Chapter 655: Level at Anfield!

Dawson watched from the touchline as Liverpool continued to dictate the pace.

Wigan were defending well, but they struggled to turn possession into attacks.

Liverpool blocked the central passing lanes, crowded the ball whenever it went wide, and pressed immediately after losing it.

Leo could beat the first defender, but Liverpool rarely left him a second option.

Just past the 40th minute mark, Henderson recovered a loose ball and passed to Carlo.

Carlo found Reyes, who laid it off to Leo.

With a rare moment of time and space, Calderon took the ball on and skipped past Liverpool’s Hungarian midfielder before he switched play towards Ezra on the opposite flank.

Ezra drove at his defender, but Liverpool quickly closed the space around him.

With the route inside blocked, he passed back to Leo outside the box.

The latter contemplated taking it inside the box for a better effort, but Gravenberch didn’t give him that chance.

The moment Leo got the ball, the Dutch player shot off his stride, forcing Leo to take the shot, but it got blocked by Konate right behind Gravenberch to send the ball out of play.

"Better!" Dawson called. "Move it quicker and give him support!"

During the next stoppage, he pulled Leo aside.

"You’re dropping too deep. Let Reyes help us build. Stay higher and make their defenders worry about the space behind them."

"They’re closing every passing lane through the middle," Leo replied.

"Then we need you in a position to do damage when we get through. Jake’s also an option, so don’t hesitate to ping balls to him."

Leo nodded and returned to his position, but Liverpool’s pressure kept life difficult.

Their midfield kept Wigan’s defenders from finding clean passes forward, leaving Leo isolated between the lines.

With 2 minutes of added time left in the half, Liverpool created another opening.

They drew Wigan’s midfield towards the right before passing inside to Luis Diaz, who had rendered Darikwa useless for the game.

His low shot forced Ben Amost to dive and parry it, but he recovered quickly to smother the rebound before a Liverpool forward could reach it.

"Excellent save!" Peter Drury exclaimed.

"Liverpool are getting runners into the box," Jim Beglin added. "Wigan are following the ball, and that leaves men arriving in dangerous areas. They need to track those runs better."

Wigan held their lead, but they were struggling to escape Liverpool’s press.

Ezra had little room on the wing, Reyes couldn’t find space between the lines, and Carlo was spending more time helping the team build than joining the attack.

In the final minutes, Leo tried to release Ezra down the flank again, but Liverpool doubled up on the winger, forcing him backwards.

The hosts recovered possession and kept the ball until the referee blew for half-time.

"What a truly pound-for-pound game we’ve had so far. It feels more like the managers are matching each other stride for stride, but it’s still Wigan ahead at the break, courtesy of Calderon’s ball in to Ezra in the 28th minute."

"It’s Wigan 1, Liverpool nil, and we await the return of both sides!"

........

With the players down the tunnel, the fans could finally take a breather.

None of the supporters at the Kop would admit it aloud, but there was relief beneath the frustration.

Wigan had just put eight past Manchester United.

The thought of that same ruthlessness arriving at Anfield had hung over the build-up all week.

So far, Liverpool had conceded once, and their response had been encouraging.

"They’ve got a grip on it now," a man in a red scarf said, pointing towards the pitch.

"Last fifteen minutes, we had them chasing shadows."

"Had them defending, you mean," his friend replied. "Different thing."

"Still better than letting them play."

A few rows ahead, two supporters were arguing over Leo’s pass for Ezra’s goal.

Despite never taking their eyes off the game, neither had spotted the opening until Leo had already played it.

"How did he even see that?" the first man asked.

"I had a clear view of the whole pitch, and I didn’t notice Ezra making that run."

"That’s why he’s Leo, isn’t it?"

"Yeah, well, Klopp’s got him under control now. He’s getting the ball, but he’s not doing much with it."

"Let’s hope we keep that up for another forty-five minutes."

The hope was cautious.

Nobody around them was treating a one-goal deficit as a disaster, but nobody was celebrating either.

Liverpool had created chances.

Across the stadium, the Wigan end was having a different conversation.

They were ahead, yet the goal had done little to settle anyone’s nerves.

"We’re winning," a young supporter said, checking the scoreboard as though it might have changed. "Why does it feel like we’re losing?"

"Because we’re not playing our football," the man beside him answered.

"We’ve had the goal, but how many times have we actually got out and attacked them since?"

"Leo’s been quiet."

"Because they’ve made sure he has to come looking for the ball. And when he gets it, there’s nobody close enough to help him."

The supporter frowned at the pitch.

"So what do we do?"

The other fan shrugged and then pointed towards the managerial box.

"If I knew I’d be down there with Dawson."

Nearby, another group debated whether Dawson should change the shape or trust the players to find a way through.

Some believed Wigan only needed one clean spell of possession to remind Liverpool why they were league leaders.

Others worried that Liverpool had already worked out how to stop them, and neither side of the argument was particularly reassuring.

Soon enough, the teams re-emerged from the tunnel for the rest of the game.

The noise rolled down from the stands, meeting the scattered chants from the Wigan section and before long, the match was underway again.

With the restart, Wigan tried to take control immediately.

Darikwa received the ball near the touchline and looked to move it forward, but Liverpool’s press arrived before he could find a pass.

He attempted to turn away from the pressure but a red shirt got a foot in, and the ball broke loose.

The ball pinged around with neither side doing enough to grasp it.

For an instant, Wigan had numbers ahead of the ball.

Their players pushed forward, expecting to win it back and launch an attack, but Liverpool had other ideas.

Sensing the opportunity at hand, Trent Alexander-Arnold collected the loose ball and looked up.

Wigan’s defensive line had advanced with the rest of the team, leaving space behind it, and Salah had already begun his run, drifting away from his marker and turning towards the open grass.

Before he could get his thoughts together, Carlo was suddenly on him, but Trent did enough to push the ball away before skipping past the winger.

When he got in behind, he hammered the ball forward without another moment wasted.

"It’s Trent’s ball in, nicely done!"

Salah accelerated into the space, bringing it under control as Wigan’s defenders scrambled to recover.

The goalkeeper came off his line, but Salah reached the box first.

He took one touch to steady himself and drove the finish beyond him, and a second later, the net snapped, sending the stadium with it.

"MOHAMED SALAH!" Peter Drury roared.

"Liverpool have struck almost immediately, and it’s their Egyptian King! Wigan came out looking to seize the initiative, but one loose ball, one pass over the top, and Salah has brought Anfield to its feet!"

The Kop erupted while Salah wheeled away towards the corner, arms spread, as teammates raced after him.

Trent pointed towards the Egyptian before being swallowed by the celebrating group.

"That’s the danger," Jim Beglin said as the home side celebrated.

"Wigan pushed their line up because they wanted to attack, but they lost the ball before their defence could get set. Trent saw the space immediately. You cannot give Salah that much room to run into."

Down the touchline, Dawson shouted for his players to reset, his gestures sharp and urgent.

The deed was done, and now it depended on how well they reacted.

Klopp, meanwhile, clapped twice and turned back towards his bench, already calling for his side to keep the pressure on.

The score was 1–1, and the match had changed in less than a minute.