Leaderboard

Saturday Jan 5: Lots of interesting bits from Klopp’s pre-Wolves presser today. The 16 year old Dutch kid might play against Wolves, as might Curtis Jones and Rafa Camacho, who is a target for his former club Sporting Lisbon apparently. We might need him on Monday though because we’ve got no back up right back after Clyne was allowed to join Bournemouth on loan. Something doesn’t really add up here. Clyne apparently asked to leave, but why would he want out when there’s a chance of him playing a role in a title win and / or Champions League success? Ok, he’s not first choice, but he started against United and he’s been on the bench ever since. He’s not a million miles away from getting a game. Trent could get injured, Gomez is regularly injured, and Clyne might even be next in line at left back. He’s giving that up to go and play for Bournemouth? It’s not even a World Cup or Euros year, so it’s not like he needs to worry about an England spot. Just seems weird to me, but then Clyne’s entire situation for the past couple of years has been weird. There was barely ever any updates on when he’d be fit again after his back injury, and when was the last time he did any kind of interview with the TV channel? Usually injured players are on there all the time, hell, Ox is on there more than Peter McDowell, but Clyne has been nowhere to be seen. Like I say, just a very odd situation. He’ll be joined at Bournemouth by Dom Solanke, who made a permanent move there for £19m. Michael Edwards drives a harder bargain that Daniel Levy these days. Credit where it's due, we do great when it comes to bringing in big money for players we don’t want. I like Solanke though, he’ll be a good player for someone but it's been clear for a while it wouldn’t be for us. Just not a great fit for how we play. Klopp basically said we needed to do right by him and let him leave because if you want to attract young players to the club you have to show them that they’ll either get a chance or they’ll be allowed to move on. Keeping hold of Solanke would have served no purpose at this point. £19m though? Bournemouth are great aren’t they? Other snippets from today were that Moreno and Mignolet will both start in Monday night’s upcoming defeat at Wolves. Moreno is “an unbelievably professional person” apparently, and as for Mignolet, well Klopp said “I could write a book of all the good things I could say about Simon”. Yeah, and it’d be in the fiction aisle, amirite? Sunday Jan 6: Fulham want Origi and we want £25m. Neither is happening and here’s why: Fulham have got Mitrovic, Shurrle and Sessegnon, so they’re fine up top. They need defenders, not a centre forward. And as for us, well we’ve just sold Solanke so why would we let Origi go as well? Unless we’re bringing someone in of course, or promoting a kid. Bobby Duncan is making big progress but fuck knows where Rhian Brewster is. He was meant to be back in November and there’s still no sign of him and as far as I’m aware there’s been no updates. He’ll be at Bournemouth before we know it. It’s easy to say Clyne, Solanke and Origi are all expendable and won’t be missed, but I don’t like the idea of us coming out of a transfer window significantly weaker than when we went into it, especially when there’s so much at stake in the next five months. Mind you, I'm still pissed we sold arl Ragnar in the summer. Monday Jan 7: Wolves 2 L 1. Shite that. Proper shite. I had no problem with Klopp’s team selection and I can’t say I’m bothered we won’t be in the next round. I was prepared for a defeat and fully expected it, but I thought the weakened team would at least have a go. Some did but others clearly didn’t give a fuck and are just waiting for the season to end so they can leave. Lovren getting injured shows just why we can do without the FA Cup this year. Imagine if that had been Virgil playing and getting injured. Or Salah. Or Robbo. Bloody hell, the thought of us having to roll with Moreno in any kind of meaningful game fills me with dread. This should be his last game for us all being well. If Robbo needs a rest, put Milner there. Lovren being out for a while gives us a problem though. Gomez and Matip are a couple of weeks off at least, so that leaves Fabinho as the only option alongside Virgil. If anything happens to him? I think we’d see Hendo there, or possibly Gini at a push. Then again, I reckon even I could play there and Virgil would get me through it. Ki-Jana Hoever did himself a power of good tonight though. Fucking hell, that is one ice cold kid that. No nerves at all, and even on the couple of anxious looking moments he had there was no trace of worry or fear on his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid that relaxed and calm on his debut, it was incredible. No wonder Clyne was sent packing. This kid looks like he could play right back standing on his fucking head. Tuesday Jan 8: Pogba’s brother speaks out and says Mourinho was the problem at United. He’s probably right but any credibility he might have was shot to pieces by this comment: “Mourinho always wants to be the maestro, the centre of attention. Paul does not even think about this aspect”. Holy shit, I genuinely hope he’s saying that just to troll his brother, because if he genuinely believes that every single thing, big or small, that Paul Pogba does, is not done to make him the