That was a lot easier than 1-0 makes it seem. Deluded Newcastle fans might kid themselves that this shows their progress and that they’re on the right track to competing with us, but this was an absolute hammering in everything but scoreline.
I actually saw one of their owners tweeting that it shows how far they’re come that they’re disappointing at not beating Liverpool. No, it shows just how fucking deluded some of you are up there.
Eddie Howe has done really well, there’s no denying that, but it’s just pure Newcastle that all of a sudden they’re bouncing around, dicks swinging after beating half a dozen similarly poor sides. Pipe down knobheads. You haven’t won anything in my lifetime and I’m 50 next year.
This was billed as a tough game for us and I kind of agreed, but only because it was a 12.30 kick off away from home. If we were playing at the Dog & Duck at that time I’d still be thinking it will be a close scoreline because we just don’t do that well in this time slot. I wasn’t at all worried about Newcastle, despite their revival under Howe.
Just look at their team. Most of them are shite and the ones that aren’t are decent at best. That Bruno fella is the one notable exception and because of the sportswashing they’ll add more like him over the next few years. For now though there was absolutely nothing there that could hurt us, especially given the way we surrounded Saint-Maximin every time he got the ball.
I like him a lot but he was so bad in this game I was embarrassed for him. Did he pass the ball at all? It felt like every time he got it he just tried to take our whole team on. He was like the annoying greedy bastard kid in school who thought he was way better than he actually was. We just kept taking it off him over and over again but he didn’t learn and kept doing it.
The thing is, we’re just so good that for most opponents there really isn’t any way of successfully playing against us when we’re in the mood. When we’re pressing and chasing people down with the intensity we are at the moment, virtually nobody can handle it. Certainly not Newcastle.
The one thing I will say about them is that they had a go. It might not have looked like it, especially in the second half, but their lack of attacking threat wasn’t due to a negative approach. They were just outmatched all over the park. Whenever they did have an opportunity to put a few passes together and get up the park, they pushed numbers forward.
This wasn’t a park the bus effort like we saw from them when Rafa desperately tried to derail our title bid a few years ago. They had a go and we had plenty of space to play in. Thats why we created so many chances, a number of them on the counter attack. You can’t counter attack teams who don’t leave their own half, so that tells you that Howe saw this as a free swing and they tried to win.
Maybe our team selection influenced that. You see Salah, Fab, Trent and Thiago on the bench and even though the replacements are top quality, it still has to be a boost to the opposition as these lads are the best in the world in their respective positions.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, the replacements were probably our best players on the day. Keita was the match winner, Milner was named Man of the Match and Joe Gomez wasn’t far behind him. Jota was superb too, even if his finishing wasn’t up to his usual standard.
Newcastle started brightly enough and I was happy to see that. Why? Because if anyone wants to come and attack us I just think “good luck with that” because it just means that the game will be more open and we’ll beat anyone in an open game.
Newcastle’s bright start didn’t yield any chances and it’s a sign of how dominant we are that an opponent even having a spell of possession in our half is seen as them doing well.
Newcastle’s tactic was to line that Joelinton bum up on the left wing and fire high balls at him. The old Egil Olsen strategy. As soon as we figured out what they were doing and countered it, that was the end of Newcastle’s ‘good spell’. What a tit that Joelinton was though. Some proper Everton behaviour from him.
After that somewhat uneasy start we took control of the game and played some lovely footy after that. The goal was beautiful and highlights just what we’re about. When Milner’s pass was cut out, he immediately won the ball back and seconds later Keita was playing a one two with Jota and then showing a cool head to put us in front.
BT Sport made a massive deal out of the Milner tackle and kept debating whether it was a foul. It was clear on the first replay that it wasn’t. Eddie Howe and Dan Burn were both asked about it post match as BT continued to try and push this weird narrative for some reason. Both of them said that’s what VAR is for and if they looked at it and said it was fine then it must be.
Yet all game the commentary team kept referencing it. What the fuck? At half time Shay Given was doing his best to cast doubt on it (“in the end I think it’s probably not a foul” whereas a perplexed Rio Ferdinand seemed confused why it was even being discussed as it was never a foul in a million years. Thankfully someone was talking sense.
On the subject of Given though, he referred to the Saudis as “fantastic owners”. Get fucked you soft twat.
But anyway, the Milner tackle was great. Won the ball and didn’t catch anyone with his follow through because he challenged from the side, not the front or back. The contact came about because Schar kicked Milner and then hurt himself. It was clear on multiple angles, but BT kept showing the one angle where it looked inconclusive. They couldn’t show the goal without showing the tackle first, the agenda driven pricks.
What a finish by Naby though. So cool. He had a really good game and was just gliding about the pitch showing some silky touches. There was one first time cushioned volley lay off to Gomez in the second half that was just glorious.
Milner was equally impressive, albeit it in a different way. Milner doesn’t glide anywhere and he isn’t especially silky. He was terrific though. Combative, clever, influential. His best game in some time this.
Right across the pitch we were really good but we just couldn’t put our chances away.
Sadio missed some good chances, so did Jota and Diaz could have done more with certain situations he had. All three looked really sharp until it came to putting the ball in the net, and it was no surprise when Salah was eventually summoned from the bench as we looked to get the second goal that would give us breathing room.
Mo was the same as the other three though. Looked sharp, caused problems, couldn’t finish.
Fabinho also came on and he was outstanding. Thiago got on as well as Klopp went all out to kill the game. Somehow we didn’t do it despite having enough chances to win half a dozen games.
In the end it didn’t matter because we defended so well. Virtually any sight of goal they had was because they were offside. There was only one chance really, when Bruno had a shot from just outside the box that Alisson saved comfortably. On another day he catches that shot better and it becomes panic stations for us, and it would have been solely down to the shite finishing.
On this day though it didn’t matter and it was as comfortable a 1-0 as you’re likely to see really. Making five changes and still being able to play like this, in a 12.30 kick off at a hostile away ground, it’s just yet another mark of how great this team of ours is.
The unfortunate thing is that City don’t look like dropping any points and all of this may end up being for nothing. All we can do is keep winning and hoping though.
I’m happy for Milner getting Man of the Match on BT but for me it had to be Naby. He’s making valuable contributions now most of the time he plays and it’s about fucking time. Klopp always says the only thing that has held Keita back is injuries, and it’s interesting that so many of the injury prone players have been available for selection for pretty much the whole season. That fitness guy they brought in last season has really earned his money.
I want to single out Gomez too. He actually looks like a right back now. Not a Trent clone, obviously, but he doesn’t look like someone playing out of position. He’s improved his attacking play a lot and he creates chances now every time he plays. We don’t need to sign anyone for that spot now as he’s a more than capable back up.
So on we go to the second leg. Klopp will probably go very strong and then hopefully be able to use the five subs to get players a rest if and when the tie is safe. I’d like to see Diaz add more goals because everything else about him is fucking great. Jota could do with a goal or two as well to get him firing again.
It seems churlish even saying stuff like that when the team is just piling up win after win after win, but the finishing often doesn’t match the approach play and games are a closer then they should be because of that.
This game in midweek should already be well over and we could have given all the big names the night off, but then again I always say we play better when we’re playing every three or four days, so maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Oh wait, I need to mention Robbo's turbo charged run in stoppage time. What a man.
Team: Alisson; Gomez, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson (Fabinho), Milner (Thiago), Keita; Diaz, Jota, Mané (Salah):
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