A 4-1 home win to kick off the season isn’t anything to be sniffed at, which is why I had to chastise myself at full time when I realised that my pleasure at the result was tinged by mild disappointment and a sense of missed opportunity.
I’m aware that’s daft and goes against every traditionally held viewpoint, and that’s why I had to check myself. That being said, City’s win the next day does kind of validate my initial reaction, to some extent at least.
Before you stop reading, log off and call me a miserable, impossible to please bastard, allow me to explain. It’s a mark of how special this team is - and also of the almost impossibly high bar that has been set by Guardiola’s side - that a 4-1 win isn’t wholly satisfactory anymore, especially when it was 4-0 at half time.
This team is so good that winning by three goals at home is almost level par, nothing special, just what we’ve come to expect. That’s the standard they’ve set for themselves in recent years. Unfortunately the standard City have set is marginally higher, which they demonstrated again by topping our 4-1 result with a 5-0 win away at West Ham. Annoying bastards.
Despite the tinge of disappointment at letting a really big score get away from us, I’m trying not to allow what City do lessen the enjoyment I get from watching the Reds. It isn’t always easy though. After how last season went it’s always in the back of your mind that we need to try and match them, not just point for point but also goal for goal, in case it comes down to that. Trying to do that and constantly thinking about it is fucking tiring though, isn’t it? Last season was torture at times, and it’s almost like the summer never happened as I’ve just picked up those exact same emotions I was having last year. Even though it’s fucking August!!
We can’t control what they do except when we play them but if we’re going to challenge them again like we did last year then we’ll need to take every opportunity that comes our way. From that perspective, I think we let one slip through our grasp a little here, because goal difference might end up being important.
That said, I enjoyed the game and it was refreshing to come up against an opponent that didn’t just pack their own box and try to stifle us. Norwich’s approach to the game was actually quite astonishing I thought. Other than Man City, I bet we won’t see anyone else try to play that way against us. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
The amount of times Tim Krul just passed it five yards to his centre back from goal kicks was incredible. They tried to play their way out time and time again and in fairness they managed it more often than not. They’re going to be fun to watch this season.
I thought it was foolhardy but that’s how the coach wants his team to play and fair play to him for being brave enough to do that against us, especially at 4-0 down. At times early in the second half it looked like we were going to overwhelm them as they were trying to play out from inside their own box while we were pushed right up on them.
Doing that against us is like throwing a used tampon into a shark tank. Our lads were swarming all over them and the only surprise was that we didn’t score from one of those situations. We almost did when Salah bent one inches wide after Fabinho had won the ball in their half, but overall Norwich played through our press far better than I would have expected them to.
Based on this, I think they’ll be fine, but then I said the same about Fulham for about four months last season until the penny dropped that for all their pretty football they were actually dogshit. Purely on this one game though, to me Norwich look like a well coached side with some handy players. Defensively they might struggle though, as that Grant Hanley had an absolute ‘mare.
It’s hard to judge them properly though considering the quality they were up against. We’re the European Champions and we got 97 points in this league last season. We haven’t lost at home for well over two years and it’s not overstating things to say that there have been few better sides to have ever graced this country. Norwich probably have good reason to take some positives from the game all things considered.
They were 4-0 down despite having had as much of the ball and almost as many goal chances as we had. The score flattered us really. We were dangerous in attack but they were able to play through us far too easily at times and there are definitely things we need to tighten up on pretty sharpish.
With the firepower we have it’s not that big a deal, at least not against most of the league, but I’d like to see a return to the miserly defensive unit of this time last year when it felt like nobody could score against us. That might be problematic without Alisson but if the rest of the side sharpen up and do their jobs to the standard they did a year ago then Adrian will barely have to do anything.
It’s interesting that Klopp has restored Gomez to the back four at the expense of Matip. I don’t agree with it personally but I don’t feel strongly enough about it to argue. This time last year Gomez and Virgil looked imperious and no-one could score against us. Presumably that’s why Klopp has gone with that pairing again, but generally I’ve always been a believer in the man in possession keeping the shirt until he loses it through injury, suspension or poor form.
Matip was sensational last season and he looked in great nick when he came on at Wembley last week. I’m struggling to think of anyone that has been less deserving to lose their place in the side than poor old ‘Big Bird’. Maybe when Michael Thomas was dropped for the returning Jamie Redknapp back in the late nineties. It’s a minor quibble though as I’m a big fan of Gomez.
As a unit we weren’t great defensively against Norwich. They were able to play through the lines too easily (many problems we had occurred before they got anywhere near the back four so this was a team issue) and it was alarming how they were able to get runners behind the defence and through on goal. The scored from one of those situations but they had two or three similar ones too.
