Five wins from five topped off by completely bossing Spurs at Wembley, and you know what I was mostly feeling at full time? Irritation. Mad isn’t it? Especially as I’d have snatched your hand off for any type of win beforehand. Given the way it played out though it was hard not to be annoyed.
Obviously with the dust now settled on it I’m delighted with the win and really impressed with the performance, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m still a little pissed off that not only did we let Spurs escape what should have been a defeat for the ages, somehow we ended up hanging on and might have even blown the win if Michael Oliver had spotted Sadio clipping Son’s heel as he shaped to shoot.
As pleasing as it is to see the lads go to Spurs and dominate that like, it’s outrageous that they somehow came so close to blowing it. Spurs couldn’t even lay a glove on us, while their goal led a charmed life. The forward line in last year’s form would have given Spurs the most humiliating afternoon of their lives. Their form this year is nothing like it was, but more so as a collective than as individuals. They're not playing badly, they just aren't always playing for eachother. Some of the decision making, particularly in the second half, had Klopp pulling his hair out on the touchline.
Tell you what though, there’s going to be carnage when the forwards do get on the same page again because the rest of the team are getting it done in a big way. This was a fantastic team performance and the forwards did play their part, despite their lack of ruthlessness. Their finishing and decision making undoubtedly left a lot to be desired, but the work rate and pressing as a unit had Spurs all over the place. We made a good team look very, very ordinary.
Right from the start we were on the front foot and it looked as though we’d taken the lead inside the first minute when Milner’s cross found its way into the far corner. Firmino had gone for it and might have gotten a slight touch. He was well onside. Mané also went for it and it looked like he also got a touch. He was definitely offside. Whether he touched it or not doesn’t really matter in this case. He went for the ball when in a clearly offside position and it distracted the keeper. No complaints and it was a good sign that we were right at it.
There were other chances too. Mo went clean through but shot straight at Vorm. Not like him that but it’s kind of how things have been going so far this season. Last year that was a goal, without question. He’s not playing badly but he’s just not quite there yet. We’re talking fractions though.
Maybe he's thinking too much abut scoring and needs to play, do the right things and just let nature take its course. In this team the chances will come, there's no need to try and force anything.
On the opposite flank Mané was lively and was finding space in the gap left by Trippier. Spurs didn’t have any answer to it, they kept pushing the full backs forward and we kept winning the ball and getting it to Salah and Mané in the space. Klopp's gameplan was working perfectly right until the final act of sticking the ball in the onion bag, but there's nothing a manager can do about that.
Mané had a couple of driving runs into the box but his end product just wasn’t there. He was carrying the biggest threat but Firmino was the pick of the front three as it was his pressing and link play that was making everything come together. He was running all over the place and dragging defenders into areas they didn’t want to be.
We just needed a goal and when eventually it arrived it came from the most unlikely of sources. Wijnaldum doesn’t get many and he doesn’t usually get any away from home. Only one before this (Roma away last year), and funnily enough that was a header from a corner that wasn’t cleared too.
This was a really under-rated goal as it was a much more difficult chance than it looked. He was moving backwards, he had to jump and he had to generate all the power himself. To be able to drop it just under the bar the way he did was impressive. He isn’t known for his heading ability but I’ve heard him talking up that side of his game a few times and he's sneaky good in that area.
On first view I wasn’t even appealing for a goal as I thought Vorm had saved it, but the replay showed it was miles over the line. Thank God for hawkeye as I wouldn’t have trusted the ref or lino to get that right. A 1-0 lead at the break was the least we deserved on the balance of play.
The second half was more of the same. Spurs unsuccessfully trying to play through midfield and looking wide open every time we won the ball back. The scoreline was close but the game really wasn’t. It always felt like we were in command and when Bobby tapped in to make it 2-0 I thought we’d go on to fucking hammer them.
