Liverpool can't keep getting away with this: Why Champions League late win vs. Atleti leaves problems unsolved

Another game, another late winner. The story of Liverpool's season, a mark of excellence to come, a fabled champion who wins even when they aren't playing well? Perhaps.

Or maybe Liverpool won't keep getting away with this. After all, the alternative telling of the early games of this season is that three of their first five have seen them fritter away two goal leads against underpowered attacks. The same defensive issues are rearing their head continually. For now the Premier League champions are wriggling out of the difficulties they are creating for themselves. They are, however, creating difficulties for themselves.

How much more might they have faced if Atletico Madrid had not rocked up at Anfield intent on playing to a plan they were incapable of carrying out? For six minutes Diego Simeone's side invited the red wave upon themselves. As soon as a fairly underwhelming opponent spotted the space on the flanks they found themselves back in a contest that the Liverpool of last season would surely have throttled.

"We found a way," as Virgil van Dijk put it after his 93rd minute header sent The Kop ballistic. Doubtless these late goals beget belief, but the manner in which Atletico found themselves back in this game without playing particularly impressively will surely buoy Liverpool's opponents. If you're willing to come out and attack the champions, there might just be opportunities for you.

It took six minutes too long for Atleti to work that out. Early on they tried to play a plan quell this generation's hyper attack in the same fashion that Diego Godin and Miranda repelled Cristiano Ronaldo and company. It, to put it mildly, didn't really work for one simple reason. Diego Simeone's current group are not capable of defending like their predecessors.

For a side lined up with banks of four and five on the edge of their area, Atletico managed to offer plenty of prime real estate for Liverpool to operate in. It was too easy for Ryan Gravenberch to pick the ball up just inside the attacking third and drive through the first line, a quick flick on and the Reds were flying at a scrambling defense. There was always an option for an offload, as early as the first minute every home outfield player was in or on the cusp of the final third. That was the logical approach when no one in blue was looking to threaten the space they left behind them. Antoine Griezmann ran around and a bit and the 10 behind him awaited the pain.

It didn't take long in coming. There was fortune in Mohamed Salah's free kick deflecting off Andrew Robertson for the third minute opener, but a team cannot complain about misfortune when they are lackadaisical as Atletico were in allowing the Gravenberch shadow run that resulted in the foul.

If Atletico were ever going to make their low block work they were going to have to be a physical match for Liverpool. They were nothing of the sort and it was much too easy for Salah to drive away from a double team and slip a pass into midfield for Gravenberch, making the exact same run that three minutes earlier had set the stage for the opener. This time no defender could get close enough to foul him before he slipped the ball back into Liverpool's Egyptian king, who had the strength to hold off two defenders before driving home.

Something had to change. Something did. Atletico had a go at attacking. They didn't have to do it particularly elegantly either. The spaces were there behind the Liverpool full backs, as they have been in so many games this season, and a quick release into those areas would find Conor Gallagher or Giuliano Simeone with space to attack the penalty area. 

There was little the hosts could do to stop them getting there and better delivery from both flanks early on would have halved the deficit much earlier than the 45th minute, when Simeone was played onside by Ibrahima Konate and slipped through Marcos Llorente, the man who broke Anfield hearts in 2020 rearing his head again.

There were risks to Atletico opening up. Liverpool found even more space in which to operate and a brilliant give and go between Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak was crying out for the onrushing Jeremie Frimpong to connect with more ball than fresh air. The hosts had more chances to make it 3-1 than there were for 2-2 in the second half, Salah hitting the post and substitute Hugo Ekitike going close. Then again, if you were Simeone you would make the adjustment he made 10 times out of 10. Unless your defense is Arsenal level your options might just be sit back in anticipation of the inevitable or gamble that your 10 shots can result in more goals than Liverpool's 20.   

The defense is rather looking like the intractable problem for Slot, the price he has to pay for the privilege of adding Isak, Wirtz and Frimpong (to say nothing of substitute Ekitike) to a championship-winning side. It is not one the Liverpool boss makes much easier for himself with a double pivot of Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai. There was no natural destroyer ahead of Virgil van Dijk and Konate, Frimpong had license to drive up field and while Robertson has more experience in a withdrawn left back role than Milos Kerkez he is no natural in that role either.

With so many compromises and awkward fits at the back, it is no wonder that it was so easy for an underpowered Atletico attack to charm its way into the box. Llorente's second might have come thanks to two deflections, one to tee him up and another to take the shot past Alisson, but before he let fly Pablo Barrios was able to pick the ball up in a shooting position under precious little pressure. Suppose that in future weeks it is Victor Osimhen, Lautaro Martinez or, perish the thought, Kylian Mbappe in those pockets.

With five wins from five, Liverpool have bought themselves time to improve. Improve they must, however. Many more lapses like tonight's and there may be as many gruelling late exchanges at Anfield as there are last gasp triumphs.