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#3 Fabinho shone in a new centre-back role
While Adrian has found it tough to fill Alisson Becker’s shoes in the Brazilian’s absence, one player who seems to be thriving in an unfamiliar role for Liverpool is Fabinho.
The departure of Dejan Lovren in the summer, coupled with injuries to other players, has necessitated Fabinho to step into the centre-back role for Liverpool, one that the Brazilian has carried out with great ease.
The former Monaco man, who has experience playing at right-back, played in central defence against Chelsea earlier this season and effectively marked Timo Werner out of the game.
Deployed in the same position against Ajax, Fabinho was excellent once again, making a number of excellent interceptions, including a vital clearance off the line, to help his side keep Ajax at bay.
Although Jurgen Klopp might not have planned for this eventuality, it appears that Fabinho could be the solution to his central defensive issues this season in Virgil Van Dijk’s absence.
#4 The five-substitutions rule is changing the dynamic of European competitions
When football resumed earlier this year after a lengthy layoff owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, a decision was made to have five substitutions instead of the usual three in most competitions to account for the players’ lack of match fitness and to prevent injuries.
For the 2020-21 season, the UEFA Champions League has decided to continue with the five-substitutions rule, adding an interesting new element to European fixtures.
This was a rule both Ajax and Liverpool were able to take advantage of during the course of this game, with the home side being forced into an early substitution due to injury.
For the visitors as well, workload management seemed to be of importance as Jurgen Klopp made no less than four changes before the hour mark.
What made that even more remarkable was that all three of Liverpool’s substitutions were made at the same time, something that was considered incredibly rare when only three substitutes were allowed.
This new rule has allowed managers in the Champions League to make wholesale tactical switches, replace injured players without second thoughts, experiment with formations and offer playing time to fringe players, which makes for a new and interesting spectacle for football fans to behold.
#5 Group D featuring Liverpool and Ajax promises a lot of entertainment
Although a 1-0 scoreline didn't suggest a particularly thrilling encounter, the chances created by both Ajax and Liverpool could easily have been a part of a high-scoring affair on another day.
Considering that free-scoring Atalanta, who registered an eye-catching 4-0 win over Midtjylland in the group’s other fixture, are also part of Group D, one can expect that there could be some really eye-catching games to come in the group.
Liverpool, Ajax, and Atalanta all like to play attacking, direct football that routinely sees them produce goal fests. When these free-scoring sides take each other on during later in the group, there could be goals galore.
