Key events
63 min: Gakpo plays Ekitike in down the left with a forensic pass. Ekitike has options in the middle, but tries to beat Zetterer from a tight angle. The keeper wins the battle. Not a good decision.
61 min: Szoboszlai rolls a fine pass down the inside-right channel to release Wirtz, who runs past the ball, ruining the chance. But Liverpool recycle possession, and Wirtz comes again down the right, cutting back from the byline for Szoboszlai, who swipes a weak shot across the face of goal and wide left.
59 min: Frankfurt make their first changes of the night. Kristensen and Bahoya are replaced by Burkardt and Collins.
58 min: Götze channels his early 2010s self by rolling a pass down the right to release Doan, who wins a corner off Szoboszlai. The set piece is worked back to Theate, who balloons a long-range shot high and wide.
56 min: Eintracht deal with this one pretty well, and soon enough the ball’s back at the feet of Mamardashvili.
55 min: Wirtz fancies the resulting free kick, just to the left of the D. With little backlift, he whips it up and over the wall, then back down towards the top-left corner. Zetterer is behind it all the way, and palms behind for a corner, which Gakpo will take.
54 min: Eintracht can’t keep hold of the ball and the crowd, so boisterous earlier on, has gone very quiet. And there’s more frustration as Amenda allows Gakpo to get goalside down the inside-left channel. He wrestles his man to the ground and goes into the book. “On colour-blindness, the NFL have it right,” begins Andy Flintoff. “One team is always in white with the other in colours, but the choice between white and colour is with the home team. It shouldn’t be beyond Uefa to mandate that in European competitions.”
52 min: Doan cynically yanks back the in-flight Jones and goes into the book.
51 min: Jones rolls a pass down the right. Ekitike spins and would be clear on goal but slips over. Eintracht then gift Liverpool another corner, Larsson with a loose backpass. Nothing comes of this one, but the hosts can’t keep inviting pressure like this. That opening goal feels like an awfully long time ago.
49 min: The corner comes in. Ekitike’s header is blocked. Wirtz steers a header back into the box down the inside-right channel. Chiesa swivels and whips an overhead kick inches wide of the left-hand post. Had that been on target, it was number four, because Zetterer was out of position. What an introduction that would have been!
48 min: Szoboszlai wins the ball out on the right and combines crisply with Wirtz, forcing Knauff into the concession of another corner. Szoboszlai to take.
47 min: Liverpool are instantly on the front foot again. Robertson whips a cross in from the left, looking for Chiesa. Zetterer reads the danger, nipping in ahead of the substitute to punch confidently clear.
Liverpool get the second half underway. They’ve made a change, sending on Chiesa in place of Isak. Whether that’s fitness-related or a tactical decision nobody’s sure.
The following Half-time Postbag is brought to you in living color on NBC Guardian Sport.
“These dark red Liverpool kits are playing havoc with my red/green colour blindness. They both look black to me. Who do I put a complaint in to at Uefa?!” – Mark Errett
“This has to be one of the worst kit clash for the colourblind (that’s one in 12 males, one in 50 females). It’s completely unwatchable. Dark short and dark shorts vs dark shorts and dark shorts! There are supposed to Uefa rules to stop this happening, and yet it keeps on happening, time and time again. It’s not that hard to sort out, FFS. On average there will be around two to three players on the pitch who will struggle to identify team mates correctly in their peripheral vision” – Pat O’Brien
Yes, this does seem a totally avoidable problem. The FA’s Colour Blindness In Football document picks black v red as one of the combinations that causes the greatest problem for colour-blind people. The other most troublesome combos are: red v green v orange; bright green v yellow; white v pastel colours; and blue v deep purple or pink.
Flick further through the pamphlet, and one of the combos listed under Best Practice is white v black. Liverpool’s second kit this season is technically ecru, a very light brown, but it would surely be close enough to white to make a huge difference to colour-blind viewers this evening.