Maybe we were a little lax because of the goals that were flying in at the other end? It didn’t take long for us to get off the mark as Origi’s cross was clumsily turned into his own net by Hanley. Divock started very brightly and seems to have a lot of confidence about him currently. Long may that continue, because when he’s playing with confidence he’s very effective.
I’m not entirely convinced by him because he’s never been able to put it together for a sustained period, but he does seem like he’s ready to take that next step this season. As long as nothing untoward happens to him fitness wise (i.e. being crocked by some dirty blueshite) I think he’s going to deliver for us this year. Not as spectacularly as he did in key moments last year, that may never be repeated by any ‘fringe player’ ever again, but if he can become a legitimate “number four” to compliment the big three then that will be huge for us, not least because hopefully it will silence the “sIgN bIG nAmEZ” social media goons.
He’s made a good start on that front with a goal, an assist and a lively display. He can be a little bit unpolished at times and he’s no Sadio Mané (who is though?), but as an option on the left we can do a lot worse. He’s effective and he makes things happen. The opening goal was a fluke but Origi was getting in those positions and putting balls into the box regularly.
Other than a ropey spell in the second half when the whole team were sloppy in possession, I thought he had a very good game. His goal was quality too. He saw the space and made a run, and the header was good too. The ball from Trent though, fucking hell. World. Class.
Like Origi, Salah had a goal and an assist. He looked dynamite again. He was brilliant at Wembley last week but couldn’t finish. His sharpness is there though in terms of his all around game, and he produced some lovely stuff in this game. The finish for his goal was much better than he’s been given credit for. He made it look easy, but you see how quickly he moved the ball between his feet to get the shot away and it’s just brilliant.
The corner he put in for Virg to nod home was a belter too. The trajectory of that corner made it really difficult for Norwich, It didn’t hang in the air, it just went in flat and with speed. Virgil didn’t even need to jump, or even move. He just stood there and it landed right on his head.
We were playing well but it was never a 4-0 game at that point and Norwich must have been wondering what the fuck had happened. They’d performed well, created chances, had lots of the ball, yet they were 4-0 down in no time. Everything was going our way until out of absolutely nowhere, Alisson did his calf.
I didn’t even see what happened. I saw him chip a pass out to Robbo and I was following the ball when I heard an audible groan coming from the Kop. My first thought was that some knobhead had ran on the pitch (as one did later on) but I couldn’t see anyone. Then I saw Alisson on the deck, waving his arm asking for the ball to be kicked out. At that moment it was obvious he was going off, the only question was just how bad was it.
I was just hoping he hadn’t done his ACL. I never even considered an achilles injury at that point, it was only afterwards when I saw people mentioning that as a possibility. That doesn’t even bear thinking about. The one thing that comforted me was that they let him walk off under his own steam with assistance from the physio. If it was genuinely serious he’d have been on a stretcher, so I wasn’t especially worried about it.
I’m not too worried now either. Ok, it’s not ideal having to do without him for however many weeks he’s missing (my guess would be 3-4 as he’s a keeper, it’s not like he’s running 12k every game), but Adrian is a more than capable understudy. He’s probably better than half of the starting keepers in the league so he’ll be alright. If we play our best football he won’t have anything to do anyway, but we could be in much worse hands than his.
He got a rousing ovation when he came on and took his place in the goal in front of the Kop. He seemed appreciative of it, which makes a change as I’m sure he was one of those opposing keepers that never would applaud the Kop. I might be doing him a dis-service there on account of the fact I thought he was a horrible twat when he was at West Ham and my judgement of him is clouded.
There are only a few keepers who didn’t applaud the Kop and I had him down as one of them, with the likes of Scruffy Jaaskelainen and Dean fucking Kiely. As I say though, I could be wrong and if anyone can shed some light on that then please do.
There was a lengthy stoppage for that injury and the game was stop start when it resumed. Half time came, and I’m thinking we have a great chance to run up such a big score that we’ll definitely end the weekend in top spot. The second half though… it just never really got going did it?
It didn’t help that there was a massive delay at the start while they fixed the VAR (at least I think that’s what they were doing, we didn’t get told anything inside the stadium, which is the norm where VAR is concerned). When things did get under way again, we were really good for about ten minutes and then it all just became ragged.
We had chances early on to extend our lead and maybe if we’d done so then more goals would have followed. I don’t know how the ball stayed out to be honest. Hendo saw a shot brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Krul and Bobby somehow failed to convert from a couple of yards after Trent had put one on a plate for him.
We were flying at that point and Salah had that shot that flashed just wide too. Yet Norwich just carried on playing out from goal-kicks. Krul was getting fed up with it and a couple of times he chased his defenders away and kicked it long, but mostly they just kept passing it around in their own box.
