Report by
Dave Usher at Anfield
It was easy enough in the end, but it was definitely starting to get hairy just before half time. A bright start to the game had fizzled out and it was all becoming rather anxious. The crowd were showing frustration with the team and Klopp was on the verge of completely losing his shit with the fans. Thankfully 'big game Gini' delivered and it was plain sailing after that.
He couldn’t have timed that better as Boro were beginning to look comfortable, nerves were starting to set in with some of the players and the crowd were definitely sitting there with their arse cheeks clenched.
If we’d scored an early goal we’d have probably scored six or seven, but although we looked sharp in the opening 10 or 15 minutes the goal didn’t come. Klopp had made one change from last week’s win at West Ham, and although I wouldn’t have changed anything I was ok with it as long as he kept the same system, which he did.
Prior to kick off when we’d seen the team, the consensus was that we’d be fine if he kept the diamond and stuck with two up front, but if he went back to a 4-3-3 and used Firmino wide it was going to be a long day. That’s exactly how it turned out in the end, and you have to wonder now how things would have gone if we’d just reverted to this system any time Mané wasn’t available.
Anyway, once Boro survived the early onslaught they were able to just settle into their ten man defensive shell and became increasingly comfortable. Gestede was all alone up front but all things considered he did a fine job, winning every header and holding the ball up and waiting for support. He’s a bit of a donkey but he’s great at what he does.
Neither Matip nor Lovren were able to win anything in the air against him, but that’s to be expected. What you have to do is make sure you pick up the knock downs and deal with the flick ons. For the most part we did that, but there was one almost costly exception. Gestede flicked the ball onto Forshaw, Lovren initially went for it but realised he wouldn’t get there, Matip didn’t get there either and when Forshaw lobbed the ball forward Lovren was now the wrong side of Bamford.
In fairness to Lovren, what happened after that was hardly his fault. He did everything possible to avoid bringing Bamford down but the little posh Tory looking bastard tried to pull a Shane Long and slowed down in front of Lovren to initiate contact.
There was some contact, but Bamford played for the penalty instead of trying to score, so fuck him, the Chelsea faced cunt.
Martin Atkinson called it right in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a huge let off because a lot of refs would have sent Lovren off and given a penalty. Hell, on another day Atkinson himself probably would have. If we’d fallen behind and been reduced to ten men, who knows how this would have turned out? Thankfully we’ll never know.
The scare did affect the mood around the stadium though. It got to Lovren too, as soon after he panicked and welled one into the Anny Road for a corner even though he was under no pressure. Matip ballooned a pass out of play too and the crowd started to get antsy. Even Lallana - usually the most composed man on the pitch - was caught up in it, taking a shot from 25 yards when he had four team mates up with him.
I was watching Klopp and he was getting pissed off at the changing mood around the stadium. At one point he turned with a look of incredulity on his face after a loud groan from around the stadium in response to a couple of backwards passes. He threw his arms up at the Kop and then turned to look accusingly at someone behind him in the Main Stand who must have yelled something. Soon after it happened again but he just about held himself in check.
I suspect he thinks our crowd is shit compared to Dortmund, and while he’d be right, it’s an apples and oranges comparison. If we’d been paying Dortmund ticket prices all these years then thousands of hardcore fans wouldn’t have been driven away and replaced by corporates and tourists.
Overall I thought the atmosphere was fine. So what if people got a bit edgy, given the recent history of this team how can anybody expect any different? The only way that’s going to change is by these players repeatedly proving they can be trusted. When they do that, expect the crowd to be more relaxed and trusting. Until then, some degree of panic is only to be expected.
The longer the game stayed goalless the worse it would have got. Then in first half stoppage time Wijnaldum collected a flick from Firmino and then smashed a shot into the top corner, beating Guzan on the near post. Cue a massive outpouring of relief.
Usually when a keeper concedes at the near post you’d point the finger at him, but I don’t think he could have done anything about this, as if he’d taken a step to cover that corner he’d have been leaving the other side of the goal wide open. He was beaten by the power and placement.
It’s a good job he scored though otherwise we’d be slating him for not squaring it to an unmarked Sturridge who would have had a tap in. It was that kind of day for Sturridge, there were three or four occasions when he was in great positions but the ball didn’t come. I thought he played quite well overall though, and he did win the free kick that Coutinho buried for the second a few minutes after the break.
That one definitely was on Guzan, but it was a lovely strike from Coutinho, who gave the keeper the eyes to make him think it was going in the other corner. It was well placed but if your keeper lets that in you can’t be happy about it. Not that any of us cared of course. That second goal gave us some breathing room, and given Boro’s horrendous goalscoring record this year it would have been difficult even for us to fuck this one up.
Personally I was still waiting for another before I felt completely safe about it. With Gestede on the pitch all it would take was a cross or a set-piece and we could be thrown into a state of panic, and when Boro got a dubious looking corner I was definitely a little concerned. 20 seconds later the ball was in the net, but thankfully it was Guzan who was once again beaten after Lallana finished off a great counter attack.
Initially it looked like he’d messed it up when he failed to pick anybody out in the centre, but he then won a header on the edge of the box and collected the ball from Wijnaldum’s knock down before sliding it into the corner. Wijnaldum can add another spawny assist to his collection there, as his little header was meant for Clyne, who missed it.
At 3-0 everyone relaxed, a little bit too much in the case of some players who switched off and allowed Forshaw to run through the middle onto another Gestde flick on. He seemed certain to sure, but the Mig got a little something on it to deflect it wide, and once again we almost scored from a Boro corner after another brilliant cavalry charge on the break.
The Kop then went through it’s back catalogue of songs, starting with a couple of odes to the just retired Xabi Alonso. Hyypia, Riise and Garcia were also honoured, and the old “best midfield in the world” got an airing too. Nothing for Dirk though, which I thought was a shame.
