Game on!!
Having avoided our score in order to watch the full 90 on Game of the day, I couldn’t resist checking the City score so I knew they’d lost before I knew the result of our game and when that deflected shot ended up in our net, I must admit to questioning if my weekend was about to be ruined.
It was an interesting lineup on paper. I thought Klopp took something of a risk by changing both fullbacks, however I thought Kostas had a very good game and while I know many really don’t like Gomez at RB, I think he’s competent enough in the role and his recovery pace down that flank is often quite valuable. He even showed off some of his dribbling skills and it was great to see him back getting game time.
Virgil is looking back to his imperious best. I’ve used this analogy before but when he’s on song, he’s like somebody’s dad thats joined in a kids game. Just too big, too strong and too quick. He drains the confidence from forwards and he did just that to Pukki yesterday.
In midfield, the Ox and Keita combo just never really seems to work. I thought Ox did his defensive duties well, recovered possession a number of times but was offering little offensive threat and I thought Keita was underwhelming again and wasn’t surprised to see him go off for Thiago, who I thought was excellent when he came on. There was one moment in particular I loved from him that probably went unnoticed. We’d got ourselves in a bit of trouble playing out from the back, Gomez had the ball and was nervously looking for a pass. Thiago read the situation and sprinted over, received the ball under pressure and with a nonchalant pass with the outside of his boot, found the route out of danger. Effortless but brilliant in an understated way.
After they scored I must admit to fearing the worst but I should have known better and the game turned on its head in three world class minutes. First we saw a world class finish from Mane with the overhead kick, followed by a world class pass from Alisson and as for Salah, I thought the chance had gone but Salah just proved once again that he is seeing the game on another level to everyone else, showed unbelievable composure to basically wrong foot everybody (he even wrong footed me and I was sitting on the couch) and roll the ball into the net for his 150th Liverpool goal, the second fastest player to reach that landmark after Sir Roger.
Origi looked lively when he came on and I’m giving McMOTM to Diaz after bagging his first Liverpool goal with a lovely dinked finish after latching on to a superb, defence splitting pass from Hendo.
Shoutout to the boss as well, his subs changed the game for the second time in a week and it was apparently Pep’s tactical switch that saw us change to the 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation second half, with Diaz going up top with Origi.
The big story of the weekend though is City losing to Spurs. Not many predicted it after Spurs losing their last three games but that result has blown the title race wide open again and crucially, puts our fate back in our own hands. Win our game in hand, beat City and we’re level on points. This could well turn out to be the most thrilling title race yet and I just wonder if bringing forward our summer plan to sign Diaz, might just make all the difference. One thing is for sure, it’s gonna be a helluva ride. Walk on!!
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