Just another standard Anfield European night. The more things like this happen, the less anyone will want to come here and face us. It’s not just that we beat PSG, it’s how we beat them. We completely dominated them and then even when it looked like we’d somehow let it slip, we still managed to get it done. Things like that will only fuel the whole “Fortress Anfield” narrative.
There’s not a team in the world I wouldn’t fancy us to beat at Anfield, particularly under the lights. PSG have talent but they never have to play against anyone like us so it was always going to be tough for them. People forget that I think. Much of the talk is what a big test it was going to be for us. No, the big test was for them. We were in the final last year, this isn’t our first rodeo. The fuck have they done? Yeah they reach the last 16 or last eight most years, but so did Arsenal. They could never beat anyone decent either.
We face a much tougher level of competition week in week out, and that makes a big difference. Our players will run and run and run and won’t complain about it because they believe in their manager and what he expects from them. They know his methods work and they’ve bought into them. PSG have it too easy in Ligue 1, they don’t need to work.
They’re like me in junior school when I got by on my big brain. I didn’t need to study or revise because, all modesty aside, I was just cleverer than everyone else. Then I got to seniors and everyone passed me by because I was so lazy and couldn’t be arsed doing any schoolwork, and my big brain alone wasn’t enough anymore. There were kids nowhere near as clever as me coming away with A’s and B’s, while I was failing everything and proving to be a massive disappointment to my parents.
You know what I got for GCSE English? An E!! I write for a living and I’ve got an E for my English GCSE. Not because I couldn’t do it, but because, like Neymar and tracking back, I just couldn’t be arsed. So yeah, the moral of that story is that Ligue 1 is junior school, the CL is seniors, and myself and Neymar are lazy bastards.
Neymar and Mbappe should be embarrassed when they watch the replay of this game. They made Sturridge look like Dirk Kuyt. Fair play to ‘Studge’, he did his bit defensively. He mightn’t be the most energetic looking of players but at least he attempted to put himself in the right positions to close down space, and when one of the wide players went central he moved over to cover.
There's just such an intensity about our play on nights like this, and Milner set the tone for it with an early challenge on Neymar that got everyone going. It was probably the best moment of the night other than Bobby's goal. Neymar skipped away from Trent and was doing a stepover and then BAM!!! He's on his arse. That fancy dan shit isn't going to fly with Milner, he's from Yorkshire.
It reminded me of this....
Those PSG lads just reeked of ‘big time’ and you could see some of the dirty looks they were getting from their beleaguered team-mates. Poor Rabiot has probably had his career shortened by a year or two after the amount of running he was forced to do in this one. There was one incident near the end when he had to run 60 yards chasing Gini down the right wing. He stuck to his task to be fair to him, and then at the end of it he looks upfield and sees Neymar just fucking stood there. He looked like he was fuming, but you would be wouldn’t you?
This is one hell of a team we’ve got right now, but we’ve got to start killing teams off when we’ve got them on the ropes. It’s been a problem ever since we rolled over West Ham on opening day. Since then, every game has been much closer than it ought to have been in the closing stages. We almost drew with Spurs at the weekend. That would have been a staggering miscarriage of justice, but this might have been even worse. We could have lost it before we eventually won it. I mean how the fuck does that happen?
Going 2-0 up should have led to a Roma style hammering. The opening goal was great. Brilliant cross by Trent that was just missed by Mané. Then an even better ball by Robbo that wasn’t missed by Sturridge. Cue wriggly arms celebration, inevitably mimicked by Sadio, the celebration chameleon.
Soon after it was 2-0 as PSG’s left back inexplicably tripped Wijnaldum in the box. Big Games James stepped up and buried the pen, and PSG were facing the prospect of being blown away. Then they were handed an undeserved lifeline just on half time. The goal shouldn’t have stood as Cavani was a yard offside when the cross came in and he attempted an overhead kick, thereby influencing the play as it put our defenders off. The ball hit Robbo on the shin and fell to Meunier, who finished it well to be fair.
I wasn’t unduly concerned about that goal but I did think it might liven PSG up a bit. It didn’t. The second half was one way traffic. This game was so easy we should have been up by four or five as they couldn’t live with us at all. It was only easy because of how hard the players worked though. The pace and intensity we play at was just too much for PSG.
It’s one of the strangest games I’ve ever seen really. In the second half it looked like PSG thought it was a testimonial. There were gaps everywhere, our players had acres of space to play in and at times it was so easy I think that had a negative impact on how we played. Normally I’d expect us to score six against a team who played like that.
A couple of times we had four agains three attacks and just ended up picking the wrong option through being spoiled for choice. I just don’t know what PSG were doing, it was weird. Three up front and then everyone else expected to just try and stop our attacks. But for the brilliance of Thiago Silva this would have been a rout. He was top drawer I thought.
As were our lads at the back too, although they were not as overworked as Silva. Big Virg was just strolling around with all the time in the world, pinging passes out to Trent on the right wing who seemed to have twenty yards of space to operate in at all times. It was mad, as I say, I just don’t know what PSG were doing. I thought they were a fucking disgrace actually, but then all of a sudden it’s 2-2 and Draxler is in the box with a great chance to win it.
How did we get there? It’s not like we played badly, in fact we were outstanding all over the park. But we didn’t kill them off. Even teams who lack of talent can hurt you if you don’t step on their throat, so when they have as many dangerous forwards as PSG you just can’t let them back up off the canvas. That was the mistake we made, we got sloppy because it was too easy.
