“He was Untouchable!” – This Liverpool Star Ran the Show Against Bayer Leverkusen | OneFootball

Liverpool 4-0 Bayer Leverkusen: Ryan Gravenberch Steals the Show Again

Liverpool’s start to the season under new head coach Arne Slot has certainly been a surprising one, but perhaps the biggest surprise of all, with all due respect to the Dutchman, has been the immense performances from Ryan Gravenberch. The 22-year-old has been absolute revelation in the middle of the park and that was no different in the 4-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen

In recent weeks, we’ve seen plenty of rotation between the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai, but Gravenberch has fully nailed down a spot in Slot’s midfield. If you had said five months ago that he would be running the show against Europe’s top sides, you’d certainly be surprised but that’s exactly what is happening.

Performance vs Leverkusen

Firstly, I was at the match last night and without even looking at the numbers behind his performance, you knew it was special. Looking back at the numbers only further reinforces what I thought I had been watching.

Photo: IMAGO

On the ball, Gravenberch was untouchable – completing 50 of his 53 attempted passes, at a completion rate of 94%. With numbers as good as that, you would expect that he was playing as a metronome to dictate the tempo of the game, but he was actually also showing immense levels of creativity on the ball too. The three key passes and one big chance that he created reflects his influence on Liverpool’s attacking play.

Defensively, he was brilliant, too. Gravenberch won five of his six ground duels, as well as completing four tackles and two interceptions. This undoubtedly played a huge role in limiting the impact of Leverkusen’s biggest attacking threat, Florian Wirtz. The German wonderkid didn’t complete a single dribble in the entire game and losing every single one of his four ground duels.

Further Impact

The solid displays from Gravenberch at the base of Liverpool’s midfield has undoubtedly been crucial to the recent impressive form of Curtis Jones, who has provided a run of creativity that has sometimes been lacking in recent seasons. The 23-year-old academy graduate was also at his best in the victory over Leverkusen, topped off by his sensational assist for Luis Diaz’s opening goal.

Photo: IMAGO

“Even I didn’t see the pass!” said Gravenberch after the game, “Curtis is a really good player and he did a really good job today.”

Despite only recently coming back into Arne Slot’s first-team plans after missing the start of the season through injury, Jones has already notched one goal and four assists across all competitions. That sort of creativity has been something that has been lacking in Liverpool’s midfield for several years, but with the current crop of midfielders, Slot seemingly has the perfect balance of hard-work and creative excellence.