The way it was going at that stage I’d have been tempted to just keep kicking it out for goal-kicks to try and pick their pockets. Fabinho was filling his boots there for a while, just waiting for it to go into midfield and then steaming in to win it. They kept trying to dribble past him too, which is never advisable with his retractable gadget legs.
Eventually though our intensity dropped and Norwich started to get on top a bit. You could feel the momentum had shifted and the atmosphere in the stadium died a death. It had been brilliant up until then, really loud and everyone was into it. When the tempo of the game dropped though, so did the noise levels.
Norwich hit the bar with a good effort and their fans started to get loud as they sensed they might get a little something to make the long trip worthwhile. “We’re gonna score in a minute” they sang. And they did, probably in less than a minute actually. Nice goal too. Good little ball in behind, clever run by the striker (Pukki is it?) and a smart finish across Adrian. His movement was great all night. I was quite impressed with him.
I’ve seen a few people speculating that Alisson would have saved it. He might have, who knows. I don’t attach any blame to Adrian though as that ball went right in the corner and it was a tidy finish. The back four didn’t cover themselves in glory. Robbo was a little deeper than the others and played him on, while I’m not sure whether Gomez could have done more to track the run instead of just hoping he’d be offside.
It’s just a little bit off at the moment. City got runners in behind us a few times last week too. You’d almost expect that given the quality they have, but with all due respect, Norwich shouldn’t be doing it. Nothing major, just needs a little clean up.
So all in all it was a good game of football and a good result to kick the season off. Man City have completely fucking skewed everything though. Normal rules no longer apply. What was once seen as acceptable, or even good, may not be the case any more because of what City are doing.
Take them and their financial doping out of the equation and we’d have won the title by 25 points last season and would probably do so again this time. Unfortunately, they aren’t out of the equation so everything we do has to be judged alongside what City are doing. And when viewed through that prism, a 4-1 win at home to Norwich is alright, but a 5-0 win away win at West Ham is better.
I really want to just disregard everything they are doing and judge our games on their own merits, but it’s hard. We want the title but they’re in our way, and we’re already playing catch up even after the first fucking game. I know it doesn’t really mean anything at this stage, but it’s still fucking annoying.
Does it matter who is top after opening weekend? No. Would I have liked it to have been us laying an early marker down by hitting a cricket score against Norwich? Hell yes I would.
It’s long been said that the opening day league table means nothing. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago when they weren’t even published until after the third round of fixtures. Some even believed it didn’t even matter what the table looked like at Christmas, and there was some validity to that as there was plenty of time to put a run together and win the title.
We’ve done that ourselves in the past. One of Bob Paisley’s teams was miles off the pace at halfway but went on to win it. Getting off to a good start wasn’t that big of a deal in years gone by as other teams would slip up and there was always time to make up lost ground. Teams weren’t pushing close to or breaking the 100 point barrier, so you could afford to lose and draw a fair few and still be fine.
Not any more. The margin for error is virtually non-existent now. Every game matters. We amassed 97 points last year and it wasn’t enough because City got one more. The standard set by both teams is so high that it’s not just every point that matters, every goal does too. City beat us by one point last year, but imagine that instead of drawing at Wolves they’d lost the game. They’d still have finished above us on account of their superior goal difference. Missing out by a point was a sickener, but if it had been goal difference then it’s ten times worse.
So, as ridiculous as it may seem to have some regrets about a 4-1 win, it’s not that outrageous given that normal rules no longer apply. The long held (and perfectly valid) beliefs and attitude we’ve always had about “marathon not a sprint” and such like may as well be thrown into the bin now because City’s financial doping, combined with the brilliance of Guardiola’s coaching has changed all that.
It’s not a marathon anymore; it’s a sprint that lasts 38 games. There’s no pacing yourself for a late breathless chase to the finish line, it has to be flat out from day one with absolutely no let up. We sprinted for almost the entire race last year. We flew out of the traps, kept it going until Christmas, had a brief little pause to catch our breath and then sprinted flat out for the finish. And that brief little pause (coupled with Anthony fucking Taylor not doing his job) proved decisive in the end.
I don’t really know where I’m going with this, because we won by three goals and I’m talking like we were just held to a 0-0 or something. This is what City have done to me though, the absolute shower of cheating cunts. I’m all over the place here and feel like I’m complaining even though that’s not really my intention.
We were 4-0 up at half time and instead of me thinking “well this is great isn’t it?” I’m saying to my Dad “we could get seven or eight here and be top after the weekend, as City won’t get that many”. I mean seriously, what the fuck? This is my mindset now though and I hate it.
