This was 2018 all over again and I couldn’t be happier. I really loved this, I’m buzzing off it as it was a proper little trip down recent memory lane.
For all the success we’ve had in the last two seasons in terms of fun and excitement there’s still a part of me that longs for the wild, crazy, blitzkrieg style footy we had on the way to reaching Kiev.
Of course I wouldn’t swap the trophies for anything and I don’t dispute that we’ve become a much more well rounded and resolute team since then, but 2018 was a shitload of fun and the football we played that year was incredible, especially in the Champions League where we broke all kinds of scoring records. This was like that. So much fun, genuinely thrilling stuff.
I don’t know how much of this transformation into the old ‘Red Arrows’ was a result of Atalanta and their naive as fuck “attack attack attack” approach and how much was down to the way we played. It’s probably a big dolloping of both. I’m not going to say too much about Atalanta as I don’t know enough about them. I’m told they’re really good and their record over the last couple of years is impressive, so this is clearly a great result.
It’s how we played that has me so happy. You’re probably as bored with reading my well documented concerns with the front three as I am about writing them. Turns out that all it needed was to replace Firmino and problem solved. Kidding.
I’m being flippant. It’s not that simple and I don’t want to be disrespectful to Bobby because I love the guy. The difference between this front three performance and what we’ve seen for most of the last 12 months was massive though. Atalanta’s wide open approach obviously helped, but it’s not just that. At least that’s my gut feeling.
It just looked different. Right from the start. It felt like we’d score every single time we attacked and they just couldn’t cope with having three players flying at them and trying to get in behind. It’s only one game so drawing any definitive conclusions would be stupid, but there was enough here to make me wonder if Bobby’s tendency to drop deep is actually starting to hurt rather then help us.
By that I mean have we been found out? Are teams playing us differently because they’ve had three years to figure out how to slow down our front three? The decreasing numbers from them certainly suggests that’s the case. The easy conclusion was to put it down to Bobby losing form, but what if it’s not his form and it’s instead mostly a tactical issue?
Having Jota up there is almost like having a second Mané in the team. They’re very similar. Not identical, but very similar. They both want to run in behind but can also come short, they can use both feet as well as their head, both have pace and intelligence and when you combine the two of them with Salah and the constant menace he provides it’s going to be too much for most teams to handle.
Recently it’s been a front two in all but name as Bobby drops deeper and deeper every week. I’m tempted to go back and watch some highlights of 2018 as my memory might be deceiving me but I feel like he spent much more time running forward whereas now he always seems to be coming back the other way.
Even after he came on in this game we almost conceded when he dropped all the way back and lost the ball 30 yards from goal. That isn’t happening with Jota because he’s so much higher up the pitch, pressing from the front and stretching teams in behind.
I don’t want this to seem like I’m scapegoating Bobby because it might be as much tactical than anything else. When he used to drop deep he was able to find space, turn and link with Sadio and Mo. Now when he does it he invariably seems to have a defender right up his arse and more often than not has to lay it off backwards or sideways. That’s not his fault; teams are just playing us differently.
He might actually get a new lease of life playing in a front four, who knows. But right now he’s fourth in the pecking order and he’s going to have to really up his game to get back in, because how can you leave out any of the others now?
Jota is just dynamite. He’d already gone close to a brilliant goal before he gave us the lead. The deft finish was class but it’s the run that allowed Trent to slide the ball in behind the defence. Bobby isn’t making that run, he’s coming short to get it into feet. Just sayin’.
The one he’d missed earlier would have been a glorious goal as it was a lovely move and great skill by Jota to skin the defender. Unfortunately the keeper was out quickly and made a good low save.
Michael Owen made the point after the game that as a striker he’d have been onto that keeper immediately because he could see from that very first chance that he goes down too early. He highlighted the other goals we scored and said that our forwards had all picked up on it too.
This is why I like Owen as a pundit. It’s fashionable to slag him off for being boring but it’s just not true. He usually brings good little bits of insight from a striker’s perspective that you don’t get from most pundits. I enjoy listening to him and I think he’s really good at his job. So there. Stick your ‘Michael Owen the pundit’ criticism where the sun don’t shine.
Anyway, as we saw, the second time Jota got in the keeper was down early again and he dinked it over him to put us ahead. It wasn’t long before he added another. Once again, a lovely finish, albeit a completely different type of goal to the first. I loved this one more for how bright he was than for the actual finish itself.
He’s just lurking on the shoulder of the defender, looking all innocent, all the while pointing to Gomez to tell him where he wants the ball. As Gomez shapes to pass, Jota darts back quickly to make sure he’s onside (he was onside anyway, but this was still great awareness) and then runs into the space.
The ball from Gomez was good but the first touch from Jota (or “Josh” as my Dad is still calling him) was even better and that allowed him to cut back inside and beat the keeper at the near post. Clinical as fuck that.
We had several other chances to increase our lead too as we tore through Atalanta at will. The early ball in behind to the three runners was doing them every time and given the way we were playing at no point did I ever think this was going to be anything other than a big margin of victory.
