Moreno made his first start since the opening day of the season in Liverpool’s win over Derby County on Tuesday night.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has told the club’s official website that he was happy with the performance of left-back Alberto Moreno following his first start for the Reds since the first day of the season.
Moreno came under fire for mistakes made towards the back end of last season – most notably in the Europa League final – and started the season off in similarly erroneous fashion in the 4-3 win over Arsenal on the opening day of the season.
Ever since, Moreno has been a late substitute in a couple of games while James Milner has been preferred ahead of him in the left-back role.
However, Klopp seemed satisfied with what Spaniard served up as the Reds ran out 3-0 winners at the iPro Stadium against Derby County in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
The Liverpool boss told the club’s official website: “Alberto Moreno had a brilliant game, very calm – that’s how he trained in the last few weeks since he didn’t play. He was really cool, concentrated and disciplined in training sessions and that’s how he played, really good.”
Of course, one has to take into account the opponents that Liverpool faced – a very poor Derby County side that is struggling desperately in front of goal so far this season.
However, ‘calm, cool and concentrated’ are not words that you would tend to associate with Moreno performances – more usual adjectives are rash, at times lacking intelligence and instinct. This week, though, there were certainly indicators the Spaniard was taking a more measured approach to his play.
He didn’t venture forward all of the time – though did provide some width on the overlap – and there were none of the unorthodox, flying challenges.
There will be tougher tests to come, and one would think that Milner will be reinstated to the starting XI given that he has performed well at the start of the season.
However, the indication, at least, is that some of the work on the training ground away from the spotlight has been doing Moreno some good.
Liverpool’s Alberto Moreno warms up before the match
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