centre of attention, then he needs locking up as he’s a fucking danger. Meanwhile, Guardiola denies having the groundsman let the grass grow longer to slow us down last week. I actually thought when I was watching it that there was something not right with the pitch, as it looked slow as fuck and the grass was longer than usual. Apparently some of our fans have been accusing Guardiola of doing it to make life difficult for us to move the ball quickly. Come on now, Guardiola isn’t Tony fucking Pulis and I’m not buying the notion that it was his doing. He came out strongly to defend himself, saying “We want to cut the field all the time, all my career, 10 years as a manager. The better conditions for both teams, I never put in some trick about this. “Always when you do this, karma or something punishes you. You have to do the best for the opponents, for the game, respect the game and the rules. Ok Pep, you had me right up until “respect the game and the rules”. Say that again with a straight face. In other news, over at the Everton AGM…. Denise Barrett-Baxendale says Everton’s vision for next ten years and beyond is to be “challenging at the top of the Premier League and competing at the highest level in European Competitons”. And it’s my vision for the next ten years to get my golf game in shape and enter the PGA senior tour where I’ll win the grand slam of majors. Whose chances do you like more? Another delusive boardroom stooge, Keith Harris, says: We are hoping to put a spade in the ground early next year, we certainly will be in a position to complete within 3 years. It will be a fortress that clubs shudder to visit. Harris also said that Farhad Moshiri and him asked Arsenal Wenger which stadium does he dread visiting the most? “Goodison Park”, said Wenger. What he didn’t say was that Wenger dreaded visiting Goodison because the stadium is falling down, the away dressing room stinks of piss, and Duncan Ferguson is given free reign to roam around the hallways with his pigeons. Don’t ever change, Everton. Wednesday Jan 9: City put nine past Burton in the cup. So many things to take away from this. Firstly, the ground was empty. 30k apparently, but that’s bollocks. There might well have been more Burton fans there than City fans. Now I’ve said before that I’m not one for scoffing at clubs not filling their ground because as fans we’re being ripped off by our clubs and I’m not going to sit in judgement when there are empty seats. That being said, this is a bit different isn’t it? It’s a cup semi final. Yes, it’s a League One opponent, but City were in that league not so long ago, getting 35k for home games. They’ve been successful for a few years now, but it’s not exactly been decades of dominance has it? Are they bored with success already? This is part of what I was meaning when I wrote last week that Aguero has wasted his career playing for City. They’re a small club that has been artificially elevated by the financial backing of an entire country. All the money in the world can’t buy them fans or make them a big club. They know that, which is part of the reason why they’re so obsessed with us. The other thing people are debating is whether they should have eased up on Burton instead of continuing to pile on the misery. I don’t have a specific problem with them trying to score more goals, but I reckon most teams would have taken their foot off the gas once they reached five or six. City not doing that doesn’t surprise me because they’re knobs. Burton aren’t part timers though. If they didn’t like it they should have stopped them. If they felt like City were embarrassing them then fucking kick them, turn the game into a war. Don’t let them continue to play their pretty little passes and run up the score. I don’t feel sorry for Burton at all, but if they have anything about them they’ll bust some fucking heads in the second leg. Telling that Phil Foden couldn’t get a start even against lower league opposition when Guardiola is rotating his squad. No fucking wonder kids like Jaden Sancho and Bobby Duncan are getting the hell out of dodge. If Foden is as good as people say he is (I don’t know because he never plays so I never see him) he’d probably have 25-30 starts if he was playing for us. City will never bring kids through because they have so much money they can’t help but spend it on players they don’t need. Case in point; Riyad Mahrez. They didn’t need him, they’re struggling to find a place for him and his presence in the squad has made it more difficult for Foden. The other reason they won’t bring kids through is because Flat Track Pep doesn’t want to. He loves a stacked deck, he’s built his career on it. When he leaves City he's nailed on to end up at PSG. Thursday Jan 10: Where is all this Tarkowski talk coming from? Sean Dyche doesn’t know, he says it’s all news to him. I bet Klopp has no idea either, as there’s no way we’re in for Tarkwoski, and certainly not for the £50m being talked about. I don’t see it with Tarkowski at all. He’s another Michael Keane. Burnley’s defensive record this year has been garbage despite them playing defensive football. How good can he be? Basically a poor man's Harry Maguire, and he's not that good either. Other rumours today have us looking to bring Coutinho back. Now that's a rumour I can get behind. He had a stinker tonight as they lost in the Spanish Cup and their fans haven’t taken to him at all. Ok, if this is a possibility then I’d be all over it. