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Well that easier than I thought. Foolishly, I’d convinced myself that Arsenal could give us real problems. I’d described them as being “like us before we signed Virgil”. I take it back, that’s massively insulting to our lads. Arsenal are as flaky as ever and this was a stroll in the park. In my defence, the reason Arsenal concerned me is because they do have firepower and are dangerous going forward. My reasoning was that unlike most opponents we’ve faced this season, they have the players to hurt us and they won’t come here to try and keep the score down. Emery left Lacazette on the bench though and that played into our hands. He needed to fight fire with fire, and he didn’t. He was caught between having a go and being careful. The end result was a hammering and Aubameyang only touching the ball 14 times, six of them from kick offs. Arsenal should have gone for it and hoped to turn it into a shoot out, because their defence is a fucking joke. As concerned as I’d been all week, that changed when I saw Arsenal’s team. Talking to the lads before the game, my outlook immediately flipped when I saw that defensive unit they were putting out there. I believe my exact words were: “Look at that defence, none of them can run. Our forwards will fucking destroy them”. And they did. Five goals for the front three and Arsenal actually got off lightly. It could easily have been worse for them, but much of the second half was a case of our lads conserving a bit of energy and Klopp looking to rest a few players. If we’d needed more goals we’d have gotten them pretty easily. Arsenal did show why I was right to be concerned about them at the other end though. They carried a real menace early on before the game eventually got away from them. I’ve always thought that Iwobi was shite but he was their best player by some distance. Trent had the most difficult job of any of our lads in trying to keep him quiet. Everyone else won their battles comfortably. Trent won his too, eventually, but at least Iwobi made him work for it. It was a stroll for everybody else. Especially the midfielders. I like that Torreira but he looked like a little kid against the magnificent Wijnaldum. What a performance from him. Bobby is the star man because of his hat-trick, but Gini was top class. Arsenal were on the front foot early on and played with belief that they could do something. They pressed high up the pitch and had some joy with it, in part due to some sloppy passing from us. Fabinho gave the ball away carelessly with a reckless cross field pass. He seems to have one of those moments in him every game. So far he hasn’t been punished but he needs to clean it up. Poor old Dejan isn’t so lucky. Anything he does wrong usually ends up being costly. Blaming him for the goal is harsh though and Klopp even said afterwards the problem was that no-one was showing for the ball so he just hit it long. I’d give Arsenal credit for it. They were closing us down well and we had a few uncomfortable moments passing it around in our own defensive third with a lot of Arsenal players hunting the ball. Lovren’s pass forward wasn’t the greatest but for it to result in a goal then other things need to go wrong as well. We had players back but Arsenal worked it very well. Iwobi’s cross was brilliant and Robertson couldn’t get back in time to stop Maitland-Niles finishing at the back post. Initially I thought Robbo must have switched off and let him run off the back of him, but it wasn’t that. He sprinted to try and get back in but he was just too far up the field when we lost the ball to get back in time. If that had been Moreno he’d have been slaughtered for it, but my view on it is that it’s simply a consequence of how we play. The full backs are asked to push right up and play as wingers as well as defenders. To do that you need to be high up the pitch when the team has the ball. If possession is lost then it’s a problem. Maybe Robbo shouldn’t have been that far forward but none of us really know because it all depends on where Klopp wants him to be. It felt like the end of the world though. Not because I didn’t think we’d come back, but because we conceded a goal and it put a dent in our wonderful record. Any goal conceded now puts me on a massive downer because I love how miserly we’ve become. Imagine beating the record for fewest goals conceded! It could happen. For so many years it’s been our big weakness and if I’m being honest I’d gotten used to winning 4-3 rather than 1-0 and was actually quite happy with that. "Clean sheets are boring, we’re the fucking entertainers!!" Actually no, clean sheets are fucking boss as long as they aren’t achieved through shithouse footy. I don’t want to watch a defensive side. Been there, done that, and it’s only palatable when it delivers trophies. Take the trophies away and it’s fucking shit. I want to watch an attacking side who are also boss at defending. That’s what we have now and this season has been a fucking ball so far. You can tell the players are obsessed with clean sheets too, and when Arsenal scored they were fuming. They couldn’t wait to get the game started again and within five minutes they had the lead. Score against us? The fuck do you think you are? Bing, bang, bosh, pow. 4-1 before we’d even reached half time. Ian Wright in the BT studio was screaming “WHY DID WE HAVE TO UPSET THEM!?!?