After the final whistle was blown in Liverpool against Brentford there was a lot to unpack but for this writer the clearest thought I had was how impressive new Reds Spanish winger Victor Munoz had been.
Munoz might not be the silky skills type winger but he has energy, power, pace to burn the pitch and the ability to score with two goals to his name so far. All of those attributes are very much needed by this Liverpool squad and during this congested schedule (and a very thin squad) it seems that he can also cope with the game-after-game intensity so far.
At 5’ 8” (taller than this writer thought) Munoz fills his frame out with physical strength and rockets for legs which has greatly benefited the team several times whether powering with the ball to break us free from our goal being under siege or deciding to make opponents suffer his pace. It must be said how enjoyable it is to watch a player choose the no nonsense approach to playing football and use the most direct method of challenging opponents and making a difference. That’s not to say young Munoz doesn’t possess skills because he does and was selected for the Spanish national team at the 26 World Cup and is now a World Cup winner as well a Red.
During the game against Brentford we saw a very brief appearance from Jeremy Frimpong after he replaced Ronald Araujo at halftime but suffered, what seemed to be, a muscle injury and Iraola moved Munoz into that defensive void and brought Rio Ngumoha on as the right-winger. It was ten minutes after that when Liverpool broke from Brentford pressure and Florian Wirtz played a delightful ball into the space for Munoz to charge onto and did everything else that was needed to score the Red’s equalizer.
After the transfer business of last summer and a Mohamed Salah size hole to try and replace we found ourselves with all four wingers being naturally left sided which was one of the reasons for a lot of frustration and concern. The narrative of new head coach Iraola preferring wingers who could play on both sides made this writer a little less bothered that we didn’t get a naturally right sided winger but it was still an issue that caused some nervousness over how this was going to work out.
All four of the senior squad wingers have been given minutes on the right and Cody Gakpo actually got himself an assist even though probably the most predictable left sided winger yet Munoz and Rio were the ones who found themselves on the right side more often than not. Rio definitely struggled (but much improved now) yet Munoz appeared unfazed and now looks as if he has always played that side with even a short stint against Brentford as a right-back. I don’t think any of us want to see Victor have to play as a right-back again but this is a perfect example of Munoz’s attitude where he just puts his head down and gets on with the task with full conviction until the final whistle.