A great man once wrote (and sang) “I’m feeling like a Monday but someday I’ll be Saturday night”. We’ve been Monday for a long time, but it’s Saturday night now and we’re partying. This is some historic shit we’re living through. We’ll be telling our grandkids about this team and their crazy match winning exploits.
There are all sorts of facts and stats I could throw at you here, about unbeaten runs, points totals over a rolling period of games (101 over the last 38 apparently), all the late winners etc. But there was something I saw on Twitter today which probably sums it up better than anything; in the last 18 months we’ve played in more Champions League finals than we’ve lost league games. Amazing.
It’s mad. What we’re seeing is unprecedented in this country. No-one has done this before. Man City have matched (surpassed, actually) the run of league results but they didn’t have the European success running parallel with it. So yeah, what we’re seeing right now is historic.
The performance at Palace was mediocre to say the least. But we won. Again. It’s what this team does. All the time. Did we deserve it? Probably not, but you don’t get points based on performance. Sometimes you just can’t produce your normal level for a variety of reasons and when that happens most teams, even good ones, drop points. The very best teams don’t though.
Palace will feel they merited a point and they may be right. When they equalised I certainly didn’t think we’d been hard done by and Klopp said as much too. It hadn’t exactly 'been coming' but it wasn’t a massive shock either. We’d had the chance to put them away but we hadn’t taken it and it looked like we might pay the price when we conceded with eight minutes left. Then we just rallied and won the game again. The resilience of this team is like nothing I can remember.
Klopp has been at pains to say that he doesn’t take it for granted and nor should we. Yeah, it’s great that we can keep skirting so close to the edge without falling over it, but we can’t keep doing this indefinitely. One day we’ll go to the well and it will have run dry, but hopefully by that point it won’t matter as we’ll be comfortably enough ahead that we could afford a slip up.
I couldn’t be more impressed with the calmness and mentality of this team, but would a few comfortable 4-0 wins really be too much to ask? We used to do that as a matter of routine (two years ago we were destroying virtually everyone) but all of a sudden we’re seemingly winning 2-1 every week in the most nerve wracking of manners.
It’s great that we can do it when needed, but I wish we didn’t ‘need’ to do it virtually every week, as it’s not good for the heart. We don’t dish out the kind of hammerings we did during Salah’s 44 goal season, but then we don’t drop the silly points we did then either. We’re in a better situation now but I do miss that feeling of going into every game expecting us to hit four or five.
That being said, we were never going to win this one comfortably for all manner of different reasons. Selhurst Park is traditionally a twat of a ground for us to play at. Our record there isn’t too bad but the games are nearly always ugly and scrappy. Palace seem to be better against the good sides than they are against ones of their own level.
Their style is conducive to making it difficult for the better teams like us and City. So it’s a tough enough test at the best of times, but coming off an international break made it infinitely more difficult. Klopp and some of the players explained afterwards how difficult it is when players are off all around the world, playing a completely different style of football, and then they come back and have one or two sessions before being expected to slip right back into gear.
It’s unrealistic to assume that will happen, especially away from home against tricky opposition. In the past we’d have drawn or even lost this game (as we have on plenty of occasions). These days though, we win. Doesn't matter how. We just do.
The first half display was shite. No point dressing it up as anything else, it was just shite. Not having Salah didn’t help (Ox was once again ineffective out wide) but it wasn't just that. It’s probably the worst we’ve played all season. We didn’t move the ball quickly, we didn’t get in behind them or around the side of them, we just passed it around without any real purpose. Their keeper had nothing to do.
Palace didn't attack much but they still had the best chance of the half when Ayew met Kouyate’s excellent cross but could only divert the ball wide. They also had a goal disallowed of course. Correctly disallowed, but that’s not going to stop the collective wailing about “LiVARpool” from the rest of the country. Yawn.
Honestly, I couldn’t give a fuck what they think. In fact, I’d rather it be like this than have everyone praising us and saying how we deserve to be top. I like our lads ruining weekends up and down the country and causing rivals fans to embarrass themselves with their utterly insane conspiracy theories.
This LiVARpool thing is great because it’s blatantly untrue but it's wrecking their heads. We haven’t benefited from VAR any more so than most other teams. It just feels that way to those whose lives are being ruined by us winning every week. When we get screwed by it, such as at Old Trafford or Villa Park, a blind eye is turned. When VAR does it’s job properly and we benefit, like against City and Palace, toys are coming out prams everywhere.
They’ve gone from “Liverpool will be fucked when VAR comes in” to “the game is corrupt, the FA are doing everything they can to hand them the title”. It’s gloriously mental. The fact is we’d be well clear at the top with or without VAR.
Of course though, my initial feeling when the Palace goal was ruled out was relief. The decision was correct but if we’d had a goal ruled out for that I’d have been pissed off. It’s only natural, especially when the referee hadn’t given anything so the Palace fans had celebrated. The sense of resentment and injustice is always worse when you’ve had that euphoria of scoring and then it’s taken away.
Palace fans inside Selhurst had the right to feel upset about it as they hadn’t seen the replays. The reaction to it by everyone else was mad though. People who ought to know better were arguing that “the shove on Lovren didn’t affect the play”. That’s probably true, but it doesn’t matter does it? A foul is a foul, and that was a blatant foul.
Lovren was attacking the ball and was clearly - and needlessly - shoved in the back with two hands by Ayew. Instead of getting annoyed at us and VAR, people should be pointing the finger at the moron who committed a senseless foul that cost his team a goal. Ayew didn’t need to do it, but he did and he was rightly punished.