HALF TIME: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-3 Liverpool
A selection of results involving Eintracht so far this season: 5-0, 4-1, 5-1, 3-4, 6-4, 1-5. Feels like one way or another, we’re heading for something similar tonight.
45 min +2: For a second, it looks as though Bradley is going to get past Gotze down the right, and deliver a cross for Isak in the middle. But he over-elaborates, allowing Theate to come across and help his pal. The pair team up to hustle Bradley off the ball. All of a sudden, Eintracht desperately need to hear the half-time whistle.
45 min: There will be four additional first-half minutes.
GOAL! Eintracht Frankfurt 1-3 Liverpool (Konate 44)
… and Konate, unmarked, six yards out, slams a header that Zetterer simply has no time to react to. Two corners, two headers, simple as that.
44 min: Isak tries to release Wirtz with a scooped pass down the right. Larsson should cushion a header back to his keeper, but panics and concedes a corner instead. Szoboszlai to take.
43 min: Koch is fine to continue.
42 min: Koch is down after being accidentally caught by Konate. On comes the physio.
40 min: Doan dribbles down the right and passes low through the box for Bahoya, who is free on the penalty spot! Or so he thinks. As he shapes a sidefooted shot towards the bottom left, Bradley appears from nowhere to slide-block. Great play all round. There is no way whatsoever this game is going to end 1-2. Both defences are an on-the-edge shambles.
GOAL! Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Liverpool (van Dijk 39)
… and headed home from close range by Van Dijk! Gakpo’s whippy delivery to the near post was on the money, and Van Dijk beat Koch all ends up to power goalwards from close range. What a turnaround!
38 min: Liverpool’s tails are up now. They win a couple of corners in quick succession. The second, coming in from the left, will be delivered by Gakpo.
36 min: The former Eintracht player Ekitike doesn’t celebrate the goal. But it was beautifully taken.
GOAL! Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Liverpool (Ekitike 35)
Doan and Brown combine cutely down the left but the latter’s pullback is nowhere near anyone in a black top. Robertson pings the ball immediately upfield, and Ekitike is clear on goal! Simple as that, because Eintracht had committed everyone upfield. He cuts across Koch, the only man anywhere near him, ensuring no challenge can be made, and drives a confident low shot under Zetterer and in!
33 min: This is better from Liverpool, as Gakpo delivers an inswinger from a deep position on the left. Bradley gets in ahead of Brown, and should score from six yards, but his downward header is too close to Zetterer, who is able to parry around the post for a corner, from which nothing comes.
31 min: We’re back to Liverpool dominating possession, but doing nothing in the final third. A cross comes in from the left, and Ekitike claims a penalty for handball when the ball rears up near Koch, but the referee immediately waves away the appeal.
29 min: Robertson – whose legs Kristensen’s shot whistled through – tries to find Ekitike with a low cross from the left. He’s forced to settle for a corner. Before it can be taken, Szoboszlai is given the what-for by the referee for his over-eager positioning. Then the set piece is dealt with easily by the hosts.
28 min: That was a lovely sweeping team goal. Liverpool concede first yet again. That’s five matches in a row now.
GOAL! Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Liverpool (Kristensen 26)
Eintracht’s patience pays off! Having sat back soaking up pressure for a few minutes, Brown steals the ball off Wirtz and sets a pitch-length passing move in motion. Bahoya and Gotze shuttle the ball up the left wing and across to the right, where Kristensen enters the box and whistles a low shot across Mamardashvili, off the base of the left-hand post, and in!
25 min: It’s all Liverpool in terms of possession and territory, but the final ball is lacking, so it’s a bit of a stand-off right now.
23 min: The rain’s coming down in Frankfurt. It’s not expected to stop.
22 min: Robertson dinks a ball around the corner for Gakpo, who advances down the left and wins a corner he takes himself. The ball comes in and the whistle goes when Koch trips over his own man.
20 min: Gakpo floats in a cross from the left. Easy pickings for Zetterer.
19 min: Frimpong limps off, a picture of misery, and is replaced by Bradley.
