Sevilla FC 3-3 Liverpool: 5 Talking Points

Look away now, Liverpool fans. If the first half of the UEFA Champions League group game was euphoric, the second was melancholic. Every bit of joy that was present at half-time was wrung from the Liverpool fans’ souls.

It’s painful describing it – Liverpool breezed to a three-goal lead in the first half to spectacularly throw it away in the second. Wissam Ben Yedder started the freak comeback with a brace and Guido Pizarro completed the comeback in injury time to snatch a point from the tie.

In the first half, Liverpool had spanked Sevilla on the counter as two goals from Roberto Firmino and a diving header from Sadio Mane had made it three.

The inquest is going to be something from Jürgen Klopp as Liverpool next face Chelsea and cannot afford to be this naïve at the back. Let’s take a look at the talking points from last night's crazy Champions League tie:

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#5 Alberto Moreno’s Sevilla nightmare continues

Alberto Moreno's foul gifted Sevilla a penalty, which subsequently gave the hosts their 2nd goal of the night

Playing with consistency isn’t as easy as making Bacon every morning. Just ask Alberto Moreno. Out of favour last season owing to his indiscipline performances, he was one of the best performers at the back for Liverpool. But all that changed when he stepped foot at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan last night.

Up against the pace and skill of Pablo Sarabia, and occasionally, Gabriel Mercado, Moreno had a tough night. While his positioning wasn’t as bad as that fateful night at Basel, where he was all over the place, Moreno simply couldn’t put a challenge in last night and had a woeful first touch which led to a penalty.

Perhaps it was the complacency of having a two-goal lead – which is hilarious as Moreno and complacency simply don’t go well together – or just a bad night for the Spaniard. With a clash against Chelsea coming up, Liverpool didn’t need their left-back’s confidence shattered.

#4 Where was Liverpool’s midfield in the whole game?

Henderson was awful again

You’d presume Liverpool’s midfield did well in the first half as they were three goals to the good. But no, that wasn’t the case. Two of the three goals came in set-pieces and the third on the counter as Sevilla went in search of that elusive first goal to claw back the deficit.

Liverpool’s midfield lacked balance. While many pointed out how bad Moreno was in the game, it’s fair pointing out that it was the first time this season he wandered into the Moreno abyss of old.

Liverpool's defence can only keep out goals if they are supported well by the midfield, and that hasn’t been the case since Javier Mascherano left the club a while ago, so the problem has been there since ages.

Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson seemed there only to make up the numbers. The latter, Liverpool’s skipper who is supposed to set an example, recorded no tackles on the night and had a pass percentage of 57. Out of 30 passes, he could find a teammate just 17 times. We’re talking about professional football here, ladies and gentlemen.

Wijnaldum didn’t cover himself in glory either. While he did manage a couple of tackles and three interceptions, the composure was missing. 28 passes in a game of football from the midfield is hardly acceptable.

It's safe to say, that the Liverpool midfield needs to get its act together if they want to progress further in the Champions League or play in it at all, next season.

#3 Sevilla exploit Liverpool’s set-piece problems

A night to forget

Although six goals were scored on the night, just one came from open play. All of Sevilla’s goals came from dead-ball situations and that’ll perforate Jürgen Klopp’s massive ego of playing ‘heavy-metal football’. Klopp might get an album out, but with defending like that, his heavy-metal stuff isn’t going to get too many buyers. To be honest.

Liverpool don’t really know what they’re doing in set pieces. At the base of it are their goalkeepers, who don’t know when to come out to either punch or collect a delivery. That, subsequently, puts pressure on the defenders.

While they have managed to clear the first ball, the side’s midfielders have lacked the instinct to get their positioning right and win the second ball, something that showed last night.

Despite having nearly all 11 players in the penalty box, the second ball from the corner in injury time fell kindly to Guido Pizarro who had time to take a touch and then pass it into the net.

Sevilla’s quick wingers – Nolito and Sarabia – peppered the Liverpool box with cross after cross and though they took until injury time to find the equaliser, they were going about it the right away.

#2 Sevilla destroy the ‘gegenpress’

Banega ran the shots from midfield

What do you do when you’re up against a team that likes to press? You counter press. While there were moments where Liverpool threatened to make it more than just the three goals, the presence of someone like Johannes Geis at the back – usually a good distributor of the ball from the midfield – meant Sevilla could switch from defence to attack in mere seconds.

Geis impressed with his passing – an accuracy of 83% -- and helped evade the Liverpool counter press at times. Liverpool’s midfield might not get many things right, but they do know how to press, and Sevilla countered even that.

In front of Geis and Lenglet, Ever Banega was almost flawless in the second half and passed the away side to death. In fact at one point, such good was his ability that Liverpool decided to stop pressing and decided to play a low-block.

Banega obliged and controlled the game exceptionally well, which explains why Liverpool had such few chances in the second half, despite Sevilla chasing the game.

#1 Group E is still petty open

Can't afford to be complacent

What should have been straightforward wins for Liverpool and Spartak Moscow turned into unanticipated draws. While Liverpool’s was the shock of the day, Spartak were equally bad, only managing a stalemate against Maribor.

Going into the last matchday, Sevilla could still be knocked out if they lose to Maribor, though that’s unlikely. Liverpool have matters on their own hands and need to match, or better Sevilla’s result to finish as group leaders, but considering what happened in the second half last night, they can’t let complacency creep into their game against Spartak.

As for the Russians, well, they’ll be gutted they couldn’t beat Maribor even once in the group. With the results they’ve managed against Sevilla and Liverpool, they could have been top had they beaten the minnows from Slovenia!