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the shit he pulled to get out but I’d happily bury that in the past if we could bring him back here. It would have to be at a cut down price though. We haven’t replaced him and if he came back he’d be a great asset to us, in midfield against the dregs of the league and in the front three or as an impact sub against the good sides. It won’t happen though as I just don’t think Klopp would spend that kind of money on him. If he was spending big, he’d sign a different type of player I think. Maybe I’m wrong though, as he did want to sign Nabil Fekir. The worry I have is if Barca sell Coutinho he’s going to end up in Manchester. Whether it’s City or United I don’t know, but I suspect both would be all over him like Juventus on a freebie if he was made available. Would we? It might depend on how desperate Coutinho was to get back here. Could he convince Klopp to give him another chance? Maybe, if he was humble enough. Jurgen once told him “Stay here and be successful and they will end up building a statue in your honour. Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more." Coutinho is now finding that out. Friday Jan 11: Ben Woodburn is back at Melwood, but not for long it seems. His loan with Sheffield United has been cancelled (I thought it was cancelled about two months ago?) but other Championship clubs want to take him. This is a crucial time for Woodburn as his career has stalled massively in the last 18 months. The first thing that needs to happen is a decision needs to be made on what his long term position is (personally I see him as a midfield player) and then whoever signs him needs to be playing him there. Sheffield United was obviously a bad fit for him so the club need to make a better decision this time. Another teenager who won’t be going on loan, at least according to reports today, is Rafa Camacho. The suggestion is that Klopp thinks he could have a role to play this season. Can’t see it myself, not based on the Wolves game anyway. It’s not that he was bad, it’s just that he seemed to play everywhere except right back. Whether that’s down to him or whether it was Klopp trying out some weird new system I’m not sure. I suspect it’s the latter, but the idea of using a teenage winger at full back in any meaningful game seems a bit mental to me so I’ll take this talk with a pinch of salt. That said, I might play him left back ahead of Moreno, as that lad's head is already back in Spain. Finally, it looks like Chelsea are making a move for Koulibaly and there are some who think we should rival them. I think he’s brilliant and the prospect of him lining up alongside Virgil is an enticing one, but Joe Gomez looks like he could be one of the very best if he can stop getting injured. We’ve got Lovren and Matip too, so spending big on another centre back is not going to happen, not this month anyway. Might be one to revisit in the summer if we move Lovren and Matip on. With Virgil and Koulibaly playing together we might never concede a goal ever again. If we spend big in the summer though I'd rather it was on Coutinho, but I'm probably in a minority there. .... and that was the week that was

First off, I really wanted us to win this game. Not because I’m arsed about the FA Cup this year, but because I just wanted us to win. I always want us to win and it would have been a real positive to win a game without hardly any of the regulars. Additionally it would have given us another opportunity to play some of the kids in the next round. Because make no mistake, I wouldn’t have wanted any of the starters playing. Not while we’re still in a title race. But we didn’t win and the truth is I won’t lose a second’s sleep over not being in the next round. Some will call that disrespecting the FA Cup or being a sky generation fan. That’s fine. Call it what you like. Presumably those who were so desperate to win the FA Cup feel Jurgen should have taken it more seriously and gone with a stronger side? Is he disrespecting the cup too? Personally I’d call it prioritising and being sensible, and if I were to criticise him for his selection (which I’m not) it’s that he didn’t go far enough and it cost us a starter for the weekend. In fairness to Klopp his options for resting players were limited due to injuries to both of the under 23s most experienced centre backs, and had Masterson and/or Phillips been fit then certainly Lovren and perhaps even Fabinho would have been given the night off too. Not everyone will agree with him but as far as I’m concerned his approach to the game was fully vindicated based on what happened with Lovren, who limped off with a hamstring injury after two minutes. Klopp didn’t want to play him but felt like he had no choice, and now he’s injured. Yeah, joke all you like about how “it’s only Lovren” or “at least it wasn’t anyone important” but we’re down to the bare bones at that position and this shows exactly why I didn’t want any first team players involved in the cup. Not this year. When one day we finally get that monkey off our backs and win the league, that changes everything, but now? This year? We’re better off out of it, with Klopp able to take his squad away for some warm weather training to prepare for league