DOMINIC KING: Granit Xhaka lit a flame under Liverpool

DOMINIC KING: Granit Xhaka lit a flame under Liverpool and Trent Alexander-Arnold and that can be the foundation of their rebuild… Plus why Mikel Arteta made a big mistake with Martin Odegaard

• Liverpool have been lacking intensity and they must prove flame still flickers
• Trent Alexander-Arnold gave a performance as good as any this season
• By benching Odegaard, Arteta sent the wrong message – and the Reds pounced 

During the half-time interval of Liverpool and Arsenal’s blockbuster, a gag was well circulated around the media room.

In those opening 45 minutes, with Jurgen Klopp’s side utterly lamentable, there was only one player on the pitch capable of saving Liverpool from humiliation and – so the punchline went – he didn’t disappoint: step forward Granit Xhaka.

Xhaka, with stray arm into the neck of Trent Alexander-Arnold and nonsensical lack of discipline, did what no other player had been capable of doing. He galvanised the home crowd, lit a fuse and it could be that Arsenal’s best hope of becoming champions for the first time since 2004 disappears.

This incident has been looked at, largely, through an Arsenal prism, in terms of what the impact might be on their title push – if they end up losing it on goal difference the day they tossed away two points on Merseyside will be huge – but what might Xhaka have done for Liverpool?

You can talk about intricate patterns of play and free-flowing moves but the first thing Anfield expects from its team is fight: a desire to run and tackle and never give up. They are, as Roy Keane often hisses, ‘the basics’ but too often this year, the basics have been missing.

Granit Xhaka unwittingly stepped up to hand Liverpool a lifeline in his clash with Trent Alexander-Arnold on Sunday

Liverpool have been spoiling for a fight this season, and the collision injected vital intensity

Put it another way: do you believe if Liverpool’s intensity levels had been similar at Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Chelsea, Fulham, Crystal Palace or when Leeds visited last autumn that they would be confronted by the possibility of not playing in Europe next season? Absolutely not.

It has felt for a good number of months that Liverpool, as a collective, have been spoiling for a fight, a moment when everything erupts and the air is allowed to clear. Klopp and his players have carried glares, at times of difficult questions, that could have cut you in half.

Quite how they would have been had Arsenal ransacked them, as they threatened to do at one stage, is anyone’s guess but the overriding feeling at the end of the game was that Xhaka had flicked a switch back on.

Take Alexander-Arnold. Inevitably, there was plenty of focus on his positioning in the build up to Arsenal’s second goal (blaming him would be ridiculous as there were plenty of other places, before and after, where the move should have been stopped) but what about his performance after?

He was as good in the second period as he has been all season. Never mind the cross that set up Roberto Firmino’s equaliser, there were tackles that you could feel at the back of the Main Stand and a desire that made him shine like a beacon. This was everything Alexander-Arnold should be.

The much-maligned defender put in a standout shift against the Gunners but questions linger over his defensive abilities

Ibrahima Konate also distinguished himself at Anfield and played with the aggression required

But he wasn’t alone. Ibrahima Konate has looked to have stage fright at times in recent weeks but one tackle, not far from Klopp, had his manager hollering like a goal had been scored. Like the crowd, Klopp wants to see well-channelled aggression first and foremost and this ticked boxes.

Klopp knows this season is going to go down as the worst of his tenure, as there have been no cup finals, no title challenge and just a seemingly never-ending cycle of disappointments and headaches and questions about whether players are good enough any longer.

An overhaul is required in the summer, that is for certain, but before then Liverpool can prove to critics that a flame still flickers. Getting to the finish line without suffering another defeat should enable them to finish in the top six and repeating those 45 minutes against Arsenal is a must.

The infuriation Alexander-Arnold felt when Xhaka cannoned into him should be felt as a collective at Elland Road next Monday then against Forest and Tottenham and so on. A failure to do so, simply, would leave their rivals laughing – and mean potentially positive foundation has been wasted.

Some of the things that used to be true of football have happily been consigned to the past as we have progressed. A number of things that were true before, though, remain so now and one involves the role of a captain.

Martin Odegaard has not only been a strong player for Arsenal but a talismanic figure

But the Arsenal captain could only watch Reds’ equaliser from the bench after being subbed

Darwin Nunez was unlucky with his chances on the day but has a bright future ahead of him

If you are chasing a title and playing in a difficult environment, a manager should never, ever take off his skipper. Mikel Arteta might have been thinking about protecting the game when he replaced Martin Odegaard in the 80th minute but, really, it sent out the wrong message.

Odegaard, a contender for Player of the Year and an inspirational figure, was sat on the bench when Roberto Firmino equalised and he was also watching on helplessly as Arsenal’s botched a last-gasp counterattack that could have yielded a third goal.

Had Odegaard been carrying an injury, of course withdrawing him would have been the natural thing to do. But with no fitness issues reported, to remove his main man at a high pressure moment was a mistake. Like the Grant Xhaka flashpoint, Arteta will hope the ramifications are not long lasting.

A bit-part cameo for Darwin Nunez and another match in which he missed a big chance. It has been an eventful year for Liverpool’s £85m signing, one in which his form has fluctuated, but the feeling remains: with a good summer and a positive pre-season, next year will bring goals. And lots of them.

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