The Boro fans had been dicks for most of the game, singing about the shit atmosphere and also belting out the Demba Ba song, but they redeemed themselves with an impromptu “Justice for the 96” which I thought was great. I hope they come straight back up nowt, as that was a lovely touch.
The Kop yanked Klopp’s chain by chanting his name, which prompted the usual hissy fit from him. I’m not sure if he’s even serious anymore or if he’s taking the piss. This felt like it was just for show. There was another, louder version in the closing minutes and he just ignored that one completely. Just fucking wave and say thank you, Jurgen. It’s not hard.
With the game won he gave three of his subs an opportunity to play, and in the case of two of them it might well be for the last time. The Kop had demanded the introduction of Lucas, who was urged to “SHOOOOT!!” every time he got the ball. A couple of times it looked like he might get in but Coutinho was just unable to find the right pass. He was more desperate for Lucas to score than anybody, he spent the last ten minutes trying to set him up.
It feels like this was the last hurrah for Lucas but you never know. He’s had more farewells than he’s scored goals, and it wouldn’t be a shock if he was still here next season. Moreno on the other hand, I think it’s certain that he’s on his way, and I thought it was a nice touch from Klopp to give him a run out as he’s trained hard all season and not complained once about not playing.
Not that he had any real reason for complaint given how Milner played. Perhaps recently Klopp would have been justified in trying something a little different, especially at home, but Milner has had a fine season when you take everything into account. He had a really good game against Boro, and given the lack of attacking threat from Clyne in recent months it wouldn't be a shock to see Milner switching sides next year.
Player for player, most of them have had good seasons overall although a lot have had consistency issues. The majority of them played quite well in this game, with only Lovren struggling.
Star man was between Coutinho, Wijnaldum and Lallana, but I’ll go for Wijnaldum mostly because of just how important that opening goal was.
So that’s that then, another season in the books and another year without a title. I don’t know if I’ll see another one in my lifetime to be honest, but that won’t stop me thinking we’ve got a chance when it all kicks off again in August. Being in Europe probably won’t help, but if it allows us to attract a better calibre of player this summer then we might at least be able to sustain a challenge past January next time.
Finishing fourth isn’t anything to celebrate but it’s clearly a sign of progress. The first half of the season was spectacular and the second half was mostly a grind, with only a few glimpses of that earlier brilliant form. That they were able to churn out a number of results when they weren’t in any kind of a groove is encouraging though I suppose.
The optimistic view is that the players ended the season with five clean sheets from six games and got the job done when for a while there most of us doubted they would.
The pessimistic outlook would be that we had a fair bit of luck along the way and things could have gone south quite easily. The Ayew miss and penalty escape against West Ham, the Lovren incident against Boro, Watford hitting the bar with the last kick of the game, the Mig turning into Lev Yashin against Stoke and West Brom…. we could easily have blown this.
But we didn’t. We finished fourth and I don’t think anybody could say we didn’t deserve it. The top two were out on their own, but the only thing separating us from City was the unavailability of Mané. With him playing 38 games we’d have been third at worst and we’d probably have given Spurs a serious run for their money.
That’s the lesson that needs to be learned from this season. We know we’re as good as anyone when we put our best eleven on the field. We also know we could lose to anyone when we lose one or two starters. We’d need strengthening in certain areas even without European football, but the extra games make it more likely that we’ll have players injured, tired or both, so we need more depth.
You don’t get depth by buying squad players, you get it by improving your starting eleven so some of those starters drop to the bench. That’s a concept we haven’t seemed to grasp since the 80s and it’s part of the reason we’ve failed so often. Proven quality this summer, players who are capable of at least matching the level of those in the best eleven, if not eclipsing it.
Klopp has a point when he says it’s not easy finding players as good as or better than what we have, but there’s no point signing ones who aren’t. It feels as though the penny has finally dropped with the club, but the proof will be in the pudding.
Finally, the lap of appreciation gets more ridiculous every year and I didn’t stay for it this time. Usually I would, but I was on ratings for ESPN so I needed to get back to get cracking on those, and to be honest I was happy to not have to sit in the car park for 45 minutes waiting for Anfield Road to clear. So I make no apologies for not staying on this occasion.
It needs changing. It should be a case of letting the players go and get a quick drink and grab their team-mates that weren’t involved in the game, and then come straight back out. Instead the fans have to sit and wait for ages, and then when they do come out you have to try and pick out the players from the crowd on people on the pitch.
I was never in favour of them bringing their kids out, but now it’s gotten completely out of hand as the wives were on as well and it looked like some of the players had brothers or mates with them. Not just that, but all the backroom staff and physios were out there with their families too.
The tea lady and groundstaff will be out there in a year or two the way this is going. Maybe I’m just becoming a miserable bastard as I get older, but it’s becoming a farce.
In years to come I'm not sure how I'll look back on this season. There have been some incredible performances and a lot of highs, but then much of that great work was undone with that horrendous spell we had early in 2017. The last few months haven't exactly been enjoyable either, even though we've won quite a lot of games. It's been too stressful to enjoy and I've just wanted the whole thing over for weeks now.
I'm glad we managed to hold onto 4th, not specifically because I wanted Champions League football (I'm sure I'll enjoy that next season though), but mostly because I was terrified of how much of a laughing stock we'd be if we let Arsenal slither back into the top four. I'm ready for a break now though, that's for sure.
Anyway, I’ll leave it there and just say a heartfelt thanks to you all for reading these reports all year, I hope you’ve enjoyed them and that you’ll continue to support the site next year. Love you all.
Team: Mignolet; Clyne, Matip, Lovren, Milner (Moreno); Can, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Lallana; Sturridge (Origi), Firmino (Lucas):
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