I could just copy and paste large chunks of the League Cup Final here as it was basically the same game. Some of the minor points are different but essentially it was a highly entertaining 0-0 that we shaded but that could have gone either way as both teams had plenty of good chances.
Extra time and pens once again. *sighs* Thankfully the outcome went in our favour once more but I feel another few months have been taken from the end of my life. Of course there's nothing surprising about the stress and drama of it all. It’s Liverpool in a final, it’s never straightforward.
Plus Chelsea are a really strong side on their day. Forget the inconsistent shite they’ve been serving up, like losing at fucking Everton for example, when Chelsea are focussed they’re dangerous because they’ve got quality all over the park and a top manager. They even wore their magic yellow kit which was supposed to bring a change of luck for them as they keep losing finals in blue. Can't believe that foolproof plan didn't work.
Four games we’ve had with them now and neither side has won any of them. We got two trophies because we were marginally better at penalty kicks, but that’s four draws with them now. We were the better side in this one but they were dangerous and even when we were well on top they still created chances. Not as many as we did, but with better finishing they could have won in normal time. So could we of course.
We started the game like we wanted to blow them away in the first 10 minutes and with better luck we could have. We were absolutely dazzling early on and Diaz was running all over them. They’d left out Azpilacueta and included Chalobah, and that was so obviously due to being scared of what Diaz could do. With good reason. He was sensational all day.
He must have had five or six near misses. It’s not like his finishing was bad, but the ball just wouldn’t fucking go in no many how many times he tried. We've had the "Owen Final" and the "Gerrard Final" and It's such a shame because this could have been "The Diaz Final" if he'd been a bit more precise.
The only one where I thought he really should have done better though was the one that Mendy just about kept out. That really frustrated me because of what we were denied. That would have been the best Wembley goal ever scored and would be right up there with any goal we’ve ever seen.
It started with an outrageous outside of the boot pass by Alisson. Then the ball comes to Trent and he repeats the feat with an even more sumptuous ball to send Diaz clear. That pass was like the Gerrard to Sturridge one at Fulham all those years ago. The difference was that Sturridge finished it off, Diaz didn’t.
Virtually everything we did had him at the heart of it though. He was brilliant in the League Cup Final but he was even better in this one. What a player he is. He’s fucking relentless.
He’s so good that I wasn’t even that concerned when Mo had to go off. I was concerned about him potentially missing the Champions League Final, but I wasn’t worried about how it would impact this particular game as I thought we’d be fine.
Mo didn’t actually look in too much trouble and seemed fairly relaxed as he applauded the fans on the way off. He didn’t give the impression he was worried about the final so it just seemed like a precautionary measure.
Virg later went off in similar circumstances and I reckon Klopp and the sports science team had already come to the decision that anyone that felt anything was going to be subbed because we have five subs in this game and there’s no point risking anyone ahead of the Madrid game.
It’s mad though when you think about it. This is a cup final but it’s not our biggest priority because we’re so fucking boss that we’ve got even bigger fish to fry. Imagine being us!
But anyway, the fast start we made didn’t exactly fizzle out as I thought we still played well for the most part, but Chelsea settled themselves and began to look a threat on the counter. Alisson made a fine save from Alonso as the game went end to end. Jota volleyed over from a Robbo cross when he should have done better. There were no shortage of chances and the parallels with the League Cup Final were obvious.
The second half starts and Chelsea flew out of the traps. We were on the ropes for a few minutes but then we regained control again. The ball just wouldn’t go in though. Diaz hit the post as well as seeing other efforts go inches wide. Robbo hit the post too. It looked like a bad miss but I’m fairly sure that a defender got the tiniest touch on it to take the ball off his boot and onto his shin.
He was unlucky there and he’d earlier missed a similar chance when the ball dropped over a defender and he was unable to react to it and it bounced off his shins and went wide.
I think it was around the 70 minute mark or so when I resigned myself to it going to extra time and pens. It was like watching a re-run of the last game. You just knew a goal wasn’t coming.
When extra time came along we had the disconcerting sight of Virgil going to take a seat on the bench as Joel came on to replace him. I mean, we’re fortunate to have such a world class replacement but the bottom line is we went into the game without Fabinho and then lost Salah and Van Dijk during it. That’s three absolute mainstays of the team.
But the replacements aren’t bad are they? When Mo was injured in the 2018 Champions League Final his replacement was a midfielder, Adam Lallana. When he went off this time, Klopp had to choose between Jota, Firmino and Origi. When Virg went off, it was Matip or Gomez. The squad is incredible now. We need it to be, because everyone will be fucked and this Tuesday night will see mass changes.
