Is Liverpool “the best team in the world”? | sports

French Lille travels into the lion’s den on Tuesday by going to challenge Liverpool, which has become a formidable winning machine under the leadership of its new Dutch coach, Arne Sloat, to the extent that its recent competitor in the English Football League, Brentford, described it as “the best team in the world.”

The Dutch coach succeeded in turning the difficult succession of German Jurgen Klopp into a fairy tale, as he achieved 25 wins in 32 matches, and leads the English Premier League by 6 points from his closest pursuers with a postponed match, and the continental competition with a full mark.

At Anfield, the Reds beat Bayer Leverkusen, the German champion, 4-0, Real Madrid, the Spanish and European champion, 2-0, and Manchester City, the English champion for the last four years, with the same score in the league, without conceding a single goal.

A fiery attack line and an iron defense are the two pillars that Liverpool relied on again on Sunday when they visited Brentford (2-0) in the 22nd round.

Brentford coach, nicknamed “The Bees,” Danish Thomas Frank, told the BBC: “Technically, tactically and physically, they are very good everywhere on the pitch.”

“For me, they are the best team in the English Premier League and in the world at the moment,” he added.

Former Welsh international defender Ashley Williams shared his opinion on the “Match of the Day” program, saying: “I agree with him,” adding, “At the moment I think they have the strongest team. In my opinion, they will win the league and strive to win the Champions League.”

“Nothing has changed”

The end of the match against Brentford showed Liverpool’s strengths and weaknesses over the past few weeks.

First: The difficulty of translating the many opportunities created by Egyptian international Mohamed Salah and his teammates, as they attempted 35 shots without succeeding in scoring, before they succeeded in converting the 36th and 37th shots in the first and third minutes of stoppage time.

Brentford’s lock was finally broken thanks to the influence of substitutes Harvey Elliott and Uruguayan Darwin Nunes. In the match against Nottingham Forest (1-1) last Tuesday, the equalizer also came from a corner kick taken by Greek Kostas Tsimikas in the 66th minute, and Portuguese Diogo Jota followed it up with a header into the goal. Both of them came off the bench 22 seconds before the goal.

The trip to Nottingham was preceded by another draw in the English Premier League, with its guest Manchester United (2-2), and a defeat against its host Tottenham (0-1) in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final, which raises surprise, but not that of Slot.

The Liverpool coach said last weekend: “If you look at the number of chances created… you will see that nothing has changed between today and the first half of the season.”

He admitted that the change “at the present time is that it has become difficult for us to convert the opportunities we have into goals,” noting the recklessness of attackers at times, but there are also “late defensive blocks” and opponents who “throw themselves at every ball every time it becomes available.” We have a chance.”

Lille will have to resist the incoming waves of Salah, (Dutch) Cody Khakpo and (Colombian) Luis Diaz, contain the mercurial Hungarian international midfielder Dominik Soboszlai and the laser passing of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

He must also break the wall that the other Dutchman, Ryan Kravenberg, is building in the middle of the field, and then hope to manipulate the third Dutchman, Virgil van Dijk, and the Frenchman, Ibrahima Konate, who are perhaps the most solid defensive duo in the English Premier League.

Mission impossible? Bruno Genesio’s team must pull out the miracle box, as they did this season against the poles of the Spanish capital, Real Madrid (1-0) and Atletico (3-1).