Steve Nicol ‘delighted’ with one aspect of Liverpool’s win on Sunday despite ‘rotten’ performance

Steve Nicol said he was ‘delighted’ with one particular aspect of Liverpool’s win at Bournemouth on Sunday despite a ‘rotten’ performance from the Reds.

Andoni Iraola’s side created virtually nothing in a goalless first half but prevailed 1-0 thanks to Alexander Isak’s 57th-minute goal, one of just three shots on target they had all afternoon.

It was far from a classic at the Vitality Stadium, but the Merseysiders held firm to come away with all three points and record a third consecutive clean sheet in the Premier League, something they hadn’t managed since the first three matches of Arne Slot’s reign two years ago.

Nicol credits Liverpool for another clean sheet

Nicol wasn’t impressed with Liverpool’s overall performance on the south coast, but he gave them credit for achieving another shutout and doing enough to emerge with a positive result.

The former Reds defender said on ESPN FC: “I’m absolutely delighted, with the way they played, to come away with three points. I said a couple of weeks ago, if I could get Liverpool to just keep clean sheets – if you do that, because they have got talented players, you’ve always got a chance of getting something, and that’s exactly what happened in this game.

“These teams could’ve swapped strips and you wouldn’t have known who was who. That’s how bang average Liverpool were today, but they got a win. Now, when you get three points, you can build from it. There’s a different atmosphere around the place when you get a win, particularly away from home.

“The performance was rotten. In terms of going forward, it was desperate. It took us 57 minutes to get the goal, and even after that there wasn’t another chance, so I’m delighted – three points away at Bournemouth [despite] not playing well, but it’s a clean sheet, and that’s how you start. That’s how you get things going.”

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

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Not vintage Liverpool, but that feels like a huge result

Nicol is right – it wasn’t a vintage Liverpool display by any means, but every eventual Premier League champion has matches like these where they’re nowhere near their best and still come out of a tough away fixture with all three points.

From conceding four goals in their opening two games under Iraola, to now achieve three successive clean sheets in the top flight gives the Reds a solid platform from which to build, even if our attacking play was quite disappointing against Fulham and Bournemouth.

In the end, the commanding brilliance of Alisson Becker in nets and another imperious showing from Jeremy Jacquet were every bit as crucial to this win as Isak’s decisive goal.

No Liverpool fan will be fooled into thinking that yesterday was a 10/10 or even a 9/10 performance, but the significance of the result on a weekend when the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all dropped points in away games feels massive.

The Reds go into the extended international break with positive momentum and remain unbeaten with Iraola in charge, albeit in the knowledge that they’ll need to show a lot more if they’re to be the first team to take points off Manchester City this season when the leaders visit Anfield on 11 October.