The Match, The Stat: Liverpool 2-1 Everton
All hail Ryan Gravenberch. Better than ever and still years from his peak.
Liverpool beat Everton 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday, securing bragging rights in the city until April at least. The other results this weekend mean they have a five point lead after just five match weeks.
Much will be made of Liverpool coming close to throwing away a two-goal lead for the fourth time this term. Yet it was never that likely. The Blues mustered two shots in the remaining 35 minutes following their goal, just 0.04 expected goals. The fear of two dropped points was very real, the likelihood of that outcome rather less so.
The performance of Ryan Gravenberch was a huge part of why Everton were held at bay. He made five tackles across the width of the Reds’ defensive third, always on hand to aid his teammates. “I see how much he runs off the ball, how many times he is there to help out Conor [Bradley] when he is in a two-v-one situation and the same for Dominik Szoboszlai,” Arne Slot said after the game in reference to his fellow Dutchman.
Tackles alone would not have been enough to earn Gravenberch his third Player of the Match award in a row. Not even Mohamed Salah completed this hat-trick in the last two seasons which says everything about how well the 23-year-old is playing.
Supporters gave Gravenberch the gong for his goal and assist, recording one of each in a Liverpool match for the first time. It’s interesting to reflect on the evolution of the Reds’ midfield since the peak of the Jürgen Klopp era.
Not least because only once before has a club held a five point lead at this early stage of a 20-team Premier League season. It was in 2019/20 which bodes very well for the omen-hungry corners of the Liverpool fanbase.
Some Kopites grumbled back in those days that the midfield did not contribute enough offensively. Never mind that Liverpool went on a run of 36 wins and two draws in 38 league games. Who cares that they became champions of Europe, the world and England in what reads like a non-sensical order?
Not Klopp, most importantly. Even so, midfielders providing the offensive output Gravenberch delivered in the derby have been rare for the Reds. That’s without considering the sheer quality of his finish or the incisive beauty of his through-ball assist, both of which you can see here:
The last Liverpool midfielder to score and set up a goal was Harvey Elliott, in the dead rubber loss at Brighton last term. Given his assist came after a simple pass to Szoboszlai enabled the Hungarian to fire a cross into the Seagulls’ net, it was not quite so impressive.
Examples get hard to come by if you exclude set plays for the sake of argument. It omits Szoboszlai at Manchester City in February and Jordan Henderson at Wolves in January 2020. If that example sounds too far back to be relevant, it’s mentioned here due to the paucity of instances since then.
Given he plays the holding role, the most similar example to Gravenberch was Fabinho against Crystal Palace five years ago. He set up the second goal then scored the third in a 4-0 win. However, as Roy Hodgson’s side didn’t record a single touch in the Liverpool penalty area in the behind closed doors fixture, there was not the intensity you get on derby day. Everton’s threat might have been relatively minimal but they got into the box at least.
There have been other examples in thrashings. Bobby Clark, Alexis Mac Allister and Szoboszlai all scored and assisted in Europa League clashes with Sparta Prague. The most thrilling case result-wise was Naby Keïta in a 5-0 win at Old Trafford. Szoboszlai had similar fun when Slot’s side ran riot at Tottenham last year.
The best comparable example to Gravenberch might be Henderson in a Goodison derby. He opened the scoring then assisted Salah against the fever dream that was Rafa Benitez’s Everton. Klopp’s skipper also netted and teed up the Egyptian King in the final 10 minutes of a memorable win at Southampton in 2019.
To truly match Gravenberch, we need a midfielder scoring and setting up both goals in open play in a win. We’ve waited a decade for just such a game, with Henderson meeting this criteria in a 2-0 victory over Burnley in March 2015. Slot’s tactical tweaks may mean we won’t wait another 10 years to see it occur again.
“This season we have more freedom in the midfield. Last season I was only on the six, like deep, deep. Now I can go more forward, which you saw today. My strength is also there. I’m happy with that and also happy with the goal,” said Gravenberch in a post-match interview.
He was also aided by Jack Grealish’s defensive weaknesses, as Josh Williams has highlighted superbly in his analysis of the match. Even without that - what do you expect for £100m? Workrate? - Gravenberch will get further opportunities to be influential in the attacking third as teams routinely defend deeply against the Reds.
He has the skills to exploit the real estate Anfield visitors will give him, with the full backing of his manager to move up field. With Gravenberch’s goal at Newcastle accompanying his derby efforts, he has been involved in three open play league goals this season.
Until the 93rd minute of their draw with Manchester City, the same was true of Arsenal. The way both are playing, they may struggle to keep up with Gravenberch.
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I made an automated ‘lyric’ video of this article to see how it worked…
Hopefully the rarity of midfielders scoring goals and setting them up will be a thing of the past. Either way, isn't Gravenberch in the form of his life? What a player.
Also: I made an audio version of this article. Unlikely to be a regular thing but if you want a 'podcast' version, here it is! https://www.andrewbeasleyfootball.com/p/the-match-the-stat-the-podcast-liverpool-2-1-everton