And we should have. It was remarkable how many great situations we blew. We kept picking them off in midfield and then flying at them, but the killer third goal just wouldn’t come. It was really sloppy but it’s easy to focus on that and ignore the fantastic work the front three did off the ball that made this performance possible. They aren’t firing on all cylinders yet but they’re still a nightmare to play against, and they’ve done enough for us to win every game. At least one of them has scored in every game so far.
Yet apparently Mané was getting abuse on his social media accounts for passing to Keita instead of Mo. Probably Egyptian fans rather than Reds, but whoever it is needs to fuck off.
The one when he played it to Naby was a questionable decision but he had so much time and so many options it was easy to over complicate it. He should have played Mo in but when that window closed he did the right thing by then rolling it to Keita. The problem was the shit finish from Naby rather than anything Sadio did. Still, knobheads are reading stuff into it that isn’t there.
Some people actually think Sadio is running through and thinking "oh there's Mo in space. Fuck that guy, I'm not passing to him". Unbelievable. There’s no problem between Salah and Mané, so stop trying to fucking create one, you fucking virgins.
Later Mané would blast one over the bar when he had someone (Keita again?) in a great position to his left. Klopp was pissed about that. He was also annoyed by Salah going it alone when he should have rolled it to Sturridge. What happened there was Mo had produced a great turn and had left a couple of players for dead, and he was obviously thinking ‘goal of the season coming up here’. It would have been too, if three Spurs players hadn’t converged on him and completely shut the door. Has to pass it there, and I expect Klopp might be having some words with some of his players about getting their heads up and making better decisions.
Specifically Mo, who just needs to chill and forget about matching last year's total. As I say, if he just plays as he should do, the goals will come anyway.
It was incredibly frustrating to watch at times but if we hadn’t given away that cheap goal in stoppage time I wouldn’t have been that bothered about the profligacy up front. That’s all it takes, one scabby little fucking goal and suddenly everything changes. The crowd had given up (half of them had left) and so had their players really, then they get a lifeline from nowhere. If this game had gone on for another couple of minutes I think we might have blown it.
We almost did anyway because Spurs definitely should have had a penalty. Difficult one for the ref though because in real time it looks like Son kicks his own foot and its almost impossible to see that Mané clipped him.
Still, they can fuck off after the shit they pulled at Anfield last season. Oh you didn’t get your late penalty? Tough shit. The team who cried wolf. Fucking diving all over the place again they were. Eriksen, Rose, Lamela, Moura, Vertonghen, they were all at it.
And what was that shit from Vertonghen on Bobby? I’m not saying he deliberately poked him in the eye but he did deliberately hit him in the face. How is his left arm even coming into play there unless he’s trying to smack him? Fucking shitbag. Michael Oliver actually gave the foul against Firmino. Sad thing is, he’s one of the better refs. Certainly top three. It's a low bar.
We’re fucking boss though aren’t we? To go to Spurs and completely own them like this has to put the shits up the rest of the league. Everyone was scared of what we can do in attack, but we can defend now as well and we’ve got a proper keeper (absolutely loved his no nonsense approach to this game by the way). All those weaknesses that gave opponents a little bit of encouragement simply aren’t there anymore.
Harry Kane didn’t get a kick, the big slobbering goon. Virgil just shut him down completely. Such a contrast to what happened in this fixture last season, and that as much as anything shows how far we’ve come over the past 11 months.
The only Spurs player to pose any threat was Lucas Moura, although he was lucky to still be on the pitch in my opinion. There was a reckless elbow on Big Virg which went unpunished and then he had a wild lunge at Trent that thankfully didn’t connect. I had no opinion of him before this but now I see that, like most Spurs players, he’s a twat. Fuck him and his prematurely receding hairline. The Brazilian Andros Townsend.
We were generally great at the back but there were still a couple of anxious moments early in the second half. Gomez had sailed through the first half without having to break sweat but he had a sticky little spell not long after the break. It started when he was caught in possession and needed Van Dijk to bail him out by getting back to dispossess Moura.
A couple of minutes later Moura skinned him out wide and then raced into the box before hitting the post. Joe was wobbling there but he bounced back well, typified by the fucking thumping tackle he put in on Moura by the touchline. Great that, loved it.
