Six Goals In Austria: The Real Story Behind Liverpool’s Statement Win
A week after Manchester City left Anfield with all three points, Liverpool answered in the only way that matters at this level: with a hammering. Andoni Iraola’s side put six past LASK in Austria, and while the opposition will never be mistaken for Champions League regulars, the manner of the win carries real weight heading into a brutal run of fixtures. Our take is that this was less about the scoreline and more about what it revealed, both individually and collectively, about a squad still finding its identity under its new head coach.
The raw numbers alone tell you something unusual happened. Twenty-six shots, nine of them on target, three and a third expected goals and more than fifty touches inside LASK’s box add up to one of the most dominant away performances Liverpool have produced in Europe for years. Nineteen of those attempts came before half time, reportedly a Champions League record for shots in an opening 45 minutes away from home since records of this kind began in the early 2000s. Iraola made four changes to his starting eleven and rotated his central defenders through the second half, using the game to spread minutes across a squad that has had precious little room to breathe. Conceding twice late on, after racing into a 6-1 lead, will not have pleased him, but with the bulk of his objectives achieved well before the final whistle, it is hard to see this as anything other than a near-perfect night’s work.
A Record-Breaking Opening Act
If one performance will linger longest in the memory, it is Bradley Barcola’s. A first-half hat-trick, five shots, nineteen touches in the opposition box and five completed dribbles from ten attempted add up to the kind of statement his critics had been waiting on since his arrival. There has been a sense in recent weeks that Barcola was shrinking from the space in behind rather than attacking it, and that some of the scrutiny on him had been sharpened unfairly by the size of expectation around Florian Wirtz’s own arrival. Against LASK that hesitation disappeared. Every half-chance to run beyond the last defender was taken, and the pace, composure and know-how he picked up in his Champions League years at Paris Saint-Germain were all on display. The question now is whether that confidence survives contact with a Premier League defence, starting at Brentford this weekend.
Barcola Finally Cuts Loose
Florian Wirtz also had reason to feel pleased with himself: an assist, three chances created, six attempts on goal and five ground duels won from six. What stood out more than the numbers, though, was his willingness to try things while the score was still goalless, the kind of risk-taking that made him so difficult to handle at Bayer Leverkusen. He looked, in short, like a player playing with arrogance again. That is the version of Wirtz this team needs more often in the Premier League, where the German has at times looked like he is waiting for permission rather than taking the game by the scruff of the neck. Brentford will be a far less forgiving stage to test that nerve, but if Wirtz can carry even a fraction of this swagger into Saturday, Liverpool will be better for it.
Wirtz Rediscovers His Nerve
The night also offered encouragement from Liverpool’s academy graduates and from the full-back positions. Rio Ngumoha produced arguably his best display in a Liverpool shirt, winning six of eight dribbles and playing a part in the opening goal, while Trey Nyoni ran midfield with eighty-three completed passes from ninety and ten line-breaking balls to his name. Lewis Koumas, deputising for the injured Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, scored and assisted while never stopping running. At full-back, Jeremie Frimpong continues to offer more going forward than he solves defensively, a goal and two assists against LASK coming alongside uncomfortable moments at the other end, while Kostas Tsimikas captained the side and chipped in with two assists of his own after a difficult outing against Fulham. None of it changes the scale of the task now facing Liverpool. Brentford away is a different animal entirely, physical and awkward in ways LASK never threatened to be. But after a week in which confidence needed rebuilding, six goals and performances like Barcola’s and Wirtz’s give Iraola something to work with.
Strength In Depth, And A Reality Check At Brentford
None of this erases the issues that cost Liverpool against City, and a Champions League win over a side several levels below the Premier League’s physicality will not silence every doubt. But momentum matters, and a performance this complete, spread across so many different players, gives Iraola leverage he did not have a week ago. Barcola looks like he has turned a corner, Wirtz looks like he is remembering what made him special, and the academy graduates keep proving they belong in this squad rather than just around it. Brentford will ask very different questions on Saturday. How Liverpool answer them will tell us a great deal more about where this season is actually heading than six goals in Austria ever could.