And as soon as the video ref looks at that, what choice does he have? None. He’s got to give the free-kick and disallow the goal. On a list of contentious VAR calls this season, this one doesn’t even make the top fifty. But because it’s us it’s being made into something it isn’t.
“It happens at every set-piece” they argue. Nope, it doesn’t. Not as clear as that anyway. You get some jostling, some shoving, some holding. What you don’t get is a player shoving someone in the back with both hands as he goes for the ball. Any time that happens it should always be called as a foul. It’s pretty simple really.
So simple that even Roy Hodgson admitted it was a clear foul and said it was the correct decision. So the manager of the team penalised by the decision has no complaints and says it’s a clear foul, but @MCFC4life @TaffyToffee @lingardinho and @Aubazette_Gooner (probably genuine accounts, I haven’t checked) are up in arms about the conspiracy that is handing us the title. Hilarious.
No-one seems to be arsed that it wasn’t a free-kick in the first place. Trent doesn’t shove Zaha, he puts a hand on his back and the Palace man hurled himself to the floor. In fairness, Lovren also exaggerated the shove on him, but it was nothing compared to Zaha’s theatrics. No-one’s arsed about that, but they would be if it were Sadio who had taken the tumble.
While it was the right decision, you have to see something like that as a lucky escape. Was it VAR that rescued us, or did the ref see it but let the video sort it out? We’re going to see that more and more as this thing progresses (which is understandable) so it’s a pointless question really.
All we know is that we thought we were a goal down, and then all of a sudden we weren’t. We’ve seen before that this impacts both teams. Palace were demoralised by it, while we’ll have seen it as the kick up the arse we probably needed.
The second half was better. Not miles better, but there was significant improvement and unlike the opening 45 minutes we actually created a few chances. Sadio should have done better when Hendo’s brilliant through ball set him clear, but he tried to be a little too precise with his finish and rolled the ball a yard wide.
He made amends shortly after when he collected a Robertson cross and scuffed it goalwards. The keeper pushed it onto the post, it rolled across and hit the other post, and spun just over the line before Van Aanholt arrived to try and clear. The defender could only smash it into his own net anyway, but the ball was already over the line meaning Sadio gets credit for it.
We were still nowhere near our best but we had now taken control of the game and looked comfortable. Lovren was a whisker away from a tap in when he arrived at the post a fraction too late from a Trent corner, and Bobby should have scored after being played in by the marauding Robbo, who was having a big influence on the second half.
The keeper made a good save to be fair, but Bobby will feel he should have buried that. That would have given us the breathing space you always want in these type of games. Palace were always going to have a go in the closing stages and their cause was helped when Hendo was replaced by Milner.
Just as against Man City the other week, Hendo went off and suddenly Trent was like Steven Seagal - under siege. It shouldn’t really be like that as Gini switches to that flank and he knows what he’s doing, but that’s twice now that the difference has been glaring. Henderson's importance becomes more obvious with every minute he isn't there.
Zaha started getting more of the ball, Palace grew in confidence, the crowd got into it more and then with eight minutes left they equalised. Good goal too. Zaha got away down the left and found Benteke before heading off into the box. Benteke rolled it inside to Townsend who superbly found Zaha. He let the ball run across his body, which wrong footed Robbo, and then he lashed in a low shot that gave Alisson no chance.
There was a time not so long ago when conceding a goal like that would have put us on the back foot, hanging on for the rest of the game. Now? It’s like the players take it as a personal affront against them and they immediately go on the offensive again.
The winning goal was scrappy but it’s about applying pressure until the opposition crack. We had them penned back and at full stretch to keep us out. Trent had whipped in a great ball that they just about managed to get behind for a corner. Trent whipped in another great ball and Virg adjusted his feet well to send a volley goalwards. That was blocked, as was his follow up effort, but Bobby was on hand to stroke the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot.
There was a late scare when Townsend picked out Zaha on the back post and he blasted it high over. A glorious chance but I suspect he was offside and that our old pal VAR would have come to the rescue. I almost wish he’d bust the net with that now, just for the fume. Imagine!!
So once again we pulled one out of the fire and went home with maximum points. As a general rule Klopp puts a lot of stock in performances as his logic is that if you’re playing well then more often than not the result will follow. Sometimes though, such as after an international break, it’s not about how you win, just that you win.
We’ve got a busy schedule over the next month or so but that’s balanced out by the fact that the level of opponent isn’t that high. I’d like to see some thumping wins and I’m sure we will do (smashing Everton would be nice and long overdue), but I also expect there to be some performances similar to this one due to a combination of fatigue and Klopp maybe having to rotate some players in and out.
He’s got to do that and there’s no point anyone complaining about it when it happens. If he decides Sadio or Bobby needs a rest then so be it. I’d prefer not to see Ox in the front three though, as it’s just a completely pointless exercise as he never does anything. As with Lallana, play him in midfield or not at all. Honestly, I’d rather see Harvey Elliott on the wing than Ox.
Maybe Shaqiri will get a chance? What? It could happen.
Origi is still just about the best option we have but he blows hot and cold. At least sometimes he’s hot though. He’s usually better as a sub but I thought he was shite when he came on in this one. He didn’t get to the pace of the game at all, which is unlike him.
He’s going to be important over the coming weeks because we can’t just keep sending out the big three for every game.
As for the star man, very few players did themselves justice but I thought the two centre backs were excellent and Fabinho was solid enough in front of them. Hendo was ok, Robbo was pretty good considering he’s playing through injury, and Sadio was alright.
Star man is Virgil though I suppose, just ahead of big Dejan.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson (Milner), Wijnaldum; Mané, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Origi):
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