We’ve seen Mo and Virg narrowly avoid injury and we’ve no doubt got a load of lads in the red zone now. The title is still just about alive but highly unlikely so we can’t send out Trent, Hendo, Sadio, Diaz, Thiago etc at St Mary’s this week. It would be reckless and stupid. We’ll need to rely on Kostas, Joe, Curtis, Harvey, Milner, Div, Taki and the rest. They’ve served us well so far.
Extra time was something of a non event. As soon as Diaz was replaced that was our attacking race run really. Chelsea had the better of it but didn’t threaten much either and penalties seemed inevitable.
I didn’t like the decision to take off Diaz because unlike in the last final he still looked full of energy. However, I don’t think we can second guess these decisions too much because we don’t know who is at highest risk of injury.
They knew Diaz was playing great but subbed him anyway. There had to be a reason for that so although it was disappointing I’m ok with it because let's face it, they know what they’re doing. You know what I didn’t really like though? Bobby coming on and not Divock.
Was anyone surprised that Bobby looked like a man who hadn’t played for a month? He was shite but I expected nothing else. It wasn’t a game for him and it baffles me how Klopp keeps ignoring the Origi narrative. I know Bobby is a better player and I know in other games, such as Spurs, we may have had better tactical options to call on, but Divock is so much more than logic can quantify. Fucking get him on the pitch and just let him do his thing.
Anyway, we get to pens and Chelsea win the toss for ends and for who goes first. Not great.
They score with their first pen too, through Alonso. So did we, but only just. Milner’s pen wasn’t his best and Mendy got a hand to it. Thankfully he couldn’t keep it out.
Next up, that tit Azpilacueta. He hit the post. Yes. Game on now. Up steps Thiago and he hits the post too, but the inside of it and the ball nestled in the net. Advantage us.
Reece James scored. So did Bobby. Again though, only just as Mendy got a hand on it. Barkley scored for them. Then up steps Trent, cool as you like and a nice little strut back to halfway. Nearly there.
Jorginho needed to score to keep it going and did. So it’s all on our fifth taker to win it. I thought it would be Jota, who has been nails for us in shootouts. But no, it’s Sadio. I didn’t like it. Firstly because I don’t think he’s good at pens at all. Secondly he’s up against his international team-mate, which always makes me uncomfortable as no-one will know Sadio's penalties better than Mendy.
So I didn’t like his chances but then I also didn’t know about the unintentional mind games from Klopp that fucked him right up. Asking him which way he was going and then telling him to go the other way? What the fuck, Jurgen??? Sadio’s penalty lacked any kind of conviction and now we know why. Mendy saved and at that moment I thought we were screwed.
Ziyech had to wait a long time to take his pen because the Chelsea fans had thrown a flare on the pitch. If he’d missed because of that it would have been pure unadulterated Everton that. He didn’t miss though, he held his nerve with a great pen.
Now Jota has to score to keep us in it. He did. Probably the best pen of the lot and proof he should have been on the fifth.
At this point I’m getting annoyed with Alisson for not even looking like saving any of them. “Come on Ali, you need to fucking do something here or we’re not winning this”. He did. Great save to deny Mount and as soon as I saw who was taking our seventh pen I knew we’d won.
Why was I so sure? Because it was just perfect wasn’t it? Of all the people to get the chance to hit the winning pen there was just no-one better than that mad little bastard. He’s always the first one being happy for everyone else, he’s an incredible team-mate and all of the players seem to love him, but now was his moment to be the hero.
Great penalty and then wild celebrations. What a moment. What a guy. I fucking love Kostas, he’s just the best isn’t he? Such a sound lad and this couldn’t have happened to anyone more deserving.
Quick word on Alisson here though. He only saved one penalty but his contribution was more than that. Remember in the last final when that Kepa knobhead kept trying to put our lads off by walking out with the ball and then trying to psyche them out?
I don’t know whether Mendy would have pulled that shit or not, but he wasn’t able to because Alisson just took command of the whole situation by going to get the ball and walking to the edge of the box to hand it to his team-mates and given them a word of encouragement.
It might not have made any difference, we’ll never know. I mean, we scored all of our pens last time despite the shenanigans from their keeper, but I just think it highlights how well we do things.
That’s obviously something that was picked up on by the staff (or players) and Alisson made sure that didn’t happen again. We just do things better than everybody else.
Check out this thread on twitter highlighting the preparations of Klopp and Tuchel and showing the difference. Klopp was just much more organised and our whole process was smoother.
I don’t think it made any difference as we both scored four out of the designated first five kicks, but it’s about the bigger picture. Nothing is left to chance with us now, we just do everything properly and much thought goes into every little detail.
