It’s easy to take this for granted and sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of exactly what this team is doing. Going to the San Siro in consecutive Champions League games and beating AC and then Inter, and doing it without any real drama, it’s nothing to be sniffed at.
Yet it doesn’t feel like a big deal because we’re so clearly better than these teams. We’re clearly better than most teams and that’s the thing that we shouldn’t take for granted. These are halcyon days we’re living in right now. Where we get drawn against Inter Milan and no-one really gives them any kind of chance against us.
We’ve had great results against Europe’s big names throughout our history of course so this is nothing new, but what is new is that we’re so good now that we didn’t even need to play to win these games. We can do it on cruise control.
If you go back to some of our great European results under GH and Rafa, it was often done in a backs against the wall fashion. Great tactical gameplays by the manager and players carrying it out to the letter to win games with great defending and then smash and grab counter attacks. Often we were up against sides that were better than us but we found a way to overcome them. This isn’t that. There isn’t any team on the continent that can lay claim to being better than us. In fact, Bayern Munich are probably the only ones who can even say they’re close.
Real Madrid will argue their case and they have had the better of us in recent seasons, but there’s no way they’re a better side than us and if we meet them this season (which I pray we do) I’m sure we’d dispose of them handily because the lads would be so up for that game that Madrid would be facing us at our best, and our best would take them apart.
We didn’t play particularly well by our own standards against Inter but even that was still comfortably enough to beat the best team in Italy. That’s the level we’re at these days. I don’t think anyone gave Inter much chance going into this game which speaks volumes about how strong we are now. It’s just taken for granted that we’ll beat teams like Inter Milan.
That sounds mad when you stop and think about it. Ok, Italian footy is nowhere near what it was, but it’s still Inter Milan in the San Siro and virtually nobody gave them a hope of winning. I feel as though we got their absolute best effort too. That’s as well as they could have played, but they didn’t manage a shot on target all night.
In fairness I feel like that’s an over-rated stat. You can hit the woodwork five times, miss a bunch of sitters and it’s classed as no shots on target and gives the impression you didn’t offer any threat. Inter did offer some threat though. They had some good moments and they hit the bar in the first half. They played as well as they probably could, and we just dealt with it in second or third gear.
Much like at Turf Moor at the weekend, we didn’t attack particularly well but our shape and play without the ball was just quality. Virgil’s level seems to have gone up a notch in recent games and he’s looking like he has his swagger back now. Inter’s forwards were just completely intimidated by him. Dzeko is class but he’s outmatched in every department against Virgil. He couldn’t win headers and he definitely wasn’t outrunning him. He was a non-factor.
The other forward, Lautoro I think his name is, was like a little kid playing with the grown ups. At one point he was sent clear with just Virgil to beat. Instead of backing himself and running at Virg, he completely shit his pants, slowed right down and waited for someone to pass it to. That’s the Van Dijk effect.
Bit Inter did cause us some problems and will probably feel like they played well. All things considered, they did play well. They kept us relatively quiet in attack and they had some promising attacks that gave the crowd something to get excited about. The shot that hit the bar came from some nice play by my boy Perisic on the left (he’s been my boy in World Cup and Euro round ups for as long as I can remember now. Top player him). He was a danger all night and Trent just couldn’t stop him getting crossed in.
Dzeko was a whisker away from getting on the end of another great Perisic delivery in the second half. That came in a spell where they were building up a head of steam and we were struggling to get out. We needed to get a foothold of the game but the midfield weren’t controlling it and the forwards kept giving the ball away.
The front three weren’t good. It was a lot like the game at Burnley in fact. Sadio started well but faded, and Mo just never looked like he had full control of what he was doing. His touches were a little heavy and a couple of times in the first half he didn’t make enough of situations we’re used to seeing him score from. It’s not quite there with him at the minute but Norwich this weekend feels like a chance for him to get back to top form.
Jota didn’t play well either and then he didn’t come out for the second half. I thought that was tactical because the forward line wasn’t getting it done. I would have gone for Diaz before Bobby but before I knew that Jota was injured and I assumed it was tactical, I could see the logic in it. There was space to operate in between Inter’s midfield and back three, but we weren’t exploiting it well enough. So putting Bobby on made sense.
Except he couldn’t get going. In the first five minutes of the second half he lost the ball at least three times. Klopp even alluded to this himself afterwards, saying that it was difficult because he’s in the most difficult position in which to keep the ball. Jota wasn’t keeping it either in fairness.
But the second half started badly for us. It wasn’t just Bobby giving it away, as a team we weren’t keeping the ball well enough and that gave Inter a lot of encouragement. It was obvious that Harvey was going to have to be taken off. He was ok, it’s not like he was awful, but he wasn’t making any real impact on the game.
The fact he was selected to start a game of this magnitude when Klopp had a full squad to pick from is a massive compliment to him. Klopp said he went with Harvey because against Inter you need to play in the half spaces and that’s where Harvey operates. Had the game been at Anfield it would probably have worked a treat, but away games can be different and you don’t always get to play the way you want to.