Instead of adding to the four we had, we went and “lost the second half” and ended with a plus three goal difference instead. Still, that’s pretty good, right? It was until City went and won 5-0 away from home the next day.
I know it’s only week one and there are 37 games to go. It’s not like I’m throwing in the towel and panicking over it. Far from it. I’ve got great belief in our team. I’m just saying, when opportunities are there you need to take them and against Norwich we probably didn’t.
It’s not a big deal, but it isn’t nothing either. It’s something I’d be casually mentioning to the players if I were Klopp. Next time don’t ease off, if there’s a hammering to be had then go and deliver it, because next week might be a close game that you’re grateful to win by one goal. Make hay when the sun shines and all that.
It mightn’t matter in the long run, but then again it might. When things are as tight as they are between us and City, every little edge can be crucial.
It’s easy to dismiss this as not being important, just like it was easy to shrug off not beating Leicester at home or West Ham away last season. I know because I did it. I never over-reacted to those results because we were in a good situation and there were a lot of games left to be played.
Under normal circumstances there was no cause for alarm. City reeling off 14 straight wins to end the season isn’t normal circumstances though. At least, it never used to be. It is now though. That’s what we’ve got to expect them to do and if they don’t, then it’s a bonus.
The fact is, after one game of the new season it’s as you were; City on top and us a whisker behind them. We’ve got 37 games to change that but there are only two ways we can do it. We either need to take at least four (or six) points from them while virtually matching their results against everyone else, or we do better against everyone else and hope we don’t lose to them. I feel as though it’s going to be more difficult to achieve the former on account of the things that can potentially go wrong in those hugely intense, pressure filled games.
We’ve seen what can happen. A harsh red card that changes the game, 11mm on a goal-line review or a Manc referee screwing us over. I don’t want to rely on having to take four points from them, but it probably is going to come down to those games. I believe we’re better than City in a head to head situation but that doesn’t mean we’ll get the result we need.
Last season was unbearable at times because of the complete lack of any sort of wiggle room. Any dropped point feels like it will be fatal. It’s hard to enjoy footy when there’s that kind of pressure riding on it. You expect it in a run in, but because of how good City and ourselves are, there isn’t actually a run in. It’s a 38 game run in and every game matters.
I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but somehow I need to chill out and not look at every game, or indeed every goal as potentially being decisive (even though they are). It’s hard though, because any one slip up can seem like the end of the world. I’ve had to convince myself not to be fretting too much that we won 4-1 and not 6-0, so what’s it going to be like if and when we actually drop points?
I think back to when we had those draws at Goodison and Old Trafford and we all kept telling ourselves that “there will still be twists and turns”. There wasn’t. No twists. No turns. Just two fucking perfectly straight lines as both ourselves and City reeled off win after win after win. Is it going to be like that again, only from day one? Traditional logic says not, but as I said, traditional logic doesn’t apply right now.
I don’t know, I think I’m still in the mindset of the last few months of last season. I shouldn’t be, because it’s August. It’s not like I believe City are going to win every game from now until May. I know they’ll drop some points, at least I hope they will. I just hope we can repeat what we did last year and that it’s enough.
From that perspective, winning 4-1 in the first game keeps us on course. We’ve become really, really fucking good at winning the games we’re supposed to win, especially at home. There’s a danger that some of us (i.e. me!) might take that for granted. It wasn’t so long ago that every season we’d end up dropping points to sides that were relegated. Thankfully we bucked that trend last season. In fact, I think we took maximum points from all fixtures against bottom half teams, which is sensational.
This team is sensational. What they are doing is sensational, and because of that I want to make a real effort to not think about City’s results and just enjoy our games for what they are, because this team is fucking brilliant. I don’t know if I can, but I promise to try and hopefully the next report will see me being less of a worrier.
Star man is Henderson. Wasn’t easy as I didn’t think anyone stood out that much. Fabinho was good, Origi did well, Salah was sharp and Bobby showed some brilliant moments. Over the course of the entire game though I think Henderson maintained a high level throughout, so he shades it.
Next up it’s the Super Cup against Chelsea. I really want to win that. Not because it’s Chelsea, but because I want to win the trophy. It’s the opposite to last week I suppose. I didn’t care about the Charity Shield but I just wanted to beat City. Now, I’m not especially arsed about Chelsea but it would be nice to win that trophy.
I think part of it is that we didn’t really even earn our place in the Charity Shield, we were there by default because City did the double. We’ve earned our spot in this one as we’re the fucking European Champions. Let’s go and get that silverware and then come back and pick up three more points next weekend.
Up the Reds!
Team: Alisson (Adrian); Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino (Milner), Origi (Mané):
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