A look at how the national media reacted as Liverpool beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in the Champions League
Hugo Ekitike shone in Liverpool’s win at Frankfurt(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool returned to winning ways with a 5-1 dismantling of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
After falling behind to Rasmus Kristensen’s opener, the Reds responded through former Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitike before Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate headed home corners to give the visitors a comfortable lead at the interval.
Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai registered after the break to end a four-game losing run against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, Chelsea and Manchester United.
OPINION
Paul Gorst
OPINION
Ian Doyle
The ECHO was there to provide our usual match-day mix of big-game verdict, player ratings and post-match analysis. We were also at Arne Slot’s press conference to get the reaction of the Reds boss.
Our national colleagues were also on hand to give their own considered verdicts. Here’s what they made of it all as the Premier League champions secured an important victory in Europe.
Over on The Mirror‘s pages, Scott Trotter writes: “Hugo Ekitike’s effort against Frankfurt made a mockery of the decision to place him among the substitutes in Liverpool’s previous two matches against Manchester United and Chelsea. While many of his team-mates are struggling to find their way this season, the Frenchman has settled with ease.
“‘What we need to try today is to create as many chances as the last few weeks, because that is very helpful that we [have] two players who can score,’ Slot told TNT Sports of the decision to start Ekitike and Alexander Isak.
“There were few opportunities before the 23-year-old scored his goal and proved his clinical value once again. Ekitike outshone Isak once again as the Reds’ attacking play still failed to hit its best until after half-time.”
The Daily Mail‘s Lewis Steele pens: “It can’t go on like this, can it? It cannot. For nine first-half minutes, all one could think about was that famous Mick McCarthy quote, in his thick Barnsley accent, where in two little words he encapsulated why things can always get worse.
“One league win in 17 was the run his Blackpool side were on when McCarthy uttered those words that come up on your social media feed at least once a day and are an appropriate reaction for any third-world problems.
“It was not quite as bad as that for Arne Slot’s Liverpool but, for the nine minutes between Eintracht Frankfurt taking the lead and the English champions equalising, it was food for thought.
“A blip was about to become a full-blown crisis. The Wikipedia page for Liverpool’s 1953-54 season, the last time they lost five matches in a row and were ultimately relegated in an all-time low for the club, would have seen more traffic this week than ever before.
“Just like the squad plane which was stuck on the tarmac at Liverpool John Lennon Airport for four hours on Tuesday, this team was about to remain grounded after their worst month since 2014.”
On The Independent‘s pages, Carl Markham writes: “If ever there was opposition to play, faced with avoiding your worst run in 73 years, it was Frankfurt, who are even more open than Liverpool – conceding 18 in the previous five matches and not keeping a clean sheet in the last nine, letting in three or more in five of the last seven.
“Incredibly, after winning their opening Champions League match 5-1, Frankfurt have lost the last two by the same score. That possibly influenced Slot’s decision to go with two strikers, although it was a little bit of a fudge with Wirtz initially playing on the right of a four-man midfield.
“The Germany international is an intelligent footballer but he spent the early stages continually checking his position and when he did get the ball, his first attacking pass went straight to an opponent.
“A tweak to 4-2-2-2, with Wirtz and Gakpo playing narrower and higher, gave them much more control than previous matches. Until it did not.”
Over on the pages of The Telegraph, Sam Wallace writes: “There are many celebrated goalscorers in this Liverpool squad – those who have scored great quantities of goals in the recent past and others bought to do the same in the future – but none can currently touch the form of Hugo Ekitike.
“It was the French striker returning to his old club who was the most dangerous forward on the pitch and when he left, he did so to applause from both sets of fans.
“His first-half equaliser that set Liverpool on their way was a finish worthy of his great compatriot Thierry Henry at his peak. Which is to say it was dispatched with a speed and precision with which none could live. Certainly not Ekitike’s former team-mates at Eintracht Frankfurt.
“He had started in attack with that other summer arrival, Alexander Isak, who is going through a rather different spell of form, and is now injured again.
“For how long, Arne Slot could not be certain but the troubled start to the Anfield career of the £130m man continues with a fresh problem, this time in his groin. He came off at half-time having fitfully passed up two chances to score as he did against Manchester United on Sunday.
“What Isak would give for the fitness that Ekitike has at the moment, not to mention the effortless composure in front of goal. The 23-year-old was the warm-up acquisition to Liverpool summer’s marquee signing secured right before deadline day – but, for the time being, Ekitike has seized the moment. Yet it was not just Isak struggling for form and fitness, there was another notable absentee from this Liverpool line-up.
“That was Mohamed Salah, the great goalscoring machine of the last eight years at Anfield, who was one of five changes that Slot made from the team that lost to United. Salah came on with 20 minutes to play but the game had long since been won by then. With Ekitike in this kind of form and a couple of assists for Florian Wirtz – his first for the club – this was a Liverpool team that were coping without the great attacking player of the era.”
And in the ECHO‘s verdict, Ian Doyle muses: “This was definitely worth the wait for Liverpool. And now Arne Slot will hope his new-look team have finally achieved lift-off this season.
“Having been delayed by four hours before jetting out to Germany for this Champions League clash, Slot’s side delivered their best performance of a fitful campaign with a thumping victory at Eintracht Frankfurt.
“It ensured Liverpool avoided the ignominy of becoming the first Reds side since 1953 to lose five consecutive matches following a miserable month. More importantly for Slot, though, was this was a victory in which several of his big-money summer signings proved influential.
“Hugo Ekitike, a £79million arrival, netted a sixth goal of the season against his former club, while £116m man Florian Wirtz was outstanding in an unaccustomed right-wing position in which he provided two assists.
“Frankfurt, free-scoring in the Bundesliga but defensively suspect, were ultimately exactly the opponent Liverpool needed to bolster confidence after so many recent narrow setbacks.
“That said, the German outfit did thump Galatasaray 5-1 in their previous Champions League match at the Deutsche Bank Park, where here, the majority of the 58,700 crowd backed their team from first minute to the last. It made for a lively atmosphere.
“Wirtz will surely be regarded the main positive by Slot. If there was undoubted comfort in being back playing in his homeland, the Germany international played very much as if with a point to prove after such a difficult start to his Anfield career.”
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