Until their stoppage time flurry, Spurs didn’t really threaten us at all other than that. Son coming on worried me as he might actually be their most dangerous player on the sly. Kane is obviously their main man, while Eriksen and Alli get their share of headlines, but I’d rather face any of them than Son. He’s one of those players who you always have to worry about.
They brought Lamela on too, but he’s fucking shite. Pisses me off that it was him who got their goal because he’s a massive fraud him. Stealing a living that boy band looking cunt.
The goal apart, and the subsequent moment of panic that almost led to a penalty immediately after, the defence were solid as fuck again.
As were the midfield. I’ve said it a few times but Gini is quality in that holding role. As a number eight I can take or leave him to be honest, but every game he’s played in the deeper role he’s been absolute class. Every game. Think about it. He’s been a candidate for man of the match in every single game he’s played as a six.
Keita is operating at a level way below what he will eventually become. He’s feeling his way in and not really doing anything explosive. He was neat and tidy but he can definitely do more and he should have put that chance away. The problem is every chance he's had so far seems to have been on his left foot. Might be worth switching him and Milner over?
Still, when Milner is playing like this it doesn’t really matter who else is in midfield. Hell, we could stick Joe Cole in there and still get away with it as Milner is playing at such a high level.
He’s just phenomenal. He runs more than anyone else, tackles more than anyone else, puts in more crosses and passes than anyone else, and he’s the most intelligent player on the pitch. He might be the least heralded 'great player' we’ve ever had. Because make no mistake, the Milner we’ve seen over the last 12 months is a genuinely great player.
He was monstrous against Spurs. The best player on the pitch by some distance. Our midfield at the moment is Milner plus two. He’s the main man in that midfield now and the others are competing to play alongside him. I fucking love James Milner.
Klopp’s changes were interesting. Initially he was bringing on Henderson for Keita, which was an obvious call really. Then Bobby got that finger in the eye and it became obvious he was in trouble and couldn’t continue. Klopp had murder with the fourth official as he tried to change the substitution and keep Keita on.
He got his way in the end but I thought he should have stuck with the original sub and then brought Shaqiri or Sturridge on for Firmino. There seemed to be some confusion over what to do and Naby was pushed forward into the front three for a bit.
It felt as though we lost a little bit of organisation and concentration with that reshuffle but even so we still created the better chances. That’s probably why Klopp then brought on Sturridge rather than Shaqiri. We were getting so many chances to pick them off and finish the game but they were being squandered in a variety of ways.
In the end Klopp obviously thought ‘fuck this’ and put Sturridge on. Normally he wouldn’t do that because there’s such a noticeable drop off in the intensity of our play without the ball when Sturridge is up there. It’s painful to watch his lack of mobility these days but he comes alive around the box and I could see the logic in getting him on.
It didn’t really work though. All he managed to do was win a few cheap free-kicks to help take the sting out of the game and in hindsight Shaqiri would have been a better option. Really looking forward to Shaqiri getting a start and showing us what he can do. If Bobby can’t play against PSG then I really hope it’s Shaq that gets the nod.
So overall, a great three points and Spurs will know they were fortunate not to get hammered. We owed them a spanking after what happened last season but it will just have to wait until they come to Anfield.
It’s very Liverpool to somehow not be top even after winning all five games. It’s very un-Liverpool that the thing that has let us down is goalscoring. We’ve only conceded twice but we aren’t scoring at the rate you’d expect. That will surely come though, and the biggest threat to our perfect start is the volume of fixtures we’ve got coming up. We just need to get through this period as unscathed as possible and then see where we are at the end of it.
So far we’ve only really used 12 players but that will have to change and we’ll see how strong the squad actually is. I don’t think there’ll be too many changes for PSG or Southampton but after that Klopp is going to have to make the best use of his bench players as possible. Let’s hope they’re up to the job, because we know the first eleven is as good as anything in Europe.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Matip), Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Keita (Sturridge); Salah, Firmino (Henderson), Mané:
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