The elimination of Ajax in the Champions League, after the 0-3 home loss against Liverpool, is entirely to blame for the team from Amsterdam. The English media agree that they could have hurt the visitors, especially in the first half, but failed to do so. Liverpool eventually went out to an easy 0-3 victory and the team from Amsterdam ‘slide’ down to the Europa League. According to Sky Sports one player fell through the basket hard.
The win over Ajax has given Jürgen Klopp renewed confidence in a season of ‘maddening inconsistency’, reports The Guardian. According to the newspaper, Liverpool could thank Mohamed Salah again for his opening goal. “Liverpool had been lagging behind until then. After a solid start, Ajax should have already had a lead of two goals, but saw the ground fall away from under the feet after Salah’s goal.” After opportunities for Steven Berghuis, Jorge Sánchez and Dusan Tadic, the visitors were lucky that Ajax did not score. “After the opening goal, the faith immediately flowed away from the Ajax players and supporters. A ‘descent’ to the Europa League is what remains for the team from Amsterdam.”
“Welcome to the weird and wacky world of Liverpool’s 2022/23 season”, read in the Telegraph. “At times it was terrible, often it was beautiful, as always under Klopp.” According to the newspaper, it was not Salah’s opening goal that turned the game: “The turning point came after 34 minutes, when the Liverpool players realized how vulnerable Ajax was when they were put under pressure.” The English themselves also looked ‘vulnerable’, until Salah started to ‘magic’.The newspaper mainly accuses Ajax of not having benefited from Liverpool’s slowness.
Also Sky Sports highlights the slack setting of the Reds and Ajax’s inability to take advantage of it. “Ajax should have put Liverpool a few goals behind by the time Salah scored his sixth goal in five Champions League matches this season. From that moment on, the inevitable end result was already known”, is the reference to an English victory. “Ajax only produced some off target shots as they slipped into the Europa League.” The medium was remarkably mild for Ajax in terms of reports. Only Remko Pasveer was the dissonant and got a 4. The rest of Ajax scored 6’s and Davy Klaassen and Brian Brobbey even got a 7.
The Athletic predicted in advance a ‘difficult evening in the Dutch capital’ for Liverpool. “That changed soon after Salah’s opening goal. At that time they were lucky that the score was still equal”, the website also pointed out Ajax’s dominance. “Jordan Henderson was too strong for Sanchez and delivered an excellent assist with the outside right. Suddenly Ajax was exposed and their noisy home support was silenced.”