It’s the marginal gains that have allowed us to take things to that extra level. Even things like hiring the fellas to come in and work with the players on the mental side of taking penalties and shutting out all of the noise. The throw in coach too. Some ex pros laugh at that stuff but it all adds up.
We’re not winning things because we have a throw in coach. We’re winning things because we have maybe a hundred of those little things on the go that add up to a big advantage over teams who aren’t doing all of this stuff.
We’ll never know if Alisson’s actions won us the shoot out, or if it was how quickly Klopp selected and prepared the takers before setting the tone with a passionate speech and then relaxing his players with hugs and jokes. It’s impossible to know what impact it had, but we do know that we won. Again.
So that’s two trophies in the bag in a season where we have reached another CL Final, will hopefully top 90 points again and have so far lost only three games all fucking season, and one of those (Inter) wasn’t even a loss as it was essentially just like losing a half.
Winning in Paris would make this one of the greatest seasons in our history. If we lose that, it’s still a great season now regardless. Two trophies, we’ve played every possible game we could have played and we’ve had an incredible ride.
If we can win at Southampton we’ll take the title race into the last game. It will probably be a futile chase as I’d never want to rely on Aston Villa for anything, the flaky bastards, but whatever happens I hope we can at least ensure that City have to win that game to hold us off.
We’re going to basically have to change the entire team for that Southampton game. Of the starters, I’d only keep Alisson and Konate in. Keita too actually as he was subbed early. Gomez, Kostas, Divock, Curtis, Taki and the rest, its your time again lads.
We got some heroic efforts from players in this game. Diaz was the best player on the pitch but Trent was fucking brilliant. It might even be the best all around game he’s played for us. His defending was unreal and I lost count of the number of times he covered around the back to make vital clearances. Reece James is a great player but he’s not in the same league as Trent. There’s no shame in that, as no-one else is either. James is the second best right back in the country but the gap is massive.
Hendo had a great game and Thiago was quality (one or two stray passes aside) and I thought Keita was good too. Him being replaced was no reflection on his performance, I just think Klopp wanted Milner on. There was an interview with Milner through the week when he spoke about being left out of games and he said Klopp told him “I want you on the pitch at the end, so you can’t start”. Having his experience and know how out there in the big moments definitely helps.
Konate had another great game and it’s so impressive how we get these signings right now. Everyone talked up his partner at Leipzig and he ended up at Bayern. We watched them and said “forget Upamecano, Konate is the one”. And he is. He’s fucking brilliant. He also seems like a great lad who (like Kostas, Thiago, Diaz etc) has settled in quickly and is very popular with the rest of the team. That’s important. We just don’t sign knobheads anymore do we? As I say, marginal gains, all these things help.
In previous seasons if we’d beaten Chelsea in big games it would have meant more than just us winning. There was also a massive pleasure in them losing. I don’t really feel like that currently. Yeah, it’s always nice getting one over on their fans who are right up there with the worst we come across (awful Tories) but the team itself really doesn’t inspire any kind of negativity from me.
Azpilacueta is the only one I genuinely dislike. If I wanted to, I could find reasons to dislike Mount, James, Pulisic etc but I don’t really have the energy for it these days. There are more than enough players in the league for me to hate that I don’t need to go looking for reasons to add to the list. By and large this Chelsea team is alright, and - whisper it - I like Thomas Tuchel. I never used to, that creepy paedo vibe he gives off made him an easy target but the more I’ve listened to him and watched how he interacts with Klopp and our players, he’s won me over. He’s alright, I’ve got absolutely no beef with him at all.
These two finals could have gone either way and although we were the better side in both games, it wasn’t by much. Neither team were clinical and that’s why both games ended up going to penalties. The margins are so fine that we could easily be the ones empty handed but thankfully we aren’t and it’s Tuchel who is left cursing his luck.
There is a real uncertainly surrounding them now that their sugar daddy has gone. I’d like it very much if they slid back into the relative irrelevance they were before he arrived, but I don’t see that happening immediately. They’ve got loads of really good players and a very good manager. They’ll be competitive for a while yet, but they’re a long way behind us. Not in a one off game, we’ve seen that four times this season. But they are a way behind us and long may it continue.
So now we regroup, hope to get the result we need at Southampton and then see what happens at the weekend. It’s easy to be relaxed about that knowing we have a date with Real Madrid in Paris the following weekend though isn’t it? What a team. What a time to be a Red.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk (Matip), Robertson (Tsimikas): Henderson, Thiago, Keita (Milner); Salah (Jota), Mané, Diaz (Firmino):
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