games while City and Spurs juggle cup commitments. Of course we need to win something but we’re in an exceptional situation here. We couldn’t be in a better position at this stage of the season to win the title, and we’re still in the Champions League. If ‘taking the cup seriously’ puts that even the tiniest bit at risk then for me it’s not worth it. That doesn’t sit well with some based on the flak that came my way on Twitter after the game. I don’t care. Sorry I'm not sorry. Going out of the cup doesn’t guarantee anything in terms of winning the title. I get that. We might end up empty handed and if that happens there’ll be people ragging on Klopp for not going all out to win either of the domestic cups. Personally I’ll be far too devastated at the fact we hadn’t won the title despite having a seven point lead at New Year to even think twice about the fucking cups. It would have been nice to win everything, but how likely is that? Very likely if we could field our best eleven in every game, but we can’t do that and therefore the key to any success we have this year is to keep our key players fit. Playing them in FA Cup games isn’t going to help on that front, just ask Lovren. So for me Klopp did the right thing. Yet despite everything I’ve just said about not being bothered about going out of the cup, bizarrely I was as angry watching this game as I’ve been all season. Especially in the first half. I couldn’t believe some of things I was seeing. Losing the game was never going to make me angry, but the lack of effort from some was inexcusable and there were things going on in that first half that I found hard to comprehend. I don’t know what the hell we were even trying to do. The formation was bizarre, I've never seen anything so disjointed, and the approach of some of the players left an awful lot to be desired. I’ll start with Sturridge, who was a fucking disgrace and was strolling around there like the whole thing was beneath him. Completely not arsed, and not for the first time either. He’s probably just counting down the days until he leaves now and hoping to get a few run outs off the bench to bag himself a medal if we win it. He's got the talent to actually make a telling impact between now and May and he's already made a big contribution with that goal at Chelsea, but when he's picked in games like this, he simply does not give a fuck. This is the problem currently though. The keeper, back four and front three more or less pick themselves now and the back ups know that no matter what they do they won’t force their way in. And THIS is the net result of it. Klopp speaks glowingly about the way these players work in training. Maybe he’s right, or maybe he’s just offering them a carrot to get something out of them. Based on this though… fucking hell. Moreno runs around and looks enthusiastic, I’ll give him that. But he jumped out of a tackle in his own box. IN HIS OWN BOX!! They call that a ‘business decision’ in the NFL. Where a player whose contract is running down will avoid taking hits in case it results in injury. That’s what I immediately thought when I saw Moreno’s bottle job, especially in the wake of his comments last week about how poorly he felt he was treated after ‘putting his body on the line’ for the club and getting injured last season. He wasn’t making that mistake again. Shame he doesn’t take the same approach to the other mistakes he repeatedly makes. Then there’s the Mig. I’d hesitate to say he could have done better as he probably couldn’t. Alisson saves both of those goals though, without question. The first goal is the prime example of what Alisson brings. Only his harshest critic would blame that goal on Mignolet because it’s not what you’d call an error as such. But his attempt at keeping it out was shit. One of the big differences Alisson has made is he makes saves that might not be in the running for ‘save of the season’, but they prevent this type of goal. So many goals we’ve conceded in recent years have been ones where you’d say “the keeper couldn’t have done anything”. Yet now we have a keeper who can do something and it’s highlighted exactly what we’ve been missing. I repeat, Alisson saves both of the Wolves goals in this game. The thing that annoyed me most about Mignolet though was how he played with the ball at his feet. I get that this is how our keepers are supposed to play and that he isn’t as accomplished as Alisson. It wasn’t his technique that was the problem though (his actual kicking was really good for the most part), it was the decision making. I lost count of the times he played the ball out to the edge of the box to a marked player. That’s not so bad when it’s an experienced pro like Milner or Fabinho, but when you’re giving it to a 16 year old kid on his debut and he’s immediately put under pressure by an opponent that smells blood, how fucking stupid do you have to be? It was just a mess all around though. Even Shaqiri looked thoroughly disinterested until Mo and Bobby came on and suddenly he was all bizz again. Disappointing that as I expect more from him. In mitigation though, he didn’t look as though he had any idea what his role was as there were times when he was 30 yards behind Camacho, who after a good opening 15 minutes at right back completely disappeared off the TV screen. Quite literally. He was so far forward the camera