The second half was hugely entertaining. We were devastating on the break but Atalanta gave it a go and had chances of their own. Alisson made three saves and they were denied by the post. Just a really fun game of football to watch.
We defended very well, both as a back four and collectively as a team, but Atalanta still posed problems and Zapata could have had himself a hat-trick. The one that hit the post was a great effort. The other two were well stopped by Alisson but smacked a little bit of him just smashing it as hard as he could and hoping for the best. There was a lot of talk about him before the game but based on this I’m gonna say he’s not very good, but he is difficult to play against.
It was interesting that almost all of his best moments came against Gomez rather than Williams. I’m not reading anything specific into that as it felt as though Gomez was picking him up most of the game and Zapata didn’t come into contact with Williams too often. I might be wrong on that though.
I barely noticed Williams really, which is a big compliment to him as ordinarily you’d expect a teenage centre back to stand out in a game like this for all the wrong reasons. You don’t really see him though. He just does the job with a minimum of fuss and in the games he’s played so far this season he’s been surprisingly good.
By that I mean that he’s virtually come from nowhere and looks completely at home. He was a top player in the youth team but you don’t expect a kid to go on loan in non-league and the following season be holding his own in the Champions League. I am surprised at how well he’s done and long may it continue. Imagine if he turned out to be boss. Him and Virg together would look like father and son.
So yeah the defence did well and the forwards were part of that as they chased everything and put Atalanta under constant pressure. The midfield were great. Gini and Hendo produced the type of performances you’d expect from them but how good was Curtis? Everything he did just oozed maturity and confidence. The only moment of youthful exuberance was the yellow card he got for over-stretching after running into trouble, but he was fucking quality otherwise.
He had a big hand in two of the goals too. He was involved in the Jota hat-trick goal as he kept his cool in his own box to get his head up and pick out Sadio on the left. Jota went haring off through the middle and Mané produced a perfectly timed and executed through ball to send him in. Lovely calm finish too.
Curtis then had a direct assist himself when an Atalanta corner was cleared to him on the edge of the box and he knocked the ball over the top for Mo to run through and score. He didn’t get enough credit for that pass on BT as they suggested he was just knocking it forward somewhat hopefully. He wasn’t. One of the replays showed him having a look to see where Mo was and then he delivered a perfect pass with his left foot.
As you know, there’s nothing I love more than those fast break goals from opposition corners. They’re just fucking thrilling to watch. It wasn’t great defending to leave Mo with that kind of situation, but they were 3-0 down and chasing the game so it was understandable they’d take some risks.
They did the exact same thing late on too and Mo went flying through from his own half again. This time he was denied by a great save, but there’s nothing that gets the pulse racing like Mo sprinting the length of the field following an opposing set-piece is there?
In between those two Mo counter attacks we scored a fifth goal through Sadio. Mo was the provider with a nice through ball, but how sweet was that finish? Fucking brilliant that. The front three were on fire all night and could easily have had more. Sadio had been denied by a full length dive by the keeper in the first half and Mo almost scored from near the half way line.
He should have played Sadio in there but in a game like this when everyone is full of confidence and we’re scoring for fun, you’re always going to get players trying speculative stuff like that and he was a whisker away from one of the greatest European goals we’d have ever scored. Not sure Sadio will have seen it that way though!
I was a little surprised how long it took Klopp to start emptying the bench and resting people. But we got Milner, Keita and Firmino on for Robbo, Hendo and Jota, and a bit later Neco and Tsimikas came on for Trent and Gini. All the subs did well and Bobby had a couple of chances that were blocked by defenders. It felt like everyone was desperate for him to score and at one point even Mo spurned a shot and passed to him. I know, imagine that!
So 5-0, three wins from three and no goals conceded yet. We’re virtually through now and one more win in the next game will allow Klopp to give everyone the night off in the two dead rubbers that will follow.
All eyes now turn to Sunday and the game at the Etihad. We owe them one after what happened in the game after we’d clinched the title. They celebrated a little bit too much after that one I’d say, so some lessons maybe need to be handed out this Sunday.
It won’t be easy, especially without Van Dijk, but it looks like Matip will be available and maybe Thiago too hopefully. City will give us problems defensively but the big key for me is can they cope with our forwards if they play like this? It’s a definite ‘not a fucking chance’ for me, so that’s the key to the game.
If Jota starts with Sadio and Mo, and any one of them (but hopefully all three) have their shooting boots on then we should win. It’s about taking chances though. These games always start out even but in the past we’ve been wasteful and it’s cost us. When we have taken our chances we tend to score in bunches.
It’s the toughest game of the season because City are the best team we’ll face. We’re better than them though and they should be more fearful about this fixture than we should. It all comes down to being clinical, so this was an idea way to warm up for that one.
Star man is Jota, but you knew that already.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (N Williams), R Williams, Gomez, Robertson (Milner); Henderson (Keita), Wijnaldum (Tsimikas), Jones; Salah, Jota (Firmino), Mané:
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