|” Love Ian Wright me you know. Funny guy, wears his heart on his sleeve. Probably my favourite Gunner now. It used to be Club Shop Ty, but he was a bit of a knob in his post match with Arsenal Fan TV so he’s slipped down the pecking order now and Wrighty is number one. The response to going behind was great though wasn’t it? You can say Arsenal let us back in with their terrible defending and naive play in midfield, but I’d prefer to take the view that we forced them into those errors. Pressure causes mistakes, and after going behind our lads just intensified the pressure they were putting them under and Arsenal cracked. There was a big slice of luck about the equaliser, as one Arsenal defender smashed the ball against another, leaving Bobby with a tap in. I didn’t know at the time how the ball ended up at his feet, but I saw it at half time on the TV screens under the Main Stand. Every goal that was shown was greeted with a cheer, but the angle that showed the ‘no look’ finish got the loudest one. The ‘no look’ thing bothered me initially as it’s unnecessary showboating and there’s a risk (however small) that it could backfire. I generally don’t like that sort of thing. As a comparison, in the NFL last year one my Bears players had a clear run to the end zone but he slowed right down with a few yards to go as he wanted to look cool by walking in. He got caught from behind and the ball was knocked out of his hands. Bobby hasn’t been caught out yet, but what if he misses by doing this? It’s probably a thousand to one chance that he does, but why risk it? That’s been my view of it, but he’s always going to do it and clearly Klopp has never told him not to, so fuck it. No point me worrying, may as well just buzz off it like everyone else. A minute later he was zig zagging his way through the defence and leaving a trail of Arsenal bodies in his wake. What a great goal. It was also the exact type of goal I expect to see us scoring against Arsenal. Rob them in midfield and then BANG! Arsenal will never learn. That’s how we used to do them when we had Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling too. I’m made up for Bobby. He’s not been scoring many but it never gets him down as he’s all about the good of the team over personal glory. That’s why Klopp loves him so much and why his team-mates feel the same. Soon after it was 3-1. Arsenal cleared a corner but didn’t mark up properly as they pushed out. Robbo’s cross field ball picked out Mo in space and he intelligently squared it for Sadio to bury. Game over. No way were we allowing Arsenal to score two more. It was all about how many we’d score now. The fourth was fantastic. Ok, it was a penalty, but I’m taking about the play to lead up to it. Alisson’s pass to pick out Bobby on the right wing was stunning. The reaction around the ground when he hit that said it all. It felt as though there was a collective “whoa!” from fifty odd thousand people. Bobby fed Mo and he did that thing he’s so good at. Not going down a pen, I’m talking about how he’s happy to dribble the ball into the tiniest space to go around the defender. They’ll always show him the line to keep him off his left foot and to narrow the angle, but he’s happy to just go outside and he’s scored from that position loads of times. This time he didn’t get a shot away because Sokratis had two nibbles at the back of his calf. Was it enough for him to go down naturally or he did he dive? Who knows. It was a foul though and were it not for what happened against Newcastle a few days before I don’t think there’d even be any discussion about this one. There was a long delay before he got to take the pen, and at one stage I saw an Arsenal player (Ramsay I think) in his face trying to put him off. It didn’t work. The penalty went up the middle and just about went in. Arsenal weren’t happy about it but they only have themselves to blame for their schoolboy like defending. Arsenal’s players acted like dicks for most of the game I thought. Actually I take that back, most of them were fine, it was the defenders who were all acting up. The old timer at right back spent virtually the entire game slaughtering the officials and being a snide. Sokratis was just as bad too. He had a real hard done about Mo winning that penalty against him and tried to start something in the tunnel at half time. Big Virgil just stepped in and put a stop to any of that nonsense though. Even after the game Klopp went over to Sokratis (his former player at Dortmund) and he was still fucking bitching about it. You kicked at his ankles, twice, stop blaming Salah for you being shite and slow. I suppose it was Mo’s fault that you and Mustafi both ended up flat on your arses watching Bobby slalom through to make it 2-1? Dick. The second half was a procession. We only scored one more but that often seems to happen in these games that are over by half time. It was another soft pen, as Kolasinic needlessly shoved Lovren in the back. Did he go down easily? Possibly, but if you get firmly shoved in the back then it’s a