didn’t even have him in shot for most of the first half. Jermaine Jenas pointed it out a few times, mentioning on one occasion that he was in the centre forward position. You could put that down to inexperience and him naturally being a winger rather than a full back, but I don’t think it’s that simple. Klopp was on that side of the pitch in the first half and if Camacho was repeatedly out of position he’d have been talking him through it. The fact it continued into the second half tells me Camacho was doing as asked, but it sure as hell didn’t work as we were never able to get him into the game and I don’t remember him getting one cross in. He was nowhere to be seen in defensive areas either. This contributed to Milner trying to play about four different positions in the game. I felt for him. How come he was out there with the stiffs and the kids? What did he do to deserve that? He ran himself ragged at City the other day and he did it again in this game. It wasn’t a good game for him and he fucked up massively for the Wolves opener, but he’s only just back from a hamstring injury and sending him out there at all seemed an unnecessary risk to me, especially when he trying to plug so many gaps. I don’t even know if he was playing in midfield or as a third centre back. It looked like when we had the ball he dropped into the middle and the two centre backs went wide, with the full backs so far up the pitch they were halfway back to Merseyside. It was a bad night for Milner, who was booked early on and then tip toed around unable to put any tackles in. And what the fuck was he doing on that first goal? Getting caught in possession was one thing, but what happened after was unfathomable. I watched that in sheer disbelief. The lad in the middle for Wolves did a good job of blocking him out so he couldn’t go and close down Jiminez, but for the longest time it looked like Milner had no interest in going to him anyway. He went with the runner and completely ignored the lad with the ball, which was a terrible decision and something I’d have expected of one of the teenagers, not from the most experienced player in the squad. A bad night for him but he gets a pass because of the shift he put in. The biggest worry for me was undoubtedly the lacklustre display of Keita. Fucking hell lad, this was your chance to show you should be starting, and you come up with a performance like THAT?? Maybe one of the professional stat nerds can tell us what his "stepover to tackle" ratio was in this game, because I’d guess it’s around 50/1. Klopp must feel like Obi Wan with Anakin here. “You were the chosen one!!! You were supposed to bring balance to the midfield, not destroy it!”. He was the player I was looking forward to seeing most in this game and he was utterly wretched. His night was summed up with that scandalously shite overhit ball when he could have put Mo through for the equaliser. Get it together Naby because we need you, we’ve got a title to win here. And here’s something else I’m irked about. Where the fuck was Adam Lallana? “In the best shape since I’ve known him” according to Klopp a day or two before. And when we actually needed him on the pitch instead of warming the bench, just where the fuck was he? Injured. Again. Fucking hell. Must be the weight of that 100k a week salary weighing him down, because since he signed that he’s played about five fucking minutes. It’s become a trend now that whenever Klopp has to make wholesale changes like this, the squad players deliver a big old shit sandwich. Individually you can probably put most of them into the team with the first choice players and they’ll do alright, but any time the fringe squad are out there together they invariably deliver performances like this. The other top sides can make a lot of changes and still win but for whatever reason we can’t. It’s not a big deal this year for the reasons I outlined above, but going forward this is something that needs addressing. The poor showings from most of the senior players made things much more difficult for the kids. Curtis Jones started brightly but the longer it went on the worse he got, and he looked utterly lost in the second half. I’m a huge fan of his and he’s a special talent, but playing on the left wing probably wasn’t ideal for him and it might be a while before he gets another chance as he didn’t look anywhere near ready. No shame in that, he’s only 17 and has plenty of time. He’s an old stager compared to Ki-Jana However though. Fucking hell, that kid can play. He wasn’t perfect and there were a few difficult moments, but the composure and confidence he showed was absolutely incredible. Even his facial expressions showed just how relaxed he was from start to finish. Utterly non-plussed by the whole thing he was. Sometimes young players can look like a scared rabbit (Danny Ayala anyone?) but this kid just strolled out there and played as though he was in an under 18 game. You have to look at the circumstances here. Firstly, this is a kid who has barely even played u23 football yet. He’s only been here a few months and has gone from the u18 squad to training with the first team and then being picked in the squad for a game against Premier League opposition. Secondly, he didn’t start the game. He was on the bench but had no time to prepare for coming on because Lovren lasted only two minutes. That’s