18 min: Frimpong, who recently turned on the jets in an unsuccessful attempt to buzz his way past Brown, goes down with nobody around him. Looks as though his hamstring has gone again. He wears the look of a man who knows the jig is up.
17 min: Kristensen looks for Knauff down the right, but Van Dijk is wise to the run this time, and comes over to snuff it out.
15 min: Jones is buzzing around a lot. He nearly releases Isak down the left with a sliderule pass, but the striker is forced to turn tail as the hosts just about keep their shape.
13 min: Liverpool have rediscovered a little of their poise, and have started to assert themselves on the game. After a strong start by Eintracht, it’s now the visitors who are hogging the ball.
11 min: Brown is fine to continue. The atmosphere in the Waldstadion is rocking.
10 min: The corner leads to nothing … although Brown takes an elbow in the ear from his own man Koch, and will require some treatment.
9 min: Gakpo slips a pass for Isak down the inside-right. Isak powers a low shot towards the bottom-right corner, forcing Zetterer to turn around the post. Szoboszlai to take the corner.
8 min: … and then up the other end, Szoboszlai wedges Isak free down the inside right! Isak tries to deftly dink over Zetterer, but the keeper spreads and blocks. The early signs suggest goalfest.
7 min: Jones goes in for a 50-50 in the centre circle, but only succeeds in deflecting the ball down the Eintracht inside-right channel, releasing Bahoya on goal! Mamardashvili parries a low drive. Then the flag goes up for offside. Had Bahoya scored, VAR might have had something to say about that offside decision, seeing the ball came off Jones earlier in the move.
6 min: … so having said that, they address it with some sterile domination in the midfield. Instantly calmer. Jones then advances down the left and curls infield, but Isak can’t get on the end of the high cross. Zetterer in the Eintracht goal claims.
5 min: Frimpong knocks Bahoya to the ground, just to the left of the Liverpool D. He’s fortunate the referee looks kindly on the challenge and waves play on. That should have been a free kick in a dangerous position. Liverpool already look what they are: a team devoid of confidence.
3 min: Knauff barrels down the right again, forcing Konate to come across and do some sterling work. The ball eventually goes out for a goal kick, but the hosts have wasted no time in flinging the gauntlet down.
1 min: Konate heads the corner clear easily. What a start that would have been, especially in the context of how Manchester United did a number on Liverpool within 60 seconds last weekend.
20 secs: … and so Knauff immediately races down the right and wins a corner off Van Dijk!
To the strains of a ballad set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, the hosts get the ball rolling. Eintracht have left out their leading scorers, Jonathan Burkardt and Can Uzun, for Dino Toppmöller’s aforementioned pacy duo of Jean-Matteo Bahoya and Ansgar Knauff. Let’s see how that pans out, then.
The teams are out! Eintracht wear black tops with white pinstripe, a special kit for Europe, while Liverpool are in their storied red. A big black-and-white-striped tifo flutters across one end of the Waldstadion, which is a cauldron of glorious noise. We’ll be off once Zadok the Priest gets his usual aural working-over.
Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller talks to TNT Sports. “The stadium is packed … everyone is looking forward to this game … the champions of England … a big club … the whole group of Liverpool is full of amazing players … we have to be very good in collective defending … transitions … a big challenge … we feel ready … we need to be good in counter-attacks so we put [Jean-Matteo] Bahoya and [Ansgar] Knauff up front because they have incredible speed.”
Eintracht Frankfurt have had mixed success against British clubs. They were knocked out of last year’s Europa League by Spurs in the quarter-finals, but beat West Ham in the semis three seasons previously en route to winning the trophy. (Oliver Glasner the mastermind behind that triumph. Whatever happened to him?) Eintracht’s forays into Scotland have also produced varied results: a 12-4 aggregate win over Rangers in the 1960 European Cup semis, that 7-3 loss to Real Madrid at Hampden Park in the subsequent final, and an astonishing capitulation in Ayrshire four years later. That’s detailed in this old Joy of Six. Go on, there’s just enough time between now and kick-off. We’ll see you back here in a few minutes.