foul. It wasn’t one of those when a defender puts his hands on a player’s back to stop him from backing in and the player feels it and hits the deck (otherwise known as “doing an Ashley Barnes”). It was a push in the back. End of. Mo insisting Bobby took the pen to get his hat-trick was nice. Look how delighted he was for him when he scored too. The front three are looking like they’re back in last season’s groove now. All scoring, all creating for each other and all just generally loving it. We all know how obsessed Mo has become with scoring goals but he gave that up so Firmino could get his hat-trick. Could you imagine Kane doing that for Son or Alli? Bobby is the most selfless player in the league and his team-mates all know it. Mo owes him than anybody and it’s great to see him recognise that. Klopp was blown away by the gesture. I doubt he’d have felt the same had the scoreline been closer, but at 4-1 you can afford a liberty or two. I don’t actually think there’s much between them when it comes to pens anyway, as frankly I don’t trust either of them, and I wouldn’t have much confidence in Sadio either. I don’t mind them taking them when Milner isn’t on the field but all three of them have a miss in them. Mo’s scored from the spot in consecutive games but I didn’t particularly like either pen. The first one he telegraphed big time. His whole body shape screamed out where the ball was going. The keeper went the right way but didn’t get there. This one went down the middle but was almost saved. If Milner isn’t there then I’m happy enough for Mo to be the taker but I don’t have a great deal of faith in him. Bobby has missed a few as well, but they’ve been a bit unlucky (hitting the post and the bar if I remember rightly) and at least he looks like he’s confident when taking them. Klopp suggested afterwards though that he hardly ever scores them in training, so that’s a little bit of a concern. Still, worrying about who’s taking penalties makes a welcome change from wondering why we aren’t getting any. Love how everyone is fuming about it like we’ve been getting pens every week. Keep clutching those straws, you bitter bastards. The best thing about this victory is that we were brilliant without ever really hitting top form. Actually I might be being a little harsh there. Had we finished off some of the absolutely stunning moves we put together than we might be talking about one of the all time great performances, but because we didn’t I’m left thinking that we can play significantly better than this. Off the top of my head I can think of a few moments that would have put a completely different spin on the performance. There was Fabinho hitting the keeper after Mo’s exquisite drag back and flick put him in. Also, Mo not going round the keeper after Shaqiri’s fucking delicious ball with the outside of his foot. Then there was that Harlem Globetrotters move when Hendo hit a cross field volley to Bobby as everyone piled forward. If we’d scored there that would have been replayed for decades, like Terry Mac’s header against Spurs. There were others too. Some of the football was unreal but we didn’t finish those moves off. We still scored five though. I’m running out of words to describe this team. I still think there’s another gear for them to go to if they need it too. This is something genuinely special we’re living through right now. I was saying to my Dad afterwards, imagine being an opposing manager facing this Liverpool side. What do you do? Where do you target? It used to be a case of hanging on in there and waiting for set-pieces, because we were shite in the air. Now Virgil just heads away everything. Failing that, they knew they could get at Moreno because eventually he’d do something stupid. Now the best left back in the world has that flank locked down. Ok, so maybe target the teenager on the other flank. Nope, Trent ain’t having that and he’s not a teenager anymore. Ah well, there’s always the keeper, he’s a weak link. Newsflash, Mig is on the bench and Karius has been banished to Turkey. No weakness there. The only way anyone (other than maybe Spurs, Man City or possibly Chelsea) is beating us if we have an off day and the opposition have a considerable amount of luck. That can happen, and it might happen, but what I’m saying is that you can’t really plan on how to beat this team because they’re too good. To beat us, 95% of the league need us to play badly or they have no chance. City are the only ones who could beat us when we’re playing well, and even then they’d probably need the rub of the green. That game later this week is going to be fucking epic. If we were to play Thursday’s game ten times, I’d expect to win five, draw a few and maybe lose a couple. So I’m confident we’ll win but certainly not complacent about it. City could beat us, no question about it. If they play as they can and we’re even a little bit off, we won’t win. The magnitude of the game tells me our lads will be right at it though. They usually are in these big games. We’ve come a long way in that regard. We’ve come a long way in every regard actually. The game isn’t a title decider because if we lose we’ve still got a nice cushion. If we win though I do believe it’s virtually over, because with a ten point lead it’s hard to see this team of ours letting that slip. We could easily drop 10 points between now and May, but City and/or Spurs would have to win every game and neither look capable of doing that. There’s far more pressure on City in this game so let’s go there and turn the screw on the fuckers. Come on you mighty Redmen!!! Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson (Clyne); Fabinho, Wijnaldum (Lallana); Shaqiri, Firmino, Mané (Henderson); Salah:

