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Not the most convincing of scorelines but at no point did I ever feel that this result was in doubt. It always felt like just a matter of time before we eventually broke through their eleven man defence and it never looked like they were going to score. It was top versus bottom and the it was the biggest points difference ever at this stage. That says more about how great we are than it does about Norwich being weak in my opinion. They’re probably the best bottom placed club I can remember in years. They deserve credit for making us have to work for the result but I was a little surprised at how they played. I’ve enjoyed watching them this season and I thought they were boss at Anfield. They got hammered though so presumably Daniel Farke decided that all out defence was the way forward this time. They only lost 1-0 so I guess he’ll view that as being worth it. I did think they might have seen this as a free swing and thrown everything they had at us, but it was clear from the first minute that wasn’t going to be the case. It’s not like that approach works against us anyway, but defending doesn’t work either. It’s a case of pick your poison I suppose. If they’d attacked us it wouldn’t have ended well either, but that’s how they play and I expected them to play their football and go down swinging, like Southampton a couple of weeks ago. It was a good time for them to play us though as it feels as though we’re never any good when we come back from a break. I don’t have the stats to back that up and it might not be true, but the impression I have is that we’re always lacking sharpness when we’ve had a week off. The performance against Norwich was fine for the most part, but there was a distinct lack of sharpness in the final third. We dominated the game, looked strong at the back, passed it around well, but the clinical edge just wasn’t there until Sadio came on and transformed the game. The first half wasn’t that good as I don’t think we adjusted well enough to the weather conditions. You can’t hit those long passes over the top of defenders when the wind is as strong as that, but we kept trying it anyway. Klopp said the problem was that the midfielders weren’t expecting the defenders to hit it long and as a result they couldn’t get in position for the second ball. That changed after the break and we looked much more cohesive as a result. I’ve said before that’s one of the least talked about impressive things about us. The ability to analyse what isn’t working and how to fix it during the game is massive. It literally is a huge game changer because it’s changed countless games. We always seem to play better in the second half of games and this is a big reason why. It’s also because we just wear teams down. It’s hard to keep us at bay for ninety minutes as eventually the tiredness keeps in and the pressure we exert usually pays off. Norwich looked relatively comfortable in the first half but the longer the second half went the more you could sense a goal coming. I was getting impatient and frustrated but I always believed we’d score. It felt like we were just waiting for Mané to come on and win it for us, and that’s what happened. We could have scored prior to him coming on but we just weren’t sharp enough. Tim Krul didn’t have too much to do really. He tipped a shot over the bar from Keita, made a decent stop to deny Salah after some magic footwork from him, and he produced a great follow up stop to deny Keita from the rebound. Naby has to score there though. At the other end Norwich were rarely able to even get near our goal but they did hit the post through Tettey. Alison had that covered though, you can see he has his hands behind the post and was there if he needed to save it. It was only after Sadio replaced the ineffective Ox (love him as a midfielder but really not a fan of his on the wing) that we really looked like we had Norwich on the ropes. After that we were always going to win and we should have scored more than one. Bobby missed a sitter after an absolute killer cross by Trent. It came at him pretty quick but he’d expect to score that. I’m just glad he wasn’t looking the other way like he usually does with tap ins! Norwich managed to create one chance when Pukki shot straight at Alisson, but overall it was comfortable for us defensively. The only criticism of the performance would be the amount of times we got in or around the box and played a poor pass or cross. Norwich had so many players in there at all times though that it was like trying to thread needle with a shoelace. Bottom line is we found a way. Again. We’re so good now that it’s boring to everyone else. That explains the way commentators and pundits are clinging to irrelevant little things as talking points. Take the Alisson save in the first half for example. Great save, but anyone talking about that as being an important moment and proof that Norwich could have taken something from the game are missing one, pretty important detail. IT WAS OFFSIDE!! I’m fairly sure that wouldn’t have counted even if they’d scored as the replay made him look a fraction off, and if you add the VAR lines to it then he’d defo have been off. I guess they didn’t want it to be seen as offside as it would have taken away one of their few talking points. It’s barely been mentioned that it was offside by anyone other than Klopp. Why? Because otherwise there are no real talking points other than us winning yet another game. It’s understandable really, and it’s a backhanded compliment. It is boring for everyone else, I completely get that. Same reason there was hardly any mention of the stonewall penalty we didn’t get when Virgil was wrestled to the floor. I just don’t know how anyone can look at that and not give a pen. Fair