Back to that run of five consecutive defeats in 1953. There are some similarities to Liverpool’s current sticky patch: the concession of last-minute winners (Palace’s Eddie Nketiah and Chelsea’s Estêvão now, Peter Broadbent for Wolves back then); unlucky woodwork-based shenanigans (Cody Gakpo hitting the frame three times against United, Tottenham’s Charlie Withers heading against his own post); the opposition scoring worldies (Moisés Caicedo’s long-range ping into the top left, Alf Ramsey netting from 45 yards at White Hart Lane). All of which is a long-winded way of pointing out that when things aren’t going well, it never rains but it pours.
Arne Slot talks to TNT Sports. “We were here in time to have proper sleep [after last night’s plane delay] … not ideal but not something to complain about … every time I select a team it is always difficult because I have so many good players … I liked the way [the subs against United] added to to the game in the second half … created a lot of chances … also Ryan [Gravenberch] is out so we have to restructure our midfield … so we decided to start like this … I have players to start and to impact the game coming off the bench … we need to create chances … we are hoping and expecting Jeremie [Frimpong] to create something for [Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike] … [Cody] Gakpo to do the same on the left … with Florian Wirtz’s creativity in and around our two number nines … where we usually play with one six, now we play with Curtis [Jones] and Dom [Szoboszlai] … if you are in a situation like we are, nine out of ten is not enough, you have to be ten out of ten.”
Arne Slot finally ditches the starting XI sent out to face both Chelsea and Manchester United in Liverpool’s two previous matches. He’s made five changes after the 2-1 defeat to United at Anfield on Sunday. Mohamed Salah dropping to the bench is one piece of big news; the return to the starting line-up of Florian Wirtz is another. Hugo Ekitike, Curtis Jones and Jeremie Frimpong, all of whom, along with Wirtz, added energy to Liverpool’s play when coming on against United, are also back in, as is Andy Robertson; Milos Kerkez, Conor Bradley and the out-of-sorts Alexis Mac Allister drop to the bench alongside Salah, while Ryan Gravenberch is at home having picked up an ankle problem against United.
The teams: Salah benched
Eintracht Frankfurt: Zetterer, Kristensen, Amenda, Koch, Theate, Gotze, Larsson, Knauff, Doan, Brown, Bahoya.
Subs: Grahl, Santos, Chaibi, Burkardt, Skhiri, Wahi, Dahoud, Chandler, Buta, Batshuayi, Collins, Uzun.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Szoboszlai, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Frimpong, Wirtz, Jones, Gakpo, Ekitike, Isak.
Subs: Woodman, Gomez, Endo, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Salah, Bradley, Chiesa, Ngumoha, Misciur.
Referee: Francois Letexier (France).
Preamble
After losing four matches in a row, Liverpool aren’t quite heading towards uncharted waters. But the map they’re referring to is old, yellow and fraying at the sides. Here’s a sequence Don Welsh’s side put together in the autumn of 1953 …
Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Liverpool
Newcastle United 4-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-5 Preston North End
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool
… and that’s the last time the Redmen (still wearing white shorts back then, mind) lost five on the bounce. They ended up being relegated from the old First Division in last place.
Now, nobody’s seriously suggesting Liverpool are going down this season. But that sequence is a 72-year-old bit of history Arne Slot won’t fancy repeating. Plus his side need to get their Premier League and Champions League campaigns back on track quicksmart … though exactly what to expect tonight is anyone’s guess: Eintracht Frankfurt’s first two matches in this year’s competition both ended 5-1 – a home win over Galatasaray and an away defeat at Atletico Madrid – while Liverpool have beaten the team Eintracht lost to, and lost to the one Eintracht beat. So the rules of the playground are of no use whatsoever here. The unpredictable fun begins at 8pm UK time. It’s on!