I fully expected us to win but I thought they'd have put up more of a fight than they did. I don't think they're as great as some make them out to be but obviously they're dangerous as they have some world class talent.
I think they've have been hyped up a bit too much just because they’ve got Neymar and Mbappe. Logically though, there was absolutely no reason to think they were going to come to Anfield and beat us. There’s no reason to think they’ll beat us in Paris either. It could happen, of course it could, but I just don’t see them as being as good as us. I expect them to play a lot better than this though.
Talk about individuals all you like, but it takes more than that to be a great team. We’ve got great individuals too, but the collective exceeds all of that. We’re a team. We play as a team, whether that’s attacking or defending. That’s the difference between us and PSG. For example, Mo was mostly shite in this game but he still worked his little nuts off because that's the very least that's expected of everyone in our team.
Neymar on the other hand, is only interested when the ball is at his feet. Mbappe isn't much better either. He looked sharp but he was very well shackled for the most part and he made no attempt whatsoever to stop Robbo marauding forward. As for Cavani? He’s all hype. Always has been, always will be. Even if he scores a hat-trick in the return game he’s still a massive fucking phoney.
Whenever the question is raised about who has the best front three the answer is always going to be us because our front three doesn’t have that big skeletor looking fraud in it. At least he puts in a shift though, which is more than the other two lazy bastards can say.
Ultimately we didn’t win this because of our much vaunted front three though. Ok, technically we did because one third of it came off the bench and scored the winner. My point is that whereas last season our forwards were running riot in this competition, this win was more about the team’s performance as a whole.
Bobby wasn’t even on the pitch for most of the game, while we would probably have been better off if Mo had been sat beside him on the bench too. He just doesn’t look happy in himself right now and isn’t playing with the same freedom and joy we’re used to. It’s all looking a bit too forced at times. He could really have done with that disallowed goal being allowed to stand, because he really struggled after it.
He was lucky to stay on as long as he did and when he was subbed it was very much a case of shutting the stable door when the horse was already halfway down the street. You can’t give the ball away that cheaply even to an average Premier League side, so doing it when Neymar and Mbappe are waiting to pounce is only ever going to end in trouble.
Still, we were a bit unlucky there as Van Dijk did well to challenge Neymar, but the loose ball fell perfectly for Mbappe to score. Klopp wasted no time in hooking Mo after that. He might want to sit him down and have a chat with him, find out what’s on his mind as something just isn’t quite right with him so far this year. I’m not worried yet, but I’ll feel a lot better when he’s looking like himself again.
Tell you what though, Mbappe’s celebration pissed me off. Cocky little twat. You can do that in front of the Kop when you’re playing for us next year, but until then pack that shit in. Presumably that’s what Klopp said to him at full time anyway.
Being pegged back to 2-2 was a massive kick in the balls but suddenly PSG realised they might actually steal the game. Draxler’s arrival gave them a spark, although that was offset by the introduction of Choupa-Mouting. How mad is that? He went from Stoke to PSG after a season in which he didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary. Must have one hell of an agent that lad. Probably the same agent who got Tommy Gravesen a move to Real Madrid.
You’ve got to hand it to this team of ours though, they’ve got great spirit and a never say die attitude. To be able to pick themselves up and go and grab the winner says a lot about them. Shaqiri made a positive contribution off the bench and must be close to getting a start now. I like his enthusiasm, it’s infectious.
He was involved in the winner as he won and then took the corner that ultimately led to the goal. For a second though it looked like we were going to be in real trouble as Firmino headed it straight to Mbappe who was instantly looking to counter attack. Milner put a stop to that though and before you knew it, the ball was back at Bobby’s feet and he bamboozled a couple of defenders before drilling one into the bottom corner.
Cue trademark funny celebration. And of course, cue Sadio the celebration chameleon mimicking it.
The win was fully deserved and keeps our 100% start intact. It also lays down an early marker in the group. Napoli away will be difficult but I’d still expect us to win. That almost goes without saying though, as there are no games I go into these days thinking we won’t win.
Star man is Milner again, but I thought Wijnaldum and Robertson ran him very, very close, and Hendo was superb too. That’s why we were so dominant. Players like those who will just outwork and outfight the opposition, as well as being able to match them for ability. Everyone performed well except Mo, but he gets a pass because he never let it affect his defensive responsibilities.
Sturridge deserves a mention too as it can’t be easy coming in from the cold and being asked to fill Bobby’s boots against such high quality opposition. Coming in and playing against Huddersfield is one thing, but PSG in the Champions League is difficult when you’ve hardly played so all things considered he did very well.
Should have scored another couple of goals though. He missed an easy header from a glorious Trent cross and there was also a poor touch that led to him fouling the keeper and causing Mo’s ‘goal’ to be chalked off. That was probably the right decision but it shouldn’t have taken that long for the ref to make it, and just what the fuck is that official behind the goal doing? Nothing, that;s what. As usual. Said it before and I’ll say it again, they’re a complete waste of time those fuckers, they never give any decisions even when they’re right on top of it, like this one.
Those misses by Sturridge could have been costly on another day but it’s hard to be too critical of him when he’s hardly played. It’s difficult for Klopp but he has to find a way to get Sturridge and Shaqiri involved more to keep them sharp. I think the key to it is for the team to be able to get that all important third goal that kills teams off. That’s been the biggest problem we’ve had so far this season. Get the third goal and things become so much easier on a number of levels.
Hopefully when Mo regains his mojo we’ll start to do that again.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum, Milner; Salah (Shaqiri), Sturridge (Firmino), Mané:
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