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It is a story which has bubbled along in the background for months, but speculation has intensified in the past few days that Aaron Ramsey will depart Arsenal at the end of the 2018/19 season. Sky Sports reported that the Welsh midfielder will not be offered a new deal and will be allowed to leave on a free transfer. Ramsey has had his fair share of injuries throughout his career, but in particular his shocking broken leg suffered against Stoke in 2010 which naturally shook his confidence. After a period of time on loan at former club Cardiff and Nottingham Forrest, Ramsey finally adjusted to life in North London and honed his game alongside the likes of Mikel Arteta, Mesut Ozil and current Red Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Ramsey has made close to 350 appearances for the club and is highly regarded by the Gunners' fanbase having been voted as their player of the year on two occasions in 2013/14 and again last season along with winning the FA Cup on three occasions (2014/15 and 17). The news over his likely departure his sparked a level of conversation over which clubs should show some interest in his services. Former Reds midfielder Steve McMahon is a big fan of the 27 year-old and told Sky Sports he believes Ramsey can add an extra element to Liverpool. "Liverpool would do well to get him. He's a midfield player who goes beyond the strikers and Liverpool haven't got that. "Liverpool have got good midfield players that play in front, they've got top strikers who score goals and have got pace, good defenders. "But when it's a bit of a stalemate, they haven't got someone to go ahead, the third man running, not just to try and get a goal but to take the players away and open the space up. "Ramsey is one of those players and is a goalscoring midfield player with great technique". Despite Liverpool having a true attacking identity, McMahon believes Ramsey offers something that the team is missing. "We always look at the high intensity now for Liverpool. I've seen them play in every game this year and they still need a very offensive midfield player and somebody who can take that chance, to get over the top to get away and leave that space for everyone else. They haven't got that at this moment in time". Naturally when a player like Ramsey chooses to sign for a club like Liverpool, the next challenge is finding a place for him in the starting lineup. McMahon suggested some possible openings for the midfielder. "It all depends who's starting. They have been switching it around between Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita so either of those. Fabinho is not the right person for me, I think he's like-for-like with Henderson. "There's something to be said that Ramsey is better than Adam Lallana and Xherdan Shaqiri knew when he went to Liverpool that he would be a squad player. "I think Ramsey would fight for his place and I would be interested in him." A number of interesting discussion points were raised in McMahon's comments. It remains to be seen whether Jurgen Klopp thinks along the same lines and feels that Ramsey suits his game style and add value to the squad. It will also be interesting to gauge the opinion of the Liverpool fanbase on this. Is Ramsey a player that can help take us to the next level or are there other areas in the that we should focus on?

For a player who has made less than 30 appearances for Liverpool, Loris Karius sparks no end of discussion among the Reds fanbase. After an unconvincing first campaign in 2016/7, the German goalkeeper looked like he was making some steady progress last season but it was also clear that he had the odd howler in his game. Never was this more noticeable than in the Champions League final where Karius gifted two goals to Real Madrid that sealed a 3-1 win for the Spanish side. The aftermath caused mass ridicule and humiliation for the 25-year-old which led him to offer a tearful apology to the fans and while that was an honourable thing to do, for many it did not erase the nature of the defeat. While Jurgen Klopp staunchly stood by his man, more errors were seen in pre- season and it became clear that a decision had to be made about his immediate future at the club. The German goalkeeper is currently on a two-year loan at Turkish club Besiktas after been deemed surplus to requirements with the signing of Brazilian keeper Alisson from Roma in the summer. It has not been a smooth entry into Turkish football for the German as he made a couple of notable mistakes in Europe and also in league action. Multiple reports emerged yesterday that Besiktas were looking to cut short the loan in January and instead sign striker Divock Origi. However all parties have subsequently denied that talk with Four Four Two reporting Karius' agent Florian Goll as saying: "Complete nonsense, I wonder where such things come from. This news is absolutely untrue. "Loris is on loan to Besiktas for two years – that's the situation. The club has no intention of ending this loan contract prematurely. "It's fact that Loris is the clear number one at Besiktas, he played every game and showed good performances." Karius who is not shy in sharing his thoughts on social media also produced this not too subtle message. " Coffee first. Media's bullshit second," Joe.co.uk reported. With the growing pedigree and consistent performances of Alisson, it is highly unlikely that we will see Karius play a substantial role for the club in the future. But just like any player who has spent time at the club, there will be some passing interest to how his career progresses from here.