I didn’t think Thiago made much of an impact either, at least not until Klopp made changes. The three subs were brilliant and that’s why we won the game. Inter were on top when those changes were made but the game just switched right back into our favour from the second they stepped on the field. I don’t really want to single out one over the others as all three were outstanding. It doesn’t matter who was more important.
Robbo praised all three afterwards but kept mentioning the impact Hendo made. He probably was the biggest factor due to the position he played and how influential that was, but Keita and Diaz made really big contributions as well and that triple change just wrestled the momentum away from Inter.
Hendo gave us control and leadership, but Keita’s movement and ability to keep the ball really helped too. And then you have Diaz who just injected a shot of adrenaline into the team. He was like the fucking road runner. He just does things really quickly and he’s direct. He caused Inter more problems in the first five minutes he was on the pitch than all three of the other forwards had prior his arrival.
He was unlucky not to score after a long run and one two with Trent. He did everything right but a defender got back to make a block. From the second he got on the pitch though I thought he was going to score or create a goal, as we just looked more dangerous.
It was another sub who broke the deadlock though. Very little had gone right for Bobby prior to that but that’s a fucking tremendous header. I think the keeper should do better but by taking a big step to his left he couldn’t react quickly enough to change direction. Great header though, reminiscent of Sadio at Villa Park.
Bobby had a bit more spring in his step after that goal, which was good to see. As soon as we got that one I knew we’d get another. Inter had put so much into the game and to fall behind to a set-piece will have just completely taken the wind out of their sails. The crowd were deflated and you could see their players were too. Gaps started opening up and had we been a bit more clinical with our passing in the final third we’d have carved them open.
As it was, we didn’t need to do that because the second goal came from another set-piece. They cleared the first free-kick but Virgil had stayed up and when the ball came back ion he nodded it down and Mo pounced to score with the aid of a deflection. Game over.
It was a routine win in the end because we defended so well and eventually just wore them down. As I said after the Burnley game, being able to win games with cheap goals from set-pieces is a massive weapon to have and this was another example of it. Without our set-piece prowess this is 0-0 and all to play for at Anfield.
We’re not playing great in attack right now but the shape of the team and the defensive solidity is there and I think that’s partly a result of us playing every three or four days. We’re in a groove but the big wins only come the the front three are right at it, which they haven’t been. The attacking magic will come back and when its does we’ll be winning games by four or five. This weekend feels like the ideal opportunity for that. Diaz will surely start that one and I can honestly see him running riot. He’s fucking electric.
Klopp will probably start to make some changes now as the next couple of games look like the kind of fixtures where he can do that without too much risk, particularly as we have a cup final coming up after that. When you have a squad like this and you have the rare luxury of having everybody fit at the same time, you have to make the most of that but the flip side is there’s a temptation to make too many changes which can backfire.
I’d expect to see three or four changes at the weekend and then similar for Leeds. As for who comes in, I have no idea. Klopp tends to spring some surprises from time to time and we might see something random like Ox being brought into midfield or Gomez at the back. Divock could even come in out of nowhere. Nothing would surprise me at this point because if a player has a great week of training Klopp will often reward them with a place in the team.
I’d probably give Thiago the weekend off just to not overdo it with him, and maybe Joel comes back in too. I say maybe because it must be tempting to leave Konate in there after this performance. Klopp’s selections of Konate have been quite interesting. He hasn’t looked to ease him in has he? He’s just thrown him in to some massive games and the lad has delivered the goods. The sky is the limit for him.
The three week gaps between Inter games isn’t ideal but it doesn’t matter much now that we have a two goal lead to bring back to Anfield. There’s a lot of games before we play Inter again though so we can just put this one to bed for a bit and crack on with the quest for other trophies.
Star man is Virgil, who just edges out his defensive partner. Special mention to all the subs too (not Milner who only came on for garbage time) for making a significant contribution. Long may that continue.
Final word on the ref, who I thought was excellent. No bookings for either side and he wasn’t just blowing his whistle all the time and tied to let things go. He wasn’t having any of Vidal’s bullshit either. How shit is he by the way?
What the fuck is it with this guy? How has he played for so many massive clubs when he’s complete dogshit? I know I do this quite a bit and Zlatan and Cavani were good examples of it, but this guy really is a huge fraud. He’s had the career he’s had because of that stupid haircut. Honestly, it’s a stroke of genius to be fair. Looking like a massive twat makes you stand out and somehow convinces people you must be good or you’d never go out in public looking like that.
It worked for Pogba and Hamsik too, but at least from time to time they did something to justify the hype around them. What does this cunt do except foul people, roll around on the floor and follow the ref around the pitch complaining? He’s fucking crap and his next move should be to Old Trafford as he’d fit in perfectly with modern United. The bum.
Wait, that’s not the final word. The final word has to be on the best moment of the entire night. Joel smacking lads on the head after the first goal and Hendo seeing his arse about it. Joel Matip is the funniest man in football. Not even close. There should be a Matip Cam at every game. In fact, LFC TV need to get on that immediately. Their content is great and I’m not telling them how to do their jobs, but come on, who wouldn’t want to watch a Matip Cam? Make it happen.
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho (Henderson), Elliott (Keita), Thiago (Milner); Salah, Jota (Firmino), Mané (Diaz):
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