Liverpool's Defensive Woes as Atlético Madrid Return to Anfield
Liverpool and Atlético Madrid meet again under the lights at Anfield on Wednesday, a rerun of last season’s breathless Matchday 1 clash that finished 3-2 to the Reds. This time, the mood is different. The home side look vulnerable, the visitors smell opportunity.
Liverpool still a work in progress
Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool are nowhere near the finished article. Five points from their first three Premier League games is a steady enough return, but the details tell a more troubling story: four goals conceded in their opening two league fixtures, both ending in draws, and a defence still being shuffled into place.
Ronald Araújo has been forced to plug gaps at right-back with Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni sidelined. The unit is learning on the job, and it shows.
A 2-0 win at Ipswich last time out eased some of the early-season tension. Alexander Isak struck twice in nine ruthless minutes at Portman Road, with Cody Gakpo laying on all three of his league goals so far. The Swedish forward, after an injury-hit first campaign that brought only four goals in 22 appearances, suddenly looks leaner, sharper, more decisive.
Iraola’s options remain limited. Hugo Ekitike, Bradley and Leoni are still unavailable, while Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo were not registered for Champions League duty. The core will have to carry the load again.
Expected Liverpool XI: Alisson; Kerkez, Araújo, Jacquet, van Dijk; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Barcola; Wirtz, Gakpo, Isak.
Atlético arrive wounded, but dangerous
Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid travel to Merseyside licking their wounds after a 3-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao. Even so, they sit sixth in La Liga with seven points from four games and retain their familiar edge: awkward, combative, and never far from turning a game ugly for the opposition.
Simeone plans a significant tweak. Julián Álvarez is set for his first start of the season, a major boost to an attack that already carries plenty of menace. Cristian Romero is also pushing for his first start since joining the club, adding steel to a back line that was badly exposed in Bilbao.
Álvarez is expected to stay at Atlético at least until the January transfer window, and his presence immediately changes the dynamic in the final third. Alexander Sørloth (thigh) and Arnau Ortiz (suspended) are ruled out for the trip.
Expected Atlético XI: Oblak; Llorente, Romero, Hancko, Grimaldo; Giuliano Simeone, Barrios, Hjulmand, Lookman; Baena, Álvarez.
Anfield scars and a fragile Liverpool defence
This stadium holds no fear for Atlético. Simeone’s side won 3-2 at Anfield in 2019/20 and came back from 2-0 down here last season. They know how to drag Liverpool into a grind and punish any lapse.
Right now, Liverpool are offering chances. Their defensive structure under Iraola is still bedding in, and with Araújo out of position and key full-backs missing, the spaces are there to be attacked. Atlético, with Álvarez back in the side and runners like Lookman and Baena around him, are well equipped to probe those gaps.
The market effectively gives Atlético a 46.5% chance of avoiding defeat. Given Liverpool’s teething problems and Atlético’s history on this ground, that looks on the low side. A draw or an away win would not surprise anyone who has watched these sides closely in August and early September.
Isak’s resurgence meets an unsettled Atlético back line
Isak’s form is the clearest bright spot in Liverpool’s early weeks. Three goals in three league games, including that rapid brace at Ipswich, underline how different he looks from the hesitant figure of last season. His movement is sharper, his finishing more instinctive, and his understanding with Gakpo is growing by the game.
There is a caveat: his European record. One goal in 13 Champions League appearances is a stark contrast to his current domestic streak. Yet the context matters. He now leads the line in a team built more around his strengths, and he faces an Atlético defence that just conceded three at Bilbao and is still trying to integrate Romero.
When a striker in this kind of form faces a back four still learning each other’s habits, the balance tilts his way.
Creativity drought points to a tight contest
The biggest concern for Liverpool is not just at the back. It is what they are not doing at the other end.
They sit 19th in the Premier League for big chances created, with only four in three matches. Brighton, by comparison, have crafted 15 in the same span. For a side boasting Florian Wirtz, Gakpo, Isak and Dominik Szoboszlai, that is a glaring underperformance.
An Atlético side drilled by Simeone is the last opponent you want when your chance creation is sputtering. Pablo Barrios and Morten Hjulmand will clog the spaces Wirtz loves to drift into between the lines, and Jan Oblak remains a commanding, calming presence behind them.
Simeone will not mind if Anfield groans at a slow tempo and a narrow, attritional game. His team have scored seven in their last four league outings, and Álvarez’s return only adds to their threat, but the Argentine coach will happily turn this into a contest of patience and precision rather than chaos.
Liverpool’s fragility and Atlético’s scars from Bilbao set the stage, but the pattern feels familiar: Simeone digging in, Iraola searching for fluency, and a night where one mistake, one flash of quality from Álvarez or Isak, could tilt the entire narrative of their European campaigns.
