Beating these bastards feels good at any time, but when it extends an unbeaten start to the season and sees us go to the top of the table, it doesn’t really get much better than that does it? Just as satisfying though was the manner of the victory. We’re miles better than them and we showed it.
Mourinho claimed afterwards that they can still finish fourth. I’m not even sure they’ll finish sixth. They’re bang average and there are three or four other teams who look to be on a similar level to them. They barely laid a glove on us. Even Everton and Brighton put up more of a fight. Their worst fears were realised as they were humiliated. Not by the scoreline, but by how over-matched they were.
This wasn’t about them though. It might be all everyone in the media seems to be talking about, but they aren’t the story here. We are. At least we should be. As mediocre as United were it seems to be getting overlooked just how fucking good we are right now. United don’t need much help in looking bad, but the truth is they didn’t really stand a chance.
Most of what Mourinho says after games can be disregarded as agenda driven bullshit, but when he pointed out that United’s players couldn’t cope with the speed and intensity we play at, he was dead right. We were too strong, too fast, too good. In comparison, United were slow, ponderous, devoid of ideas. Why is that?
Two reasons. One, we’ve got better players than they have now. And two, our team is much, much better coached. We’re clearly better than them by some distance (19 points to be exact), but they still have enough talent to have caused us far more problems than they did.
They could have come here and played a front four of Lukaku, Martial, Rashford and Mata and had a proper go, like Everton attempted to do (albeit with far less talent). That’s a good enough group to cause anyone trouble if they’re given licence to attack. That’s not Mourinho though. He doesn’t go toe to toe with anyone, he’s a massive shithouse and it played right into our hands this time.
That spoiling approach has given us nightmares in the past but it always felt like this would be a game where those shithousing tactics wouldn’t pay off for them. We’ve had enough practice at trying to break it down and finally it showed. A team that came to Anfield with the sole intention of trying to defend and keep things tight, gave up 36 shots!! That’s the most shots anyone has had all season. What happened, did someone forget to put the handbrake on the bus?
They should be grateful they only lost 3-1 as this was as comprehensive as it gets. We’re the real deal. We can defend. We can attack. We can win scrappy games. We can come from behind. We can hammer teams. We’re doing it all this season and we’re doing it with various systems and personnel.
We did this without Gomez, Trent and Milner, and with Henderson on the bench. The lads who came in delivered in a big way, particularly Fabinho who bossed the game from the middle of the park. His range of passing really caught the eye, as did his ability to win the ball back and generally just fuck shit up in there.
We were on top from the very first whistle and the only surprise was it took us so long to open the scoring. It was a cracker when it did come though. What a ball from Fabinho! Lovely control and finish from Sadio too. He was razor sharp all game I thought. Maybe his best display of the season.
After the chances he blew the other night I knew Mané was going to deliver in this game. That’s why I was glad we didn’t hammer Napoli. It’s always good to keep a few back, especially when Mourinho is coming to town.
We’d had United under pressure right from the start and it seemed as though we had about ten corners in the first half. Wijnaldum was taking them from the right and his delivery was surprisingly good. He was putting it right on the money but frustratingly it always seemed to find a United head.
The corners from the opposite side were a different matter though. Just awful. Robbo kept hitting the first man and on the one occasion he didn’t, he and Keita took a quick one that ended with an aimless ball into the box as an unimpressed Van Dijk, Lovren and Fabinho were all stranded forty yards from goal having not had time to get forward.
That’s the only gripe though. Well, that and the shitty goal we gave up to that rat faced little fuck Lingard. That’s on Alisson that is. It was nailed on he was going to fuck up after the week of lavish praise he’d had. The praise was well earned, but with United on the horizon it always makes me uneasy and this is why.
Bad mistake, and not the first one he’s had this season. His overall body of work has him well in credit though. Plus it always helps when the mistakes come in games that we win. That was something the Mig never got lucky with. And as for Karius…
It was annoying as fuck though because United had done zilch prior to that. They’d had a goal correctly ruled out for a clear offside but other than that they offered nothing, so it was galling to see them draw level in such unpalatable circumstances. I fucking hate that Lingard prick. Most slappable face in football and it was horrible seeing him giving it the beans in front of the Kop. The only saving grace was at least that other dancing cunt Pogba wasn’t on the field to celebrate with him.
We’d have the last laugh, although we would have to wait a little while for it. We continued to dominate after the break but the goal just wouldn’t come. The decision to bring on Shaqiri for Keita was an obvious one, as Naby was the one player not really making much of an impact. It would have been tough to hook anyone else as they were all looking sharp, but it wasn’t happening for Keita. He wasn’t bad, he just wasn’t as good as everyone else.
How great is it having a weapon like Shaqiri coming off the bench though? Maybe that’s his primary role between now and May. I always like to see him starting but sometimes it’s more beneficial having a player like that coming on and being an impact sub when there’s a bit more space to play in.