difficult even for experienced players as you’re not expecting it and haven’t warmed up properly. So he comes in cold. Not into a back four with Trent, Van Dijk and Robbo, or with Alisson behind him. No, he’s in a back four alongside a midfielder playing out of position, a teenage winger playing full back but who would go awol down the field for most of the game, and Alberto fucking Moreno. All things considered, Hoever’s performance was genuinely remarkable. Imagine how much better he’ll be when he has Big Virgil talking him through. No disrespect to Fabinho, who played well, but I’m not even sure he speaks English yet so communication with the kid was always going to be tough. I can’t speak highly enough of how Hoever played and his composure on the ball and ability to pass forwards suggests he’ll probably be used as a right back for his formative years until he fully develops. And that run he made past three players after dispossessing the winger in the box was fucking boss. The best part of it was the way he delayed his pass for a second while he waited for the space to open up. Absolute class. I might start watching the u23s again just to see this kid play. I haven’t mentioned Origi yet, and he deserves some credit for his goal which was a top quality strike. He also deserves credit for trying and for not looking like he thought the game was beneath him. He wasn’t good by any means, but he tried and was more than willing to chase back and help out. Fair play to him as it’s more than Sturridge was prepared to do. Maybe that will factor into Klopp’s thinking next time he needs to bring one of them on? His goal brought us back into the game and if we’d been able to keep it level for any length of time maybe we’d have won it. Unfortunately we were behind again after just five minutes. Good strike by Neves but Mignolet went down like a roll of lino. It wasn’t in the corner and it was only a few yards away from him. Yet not only did he not save it, he didn’t actually get anywhere near it. Impressive in it’s own way that. Shaqiri was within a whisker of levelling it again with a perfectly placed free kick, but the faintest of touches from John Ruddy diverted it onto the post. Hell of a save that. In hindsight maybe instead of starting with Sturridge Klopp would have been better just sending out one of the Academy lads in a Suarez mask to run around a bit and traumatise Ruddy? We never really looked like doing anything after that Shaqiri effort. Lots of possession but zero quality in attacking areas. It got better with Bobby and Mo on, as you’d expect, but I’m just relieved they both came through unscathed. Tell you something though, Wolves were fucking shit as well and this narrative about how well they’ve done to “knock Liverpool out” is pissing me off. We were horrendous but were within a centimetre of forcing a replay that on the balance of play we probably deserved. “Oh look at Wolves, they’ve had results against all of the top six”. No they haven’t, because this team was Liverpool in name only. We’ll never see that line up representing the club ever again, and hopefully some of the players in it are done now too, as if we’re in a position where we need to call on them between now and May then we’re in trouble. Star man is Hoever due to the exceptional circumstances he found himself in, but our best player was actually Fabinho I think. He should have done better on the opening goal when he dived in and didn’t win it, but otherwise he stood strong all night and will be a more than capable fill in alongside Van Dijk until Gomez, Matip and Lovren are available again. Two losses on the spin isn’t ideal but in my head it’s only one because this doesn’t count in terms of our situation. The important thing is we don’t lose in the league. Brighton away is a difficult game as they’re good at home, but we should win and it’s vital that we do. The City loss shouldn’t really cause the team to lose any confidence, if anything they should have grown in belief, but they must bounce back by going on another run, starting this weekend. Team: Mignolet; Camacho, Lovren (Hoever), Fabinho, Moreno; Shaqiri, Milner, Keita, Jones (Salah); Sturridge (Firmino), Origi:

Seventeen “Title Deciders” Remain: In the days leading up to the match at the Etihad, many pundits billed it as a “title decider” between the league’s top two teams. Liverpool’s lead has in fact shrunk to four points, even with Guardiola’s men on goal difference, and there’s no arguing a Liverpool victory – and a resulting ten point gap - wouldn’t paint a dramatically different picture at this stage in the season. Judging from recent history, however, it’s not this result between the holders and the leaders that will decide the title. As Andy Robertson reflected to LiverpoolFC.com after the match “they’ve closed the gap but it is all about how we react.” Liverpool entered last Thursday’s match as the favourite to win the league in large part because of the consistency they’ve shown throughout the first twenty matches of the season, and despite this loss, Liverpool remain a damn good football team. They remain a side that have won all fourteen matches against teams outside of the Top Six and they have earned three wins, three draws and a single loss against those Top Six, having played one more match away than at home and with both Manchester