enough that the ref may not have seen it as he can’t be looking at every player in the box, but VAR saw it and did nothing. Apparently there has not been a single penalty awarded by VAR in that scenario so it must be an agreement between the refs that they don’t over-rule on those incidents. It’s bizarre though isn’t it? No-one is arsed about the Virgil pen but there are some crying ‘foul’ about Sadio’s goal. “LiVARpool” again, eh? Thing is, Sadio’s goal was not given by VAR. It was given by the referee and VAR saw no reason to overturn it. Norwich didn’t complain, it’s just the mental element of fanbases like Everton, City and United. The theatrics from the Norwich defender when he misjudged the ball and felt a hand on him was just embarrassing. But they were doing that all day, especially that Cantwell cunt. We’ve been linked with him today. Fuck that, I don’t want that massive fucking fanny anywhere near us. I’ve been telling you in the round ups that I don’t like him. “Eton educated Jack Grealish” I’ve been calling him. Except Grealish is miles better and far less of a twat. This lad has that James Maddison vibe about him, and that’s not a good thing. He was throwing himself to the floor any time one of our lads went near him. I like this Norwich team (Buendia and Pukki especially) and I’d love for them to stay up, but Cantwell is just a shithouse and I have no time for him at all. It was hard for the referee and it seemed to me that he was falling for their gamesmanship constantly in the first half. After the break he let a lot more go and their fans started getting on his case. Overall he did ok but some of the jobsworth shit he was pulling on free-kicks and corners was irritating. Trent was booked for fuck all too. Cantwell again. Cuntwell. The finish from Sadio though. Wow. This fella has just come back from a hamstring injury, and here he is leaping high into the air, stretching his right leg to control the ball, and then immediately landing and lashing the ball in with his left. He’s ridiculous. Mind you, Bobby almost did something similar in the first half when he too plucked a Hendo pass out of the sky but before he could finish it a defender took it off his toe. The ability and agility of players these days is something else. I don’t remember many players back in the day being able to do shit like that as a matter of routine. Some could, but they stood out a mile because of it. The ability we see nowadays is off the scale, and not just from the top players. Which kind of brings me to another point that has been heavily discussed recently. How good (or bad) is the league this year? I think it can be best summed up like this. There is only one great team in the league, but the bottom teams are probably stronger than ever. Norwich are bottom but they’d have survived most years because they’re decent. The teams at the bottom are all packed with full internationals. The league as a whole isn’t weak, it’s probably as competitive this year as it’s ever been. The one outlier is that we’re the greatest side to have ever played on these shores and that is skewing things in the eyes of many. Take us out of the equation and the narrative would be totally different. The talk would be about what an exciting season it is and what a strong league it is. But because there is one team beating everyone and breaking records, some see it the other way. I just think that instead of bemoaning the poor standard of the league they should just laud what Klopp has done in turning this team into the greatest side in English football history. In terms of how we played, most were ok and some were very good. Not everyone will agree, but I thought Keita had a good game even though it was masked somewhat by the amount of times he gave the ball away in the final third. I agree some of his passing was sloppy but he is the one taking responsibility to try to play those difficult eye of the needle through balls in and around the box, so the success rate of those is always going to be low. He also missed a sitter which will is something else that will be held against him. I was pleased with him though, he did a lot of great work without the ball, he seemed to be popping up all over the pitch and I like that he’s taking responsibility. On another day a couple of those passes find their target and he has two assists and people are raving about him. I’ve just got a sneaky feeling that he’s going to do be a really significant player over the next few months. Hendo was the star man though. He was brilliant once again. His passing was sensational considering the conditions and he was always there picking up the pieces and winning the ball back. Even in the final seconds when Norwich were trying to force an equaliser it was Hendo back there on the edge of the box making the all important tackle. His standards are so fucking high this season. I could easily have given it to Mané though as he transformed the game and from the moment he came on I knew we’d find a winning goal. He’s just so good and so confident these days. It took him a while to go from very good to great, but he’s there now and you can tell that he knows it himself. There’s not an arrogant bone in his body, but he just looks so relaxed and comfortable in his greatness now. So on we go. The title was all but wrapped up long ago so now we turn our attention back to Europe. I know nothing about Atletico these days as from what I can gather half of the team has changed over the last year or two. I fully expect massive levels of shithousing from them though and therefore it’s going to be tough. I’d back us to beat anyone though so I’m looking forward to it. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum (Fabinho), Keita; Salah, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Mané):