What a day for him. Two goals at Anfield against United. At the Kop end. To send us back to the top of the table. The stuff dreams are made of that. A far cry from what he was having to do last season.
I fucking love that little guy and I want to invite him round for Christmas dinner at my house. My arl fella would be overjoyed. Shaq is like the son he always wanted. If he was my little brother I wouldn’t even be arsed that he was my Dad’s favourite. Hell, I’d choose him over me as well, the adorable little stocky bastard.
His goals were a little fortunate but the moves that led to them were quality and deserved that bit of luck. Our second goal started with Alisson patiently luring in two United players before finding Robbo. We beat their half arsed press easily, marched up the field and then scored when Shaq latched onto a loose ball after some brilliant play by Mane.
That was probably all we were going to need to secure the points but you can never over-estimate the sheer spawn of those twats so it wasn’t possible to relax until we had a two goal cushion. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long. Nice football again. The lay off from Bobby was actually meant for Mo, but Shaq was on the spot to side foot past De Gea with the aid of another deflection.
One of the best things about this season so far - and there have been loads of great things - is the Shaqiri ‘arms folded’ celebration. Love it. Also loved it earlier when the ‘celebration chameleon’ tried to copy Mo’s surly “who’s the man” routine but fucked it up because he couldn’t help but smile.
I’ve mentioned it a few times recently, but we are getting those little breaks you need in order to be successful. I mean, we deserved to win the game comfortably and we did do, but both Shaq’s goals needed deflections to take them away from De Gea. The deflections could have taken the ball anywhere, but both went in.
Mourinho pointed that out afterwards (of course he did), but we had 36 shots so we made our own luck. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.
We knew going into the game we were miles better than them but you still have to go out and show it. We did just that. Utter dominance. It must have been grim viewing for anyone connected with United because they’re miles behind us. There’s no shame in that though because we’re really, really fucking good.
We’ve got a great keeper. We’ve got the world’s best defender (and yes, Dejan, another ‘top five’ defender alongside him). We’ve got the best front three in the world. We’ve got by far the best left back in the world (just ask Jose) and the midfield lads are way better than they’re often given credit for.
For example, no-one is talking about him but Gini was fucking phenomenal in this game. The amount of running he did was Milner-esque. He was everywhere, flying around at 100mph. Great stuff from him. Brilliant.
And what about Clyne? Steady, reliable, solid. He’s hardly played in 18 months but came in from the cold in our hour of need and delivered for us. Big time. I like Clyney, always have. I think maybe our game has evolved beyond him and his time here is drawing to a close, but I’m fucking glad we were able to call on him here.
There’s talk of him leaving in January but this game showed just why we need to keep everyone. We’ve been getting valuable contributions from fringe players this season. Sturridge hitting that worldy at Chelsea, Divock sinking the Blues, Matip giving us some good performances and now Clyne coming in at the last minute to completely nullify Rashford. I think the lesson here is don’t let anyone leave in January.
Star man is Shaqiri as he was the match winner, but we had some fantastic performances. Robbo was incredible again. I mentioned Fabinho earlier, and you can see him getting better and better every week now that he’s adjusting to the speed of how we play. Compare this with how he played at Arsenal for example. He’s going to be really fucking good. What makes it even sweeter is that United thought they were getting him but he told them to fuck off.
He’s a more well rounded player than I thought he’d be. I expected him to be top notch defensively, tackling and shielding the back four, but his range of passing has been a pleasant surprise. He looks to play it forward whenever possible and he’s good in possession too. Aside from Van Dijk he was the most dominant player on the pitch.
Big Virg though. I almost felt sorry for Lukaku the way he was being thrown around like a big fat rag doll. After a while, you could see Lukaku had quit and he wanted no part of it. Virgil just knocked all the fight out of him, but I’d be pretty pissed off at Lukaku if I was a United fan as he didn’t look arsed.
It was the same all over the pitch though. Most of their players looked like they quit because they just knew they were outmatched. Fellaini kept going until the end but he’s shite. The shot that almost hit the corner flag was boss. The cheer for that was almost as loud as the goals.
It feels as though this was a real statement victory. We went top last week, the Blues did their bit to knock us off and then here comes the arch spoiler, looking to ruin the party and Mourinho the shit out of us like he’s done so many times in the past. It was a test for us, and like every other test we’ve had this season we came through it.
Back to the top and with a chance to go four points clear next week because we play first and can throw down the gauntlet to City again if we can win at Wolves. We’re still unbeaten too, which is nice.
We’ve come through a huge week but it doesn’t get any easier and some of the games we have coming up are going to be tough. We’re better equipped to deal with them than we’ve been at any point since we last won the title though.
Bring them all on!
Team: Alisson; Clyne, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita (Shaqiri); Mané (Henderson), Salah, Firmino:
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