City matches in the rearview mirror. They’ve lost once in twenty-one matches - and have yet to be beaten at Anfield – and they’ve conceded less than a goal every other game. Liverpool’s mission must now be to maintain their form over the next seventeen matches. If they do that, they’ll be champions. Defensive Acquisitions Prove their Worth yet Again: Crucial to Liverpool’s mission will be the efforts of its league-leading defence, which again showed its quality in Manchester. The visitors were undone by two world-class finishes (as well as a few defensive mistakes – more on that below), but City’s goal tally could easily have been doubled if not for the interventions of Liverpool’s two defensive bedrocks, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker. The Dutchman was everywhere Liverpool needed him to be in the first half, smartly tracking Sane’s central run to cut out David Silva’s cross inside the opening half hour, blocking the Spaniard’s close-range effort after Sterling’s layoff moments later and heading away Sterling’s chipped ball through towards David Silva shortly before the break. There was nothing the Dutchman could do about Aguero’s opener and while he might have done well to step to Sterling and prompt a defensive shift to account for Sane on the game-winner, there was hardly a blemish on another sparkling performance from the Reds’ defensive lynchpin. Nearly every time City threatened, Van Dijk’s positioning and execution thwarted the attack to prevent the home side from testing Alisson. Of course, test the Brazilian they did and he repeatedly rose to the challenge. While one might quibble that the keeper could have done more to get a piece of Aguero’s rocket inside the near post, there are few – if any – keepers in the world who could have done so, and many of the world’s finest would struggle to produce the pair of saves Alisson provided in the second half. First, he was quick off his line to force Aguero wide after a through ball from Sterling, denying the Argentine’s low-angle show with a sprawling save. Then, he reacted brilliantly to deny Bernardo Silva’s close-range effort to keep Liverpool in the game in the 90th minute. While he was unable to influence the attack as directly as he has done in recent matches, Alisson’s distribution was once again sharp, as he sought to set Liverpool on the front foot more often than not. Robertson deserves a mention as well, as the Scotsman once again kept Sterling mostly quiet, stepping up to be counted on a number of one-on-one duels with the former Red. After conceding a paltry seven goals in the first half of the season, Liverpool’s defence will remain key to its title challenge, and on the basis of this performance, the key defensive acquisitions will be equal to the task, even against the most challenging opponents. Depth Issues Remain: In addition to the strength of Liverpool’s defence, many supporters – including yours truly – have cited our side’s increased depth as a key factor in our impressive start to the season. To be sure, the acquisitions of Fabinho, Shaqiri and Keita, the emergence of Joe Gomez and the improved consistency of Daniel Sturridge have all played a meaningful role in the Reds’ ascension. However, the City match highlighted the gulf in depth that remains between Liverpool and Europe’s best. The home side coped with the long-term absence of Benjamin Mendy and Fabian Delph’s recent suspension by shifting the classy Aymeric Laporte to left-back, brought Danilo off the bench to spell the out-of-form Kyle Walker and was able to call upon Vincent Kompany and Jon Stones at centre back in Laporte’s absence. Meanwhile, Guardiola was able to protect Kevin De Bruyne as he continues to recover from a long layoff, relying instead on David Silva, Bernardo Silva and Fernandinho, while Ilkay Gundogan came in off the bench, as did speedy striker Gabriel Jesus. Liverpool, on the other hand cannot boast the same embarrassment of riches. Weakened at centre back by injuries to Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, Liverpool have relied heavily on Lovren next to Virgil van Dijk. While the Croatian has been generally solid when called upon this season, he had a night to forget in Manchester, to add to a startling collection of poor performances in red. He could have stuck more tightly to Aguero for the opener - which would admittedly have been difficult to stop – played Sterling onside and then failed to shift onto Aguero for the game-winner, headed the ball straight to Sterling to send the winger away on the break in the second half, played Aguero onside for his late breakaway, served up a potential insurance goal on a plate to Sterling late in the game and tossed away Liverpool’s last attacking chance with a woeful straight ball into the box. Hopefully Gomez and Matip will soon return to the fold, but until then, Liverpool appear forced to rely on Lovren. Similarly, options are few and far between behind Lovren’s right-sided defensive partner Alexander-Arnold. The youngster had several bright moments – effectively quieting Sane for much of the match and setting up the equaliser with an incredible cross on his weaker left foot – and was given little help on the right, but he struggled at times against a flurry of City attackers and gave away the ball too cheaply at times. Like a few others in this