Terrace Talk - The Steve Kelly column

Getting tense yet? I’m thinking of taking my own CPR expert to the game with me these days. I thought having a good team made you more relaxed… 

Ambition gets the better of everyone. They show you the finishing line, you do great things, then people say “just a few yards more”. 

For all the previous weeks’ ‘big’ talk about winning a cup and coming top-four being enough, the slightest chance of doing something incredible always gets under your skin eventually.  Older fans, witnesses to some of the most astonishing red success of all, ought to be immune to such nonsense. Let me tell you; we’re not. 

Previous giants have won this many games in an entire season and been overloaded with silverware. Klopp’s done it by the first week of March. You can either get massively peeved by that or accept it as the modern sports-washing curse and revel in our new, exciting era. 

Why are you reading this on Dave’s website? Good question. I’ve been doing this in The Irish Examiner for twenty years, but I’ve finally been downgraded to ‘casual labour’. “Chances for others”, or some such.  All good things come to an end, or a part-time dribble instead.

I see their point; we’re all absolutely made up with this, but you can’t blame others for being utterly bored. How many ways can you write “we won, aren’t we ace”? There isn’t a thesaurus in the world big enough to polish up those paralysed paragraphs. 

The biggest battles for Liverpool nowadays seem to be with fitness and complacency. The games come thick and fast, so do the pulls and strains. 

Norwich in the cup should have been put to sleep very quickly, but you can’t blame the opposition for hanging in there and waiting for a break of some sort. We’ve furnished hope so often, even 2-0 is never a guarantee of game over.  As it went on, huddling for warmth in the Main (what kind of insane wind tunnel have they concocted in there?) you could see how it was going to pan out. 

I’ve always been iffy about Gomez, frustrating when you can see the kind of player he ought to be. It would be interesting to see him in a team that was constantly under pressure. My guess is he’d be colossal from the necessary focus, but you sense there’s always a comatose slip or two in him.  Maybe I still haven’t forgiven the 7-2? 

Taki scored again, with a Suarez-like fury against farmers for some reason. Some childhood incident in a barn, perchance?  

Since thrashing Leeds, we’ve still come out on top but averaged one goal a game. We’ve played much better than that, but if we’re settling into “phew, job done” mode these are going to be an anxious three months (I hope).  And you just know outsiders are cranking out their Lucky Liverpool tropes. Reading about West Ham, you’d have thought we weren’t in the game at any stage. Preposterous nonsense, which you think I’d be used to by now but am always shocked by.  The BBC even put the caption “Liverpool 0 West Ham 1” on their highlights! If only wishing made it so, eh? Twats. 

The Moyssiah still hasn’t got his Anfield win yet, but his cue ball eyes must have widened further still at times on Saturday. Maybe he can sneak onto a tour of the stadium, and knock one in when the guide isn’t looking?  They’d scarred us with that defeat last November since every corner was greeted with a gurgle of disquiet. That’s why Konate played, and he stood up to most of it very well. Antonio’s like a wardrobe with feet, but he can shift when he wants. 

Van Dijk did his usual glide through proceedings, so you’re never sure whether he’s been brilliant or just so-so (for him).  Salah’s early miss set the tone for his whole performance, only the lateness of the substitution was a surprise. He’s being watched with extra vigilance, obviously, after all that extra time at Afcon and Wembley. Someone by me shouted early in the second half “come on Mo, you owe us”. Owe us! Wow, just wow. Some of us don’t deserve Liverpool 2022. 

Because we’re now so good, even Jon Moss can’t destabilise us. That burst of speed after the interminable Bowen substitution? He looked like a hippo swimming in treacle. 

We also look a bit leggy, and for all Jordan’s frenzied late pressing you wonder what he and the rest will have left for another busy week. Inter can’t be taken lightly, and Brighton’s the dreaded midday kick-off. But I’ve been fretting like this all season, and the voodoo reverse-jinx has either worked or (just possibly) this is a hell of a squad that can’t be fazed by anything. I’m not quite sure which.

Steve Kelly

@SteKelly198586