Liverpool were a little chaotic here at times. It was a harder night than many had anticipated against the 13th best team in Italy.
But with Liverpool there is always the beauty that lies within. Here it came from the gilded left foot of Mo Salah. What a shot with fifteen minutes left. What a relief. What a goal.
Liverpool, who have looked largely assured on the watch of their new manager Arne Slot so far this season, started hot at Anfield. They almost scored in the second minute and then they did, through Alexis Mac Allister, nine minutes later. The pass came from Salah and was typical of his work. The 32-year-old remains an eager scorer of goals but also plays with his head up these days. There has been a marked change in that regard.
It looked straight forward for a while but over time it became less so. Liverpool started to make mistakes and on top of that Bologna grew in confidence and made chances. They hit post and bar in the first half and Alisson saved well at the start of the second.
The game was in the balance for a long while and then Salah chose to sit on his end of the see-saw in the 75th minute and that was it. A pass to him out on the right, a drive inside and then a left foot shot so perfectly struck – high and across – that it would have struck the bullseye on a dart board.
Alexis Mac Allister celebrates after his goal in the 11th minute put Liverpool in the lead
Mohamed Salah is jubilant following his 75th minute goal, which made it 2-0 to Liverpool
Arne Slot has now guided Liverpool to two consecutive Champions League victories
And so Liverpool and Slot ease on. Imperfect but winning and always, for many differing reasons, a lot of fun to watch.
What do we make of them so far this season? They are top of the Premier League and two from two in Europe. That’s a reasonable statement on its own. Slot has overseen eight wins in nine games, the only slip being the home defeat to Nottingham Forest in the middle of last month.
It’s fair to say, though, that it hasn’t always been easy. There have been some periods in many of their games where Liverpool’s football has looked slightly uncertain. Bar, strangely, that 3-0 win at Manchester United that they pretty much played with their slippers on.
One wonders how Liverpool will do against the really good teams. Where will the control come from? We may find out soon enough. They face Chelsea and Arsenal in the space of a week at the back end of the international break with a Champions League game at RB Leipzig sandwiched in between. So maybe we should talk after all that.
As it is, this was another night that was negotiated rather than moulded entirely to their own whim.
They were superb early on but the last fifteen minutes of the first half and the first fifteen of the second saw them cough up the ball and, as a result, chances at an alarming rate. Bologna struck bar and post in this spell while Alisson Becker made two very good saves.
Before all that, Liverpool were impressive and, allowed to play their football almost unmolested, looked deadly early on.
A super combination between Ryan Gravenberch and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the second minute almost laid a goal on a plate for Luis Diaz only for the low cross to be fractionally behind the Colombian. Soon after, Liverpool were ahead.
Mac Allister scored from close range as Liverpool secured another Champions League win
The Liverpool players congratulate Mac Allister following his goal against Bologna
Dominik Szoboszlai shot narrowly wide as Liverpool attempted to add to their lead
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson looks to deny Bologna’s Thijs Dallinga during the clash at Anfield as Bologna grow into the game
Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez wasn’t wholly impressive when he had chances to do so
Darwin Nunez played his part well, holding off defenders on the edge of the penalty area to lay the ball back to Salah. His angled cross was perhaps aimed for Nunez but as the centre forward fell to ground Mac Allister eased in to space close to goal and side footed the ball in.
Dominik Szoboszlai then shot an inch wide of the far post after Salah set him up before Nunez volleyed straight at the goalkeeper and also fired a shot over from 18 yards.
It was then, though, that Bologna suddenly found a little of themselves and, as strange as it sounds and felt at the time, could have scored three times in about ten minutes.
Twice the Italians struck the frame of the goal and it was Dan Ndoye on both occasions. A deflected shot on to the bar and then a shot on the turn against the post. After that, in the 33rd minute, a mistake by Alexander-Arnold allowed Kacper Urbanski to shoot across goal and Alisson dived left to save.
It had been an interesting period and one that left Liverpool suddenly seeking the comfort of a second goal. Nunez – not wholly impressive on a night when the chance to leave a mark was his – headed over at the start of the second half while goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski was quickly out to smother at the feet of Alexander-Arnold.
But it was the visiting team that still looked most dangerous at this time. Midfielder Riccardo Orsolini crept behind the Liverpool right-back to work Alisson low down and then Urbanski, the Pole, drove a shot over from 18 yards when he should have done better.
Riccardo Orsolini of Bologna battles for the ball with Liverpool defender Andy Robertson
Salah’s stunner flew straight and true into the top left corner to seal the result for the hosts
Bologna frankly deserved to be level at this stage. A goal for the Italians would have been interesting.
But Salah’s intervention was as perfectly timed as it was exquisitely struck. He had sized it all up with one shot in the 63rd minute. He missed by a foot. His second one was almost identical other than this one went in. There has much change at Anfield and a sense of evolution pervades. Some things, however, remain beautifully the same.