Liverpool side, however, he can’t count on much of a rest, particularly given the fact that his top “backup” is both out injured and our second-best centre back, while his only true like-for-like deputy was just sent on loan for the season. While there’s plenty of depth in midfield (more on that later), Klopp risks running a handful of key players – most notably Van Dijk, the fullbacks and the front three – into the ground, and an injury to any one of them could prove very costly. While we don’t appear likely to dip into the January transfer market – and have little need for upgrades to the First XI – backup options at fullback, centre back and/or a versatile attacker to deputise for the front three should be considered. Too Conservative in Midfield: To a chorus of groans from Reds supporters, Klopp selected a midfield three of Henderson, Milner and Wijnaldum, opting for experience and solidity and leaving Fabinho, Keita and Shaqiri on the bench. Wijnaldum was a no-brainer after he built on an impressive run of form with a masterclass against Arsenal, and Henderson – in addition to offering leadership in a crucial away match – has shown improvement of late (often when played alongside Fabinho) and played Salah through against City for what would have been a late equaliser. But the exclusion of the Brazilian was a surprising one, and he showed why he might have deserved the start, helping Liverpool gain control almost immediately upon his introduction. It’s clear Klopp trusts the veteran trio in the most challenging away matches, but defeats in Kiev, at PSG and City have revealed a lack of both control and dynamism in that unit. Liverpool have been at their most devastating with players breaking the lines between midfield and attack – as Salah himself notably did on to set up Mane’s early chance – and while Wijnaldum has the ability to do so, there’s no one in Thursday’s trio who truly thrives in that role. It seems likely Klopp will revert to the 4-2-3-1 for many of the remaining matches, and while I won’t go as far as Jamie Carragher in suggesting the German completely ditch the 4-3-3 (which we may well see in Munich), a change in personnel is needed. Fabinho and Wijnaldum appear the most natural – and in-form – partnership, and while I trust Klopp has his reasons for keeping Keita out of the starting lineup, I hope the Guinean will soon earn his manager’s trust. Keita made a name for himself in the Bundesliga making attacking runs from midfield and he could offer Liverpool an element they’ve lacked since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s injury, whether on the outside of a three-man midfield or as the more adventurous of a pair. While necessity and Father Time may consign Milner to a role offering crucial cover at fullback, Henderson should continue to factor into the midfield rotation – albeit hopefully with different partners. Moments of Brilliance – even in Defeat All supporters – from Huddersfield to Madrid – know all too well the feeling of losing an important match to a rival, particularly when the match is decided on such fine margins. That this particular match ended an historic unbeaten run only adds to the harsh disappointment felt at the final whistle. However, even in such a bitter defeat, our Reds gave us plenty to sing about, no least in this brilliant sequence for the equalising goal. An ocean away from the action, a now-familiar tune rang out from my favourite Liverpool pub in New York, the volume rising with each pass: We’ve conquered all of Europe - Trent flicks forward to Mane, who slides the ball to Gini. We’re never gonna stop - Gini and Fabinho take a single touch each, switching the ball wide to Robbo. From Paris down to Turkey - Robbo back to Fabinho, who shifts inside and sprays the ball wide to Firmino. We’ve won the fuckin’ lot – Bobby collects the pass, dribbles inside and lays off to Trent. Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly – A pinpoint Crossfield pass from Trent to Robbo, who takes a touch, looks up and plays back to Fabinho. The fields of Anfield Road – Fabinho shifts to Henderson, who sprays it back out to Trent. We are loyal supporters – Trent fakes a cross on his right, takes a touch inside and lifts an inch-perfect ball to Robertson, waving his arm as he darts towards the far post. And we come from Liverpool – Robbo chips the ball just over the head of Stones, to Bobby who finishes at the back post with a sprawling header. Allez Allez Allez – Our players converge on Bobby and Robbo – then all together – to celebrate the goal, while our mad Jurgen reaches wildly for a water bottle on the bench before trying to explode it with all his strength. And at a basement bar in the Financial District of Manhattan, a host of grown men and women jump, shout and sing wildly, filled with love for our Redmen and drunk on possibility, and filled with love for a side who, for the second time in a week had erased a 1-0 deficit against a fellow Top Six side. To be sure, the atmosphere was quite different eight minutes later, and then at the final whistle. Losing will do that, of course. But in a season full of brilliant moments, Liverpool managed to produce a few more – albeit in defeat. We may no longer be Invincible, but we’re a damn good football team – and we’re going to be a lot of fun to watch over the next four months. Joel Tracy