It got a little bit nervier than it needed to be for a short while, but overall this was a job well done and the ball is now in Manchester City's court to see if they can match the result we got earlier in the season and win at Spurs. We've won eight of ten and the only points dropped have been draws with City and Chelsea, so we couldn't have asked for more than that. It's a little annoying that we aren't clear at the top after a start like that but this is how it is now. It's harder to win the title than it has ever been. At least we look as though we can make City work a hell of a lot harder than they had to last year. All we can do is take care of our own business and so far we've done that, even when it hasn't always been totally convincing. This one was routine enough in the end though and there have been encouraging signs this week that we're coming into form again. Klopp continued with the 4-2-3-1 formation even though Shaqiri was left out, which blew my ‘changing the system to accommodate Shaq’ theory out of the water. Seeing the starting line up beforehand I expected Lallana in midfield and the usual roles for the front three. Instead we had Lallana out wide (eurgh), Bobby as a number ten and Salah centre forward again. It suits Mo at least, he seems happy enough playing through the middle, but Lallana on the wing is never good and Bobby has been unconvincing as a number ten. Still, this was a difficult game to judge anybody due to how unambitious Cardiff were. Not that I blame them, they’d be stupid to be anything else. I’ve seen loads of people ripping Cardiff for being one of the worst sides to play at Anfield in years. That may well be true, but to me it merely confirms what a miraculous job Neil Warnock did in getting them promoted. By rights they shouldn’t be here, they aren’t very good, but Warnock is the king of the lower leagues and he somehow he took them up. Now that they are in the Premier League what are people expecting from them? If they’d tried to come to Anfield and play they’d have got murdered. Look what happened when they got back to 2-1 and then had to try and come out and look for an equaliser. Bang bang, two goals in a minute and game over. Warnock knows what would happen if they tried to play, so they came here hoping to just keep the score down. Much better teams than Cardiff have done it but we seem to be getting better at overcoming it. An early goal often helps but in this case I’m not sure it did. We started the game looking sharp and when Mo opened the scoring it felt like it might be the first of many on the day. As the half went on though we seemed to get lulled into a false sense of security. It was just too easy. We were passing the ball around at will, under no pressure at all, and Cardiff couldn’t get out of their own half. We were in such complete and total control it was easy to forget that we were actually only one goal up. The urgency wasn’t there in our play and we weren’t moving the ball quickly enough. On the odd occasion we did it usually resulted in good situations, like when Lallana had a header cleared off the line right at the end of the half. Van Dijk had earlier hit the post with a header from a terrific cross by Salah. Considering all the play we had though, the Cardiff keeper didn’t have to do much. He made a good interception to deny Salah as he ran clear and we should have had a pen in the aftermath when Morrison dragged Mo to the ground. I’d say there are a couple of reasons we didn’t get that. Firstly, Stuart Atwell is rubbish. Secondly, Mo’s fall looked a tad dramatic, as he’s had a few of those since he’s been here and refs are maybe dubious about giving him anything. Where that argument falls down is that Zaha is getting pens every other week. The lack of penalties we’ve had at Anfield in the league is incredible. It’s over a year since our last one now, apparently, which almost defies belief given how much attacking we do. There were a couple of handball shouts in the second half too but I don’t have any complaints about those as few things annoy me more than pens being given when a ball smacks against the hand of a defender from a few yards away. It was a strange game on the whole though. We began the second half looking ragged and sloppy. Against a better side that might have cost us, but then you can perhaps argue that against a better side we wouldn’t have been like that. As I said, we were dominating the game to such an extent that it didn’t feel like it was only 1-0 and it showed in the lack of urgency. But contrary to the mood in the stadium and on the pitch, it was only 1-0 and we needed a second goal because any team is capable of scoring one. Even Cardiff. They did too, but thankfully by that point Sadio had given us that bit of breathing room with a stunning hit out of nowhere. The goal was Mané in a nutshell. He tried to dribble and was stopped. The chance looked like it had gone but he’s so quick over a couple of yards that he retained possession and then in the blink of an eye he’d leathered one past the keeper with his left