The importance of small partnerships in football. And when they come together, there is nothing small about them. Although the departure of Sadio Mané is now a little behind us after Liverpool's display against Ajax on a dream afternoon for Luis Díaz, it is clear that Jürgen Klopp's 2022-23 model still has a few details to iron out.
What Reds fans do expect, however, is for the Diaz-Salah duo to start linking up now. Despite being poles apart, there is no doubt that when the cracks come together, damage is bound to follow. Despite this, the connection between the Colombian and the African remains 'off' and, apart from the thrashing against Bournemouth, the pair have only made five passes in 258 minutes together.
Luis Diaz is already one of the most expensive players in the world
Luis Díaz has already equalled Brazilian star Neymar in this
In other words, one hand-off to the other every 52 minutes. Nothing satisfactory for Klopp in the midst of the storm. In fact, the figures go further. If you add up the number of shots between Diaz and Salah this season (9 + 11), only one ended in a dangerous option, and that was on 15 August in the draw against Palace, where Lucho produced a masterpiece to avoid going down to the abyss at the legendary Anfield Road.
A cross from Mo Salah ended up being finished with the right foot by the '23', however, the ball did not generate any scare in the goal. But there is no more lethal saying than the one that says nothing is good at the beginning but only at the end. After a start with more polka dots than brilliance, Pool shook itself up and the clearest sign of that was last Saturday. A blow on the table that rekindled the illusion. Now, the only thing left to do is to confirm that the ship is back on course against Newcastle next Wednesday.
For now, Jürgen Klopp will have several days to work on improving this partnership from which the Reds' fans expect a lot. In attack, they are also hoping that Roberto Firmino will shine again, or that Portugal's Diogo Jota will play an important role. Without ruling out the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez who has not started well his adventure at Anfield, but who has enough quality to become the team's goal scorer. Not forgetting also the Portuguese rookie Fabio Carvalho who arrived from Fulham.
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