa is the man around whom the next generation is meant to be built.
The situation is complicated further by the fact that Chiesa is still technically on loan from Fiorentina, but Juventus will be able to make this permanent come the end of the season per the terms of the agreement. For Liverpool and Klopp, the ideal candidate for a front line rebuild looks as though he is out of reach.