I’ve always been grateful for la sécurité sociale, as the French equivalent of the NHS is known. Some of the best general practitioners around and a plethora of specialists. They know how to deal with stress, nerves, insomnia, irregular heartbeats, etc., etc. as well as anyone. Well, at least I hope they do, because I’m going to be needing them over the next six months. I thought this would be enjoyable. But it’s not really, is it? Maybe that’s because I’m a miserable old sod or maybe it’s just a defence mechanism against the inevitable disappointment that we’ve become used to – in terms of the Title at any rate – in the last 30-odd years. Whatever it is, the “enjoyment” is ephemeral – when we go close, when we score, when I engage in a flurry of WhatsApp messages after the game. And then, when the lights go out and you’re waiting for the next game, three days later, looking at the different permutations, a thousand scenarios going through your mind, you realise that the next five months are going to be unbearable. Millions of Reds’ daily existence and possibly state of mind dictated to by what goes on during those 90 minutes… In the last few days Klopp has tried to douse the fires of optimism. And while you can’t blame him for that, you also can’t blame Reds for believing our time has come (again). Of course, there’s plenty of drivel too: I saw someone refer to us as “Champions-elect” last week. But most of the enthusiasm is justified based on a) years of pent-up hope which is looking more and more justified and b) our first half of the season. I did a piece for the site at the start of the season and I mentioned that I couldn’t believe the optimism going into a new season, mainly because we had finished 25 points behind City! To make up that gap, we would have to effectively win NINE GAMES MORE than last season, assuming they maintained their level. We are on course to do that: we’ve won 16 out of 19, as against 21 out of 38 for the whole of last season. City can only get to 100 points if they win the rest of their games. So, the optimism – with the hindsight of half a season – was well founded. I don’t know if it was blind faith in Klopp and this team or some solid reasoning or a bit of both, but whatever it was, I wish I were more like those Reds! The other reservation I had was our goals against column, as I wrote at the time: “From 1.33 goals a game conceded in his first season, we progressed to 1.10 a game in 2016-2017 and to 1 last season (2017-2018). The hope is that Alisson will finally win us points. We haven’t been able to say that for years; decades, perhaps. When was the last time we would say a keeper was worth X number of points a season to us? Often, it’s been the opposite: they’ve cost us points and more recently trophies. The plus/minus on that front will go a long way to dictating our season. I’ve said it before: Salah, Bobby and Sadio (and maybe even Daniel now!) can’t be expected to go to the well week after week. They need to know that ONE will be enough sometimes. Again, this is an area in which we’ve progressed immensely. In 2016-2017 we kept 11 clean sheets, last season we were up to 18. We’re going to need to produce those numbers this season to sustain a Title challenge and all the while be as prolific up front as we were last season.” Ask and you shall receive! Alisson has been a revelation, one or two faux pas aside, but that comes with the territory with him. Virgil has just got better with every game and has also made everyone else better. 12 clean sheets out of 19 tells its own story. We concede an average of a goal every 244 minutes, essentially a goal every three games! And we’ve managed to do all this while still averaging well over 2 goals a game. We may not be as exciting as we were last season, although there are signs that this could be changing, but we are certainly a more clinical outfit. That Klopp has managed to do all this while having to contend with numerous injuries – Trent, Joe, Lovren, Keita, Hendo and Milner have all been out at different stages – is to his eternal credit. His man management, notably of Fabinho, has been just right. And his signings have improved us – no given in terms of Liverpool managers over the years. Shaqiri was a steal and the bargain of this team. Apart from The Great Andy Robertson. I hoped at the start of the season to improve on last season’s total of 75 points. That should be doable now! But things can change very quickly. City have had a blip, one from which they could roar back. Spurs, since losing to us, have won 12 out of 14! The next month will tell a lot. If, after our next five games, we are sitting on 60 points, then I might start believing. And making medical appointments. John Brennan