foot. He’s a weird one is Mané. He’s right footed, but his shooting seems better at times with his left. When he catches them they go like rockets. No bend or swerve on them, they just go in a perfectly straight line at 100mph. He’s had a few of them. Arsenal away, Burnley away, City at home in the 4-3 and this one. Incredibly clean strikes. It really was a hell of a goal. Which is more than can be said for the one Cardiff managed. Moreno is being blamed by some and I’ve seen a finger or two pointed at Lovren as well. I just think it was bad luck more than anything, although Van Dijk could have done a better job cutting out the cross. Overall though, it was just flukey. For me Moreno had to go for the challenge, but when he didn’t get there it meant they were able to get a cross in. That in itself shouldn’t lead to a goal and if it had been Robbo in that situation I doubt anybody would be blaming him. Moreno is an easy target because of his long history of mistakes, but personally I don’t see this as one. Then Virgil doesn’t get enough on the clearance and it falls perfectly for Paterson to poke it past a helpless Alisson. Lovren wasn’t tight to the striker, but he’s reacting to where he thinks the initial cross is going and he’s let the forward run offside. Van Dijk’s touch takes Lovren out of it and perhaps explains why the linesman didn’t put his flag up, although he still should have done because the lad is offside from the cross, even before Van Dijk touches it. The offside rule is completely fucked up though. I’d feel happier if it was just a mistake by the linesman and that he didn’t see the offside, but I suspect he did see it and didn’t flag because of Van Dijk’s touch, which is fucked up. I hate it, it’s just a stupid change that was completely unnecessary. At 2-1 it suddenly becomes a little nervy but because Cardiff sensed an opportunity to grab an unlikely equaliser they had to try and play a bit, and it proved to be their undoing. Or maybe it was just that Lallana was replaced by Shaqiri? Probably a large slice of both really. As soon as Cardiff scored our players seemed to refocus and they immediately took control of the game again and gave Warnock’s men no encouragement whatsoever. Shaqiri gave everyone a lift with his enthusiasm and busy style. He just buzzes around wanting the ball all the time and it’s infectious. Any goal scored at that moment was going to feel good, but because it was Shaqiri I felt like there was extra ‘oomph’ to the celebrations. Lovely feet and a great finish. He just makes everyone smile. Personally I just want to pat him on the head and bring him home for tea and a kick about in the garden. My Dad absolutely loves him. He loved him at Stoke and now he’s his favourite player. He didn’t go mad celebrating the goal though, he just stood there beaming with pride. One day maybe I’ll do something that will make him that proud. Mo had the assist on that one, and he was at it again a minute later with a perfectly timed through ball for Mané to score with a delightful dink over the keeper. That was a fucking great goal that. The link up between Mané and Salah was great. The way Mo delayed the pass until he knew Mané had the run of the defence was class, as was the ball itself. See, this is why I was so fucking perplexed by what happened last week at Huddersfield, when they couldn’t even complete the most basic of passes in the final third. This is what we expect from these players, particularly Salah, so when its as bad as it was last week it’s hard to comprehend. I didn’t think Mané had a great game but he scored two fantastic goals. Salah was very good, his best game of the season probably, but Bobby wasn’t really on it and gave it away so many times. It was no surprise when he made way for Milner as he was the obvious candidate. It’s not often that’s the case but it just wasn’t his day. He did manage that ridiculous back heel nutmeg while lying on the floor in front of the Kop though. That was boss. I wonder what role he’ll be playing next week at Arsenal? My guess is back in the number nine role with Shaqiri on the bench, but it must also be tempting for Klopp to play all four of them and try to exploit Arsenal’s high line and dodgy defence. We’ll see though. So all in all a good day at the office. A nice boost to the goal difference, more goals for Mo and Sadio with Shaqiri getting off the mark too. Disappointing to let one in but it’s going to happen from time to time, and far better for it to happen in a game where we score four. I saw some complaints about Klopp’s rotation (and the post match radio phone in seemed to just be fellas in a rage about Moreno and Lallana playing), which is frankly baffling to me. We all accept the need for rotation, so why do so many lose their shit when it happens? I get it, I mean nobody WANTS to see Moreno selected over Robertson or Shaqiri left out for Lallana, but it’s necessary. Robbo can’t play every single game and if you can’t play Moreno in a home game against Cardiff then when can you play him? Similarly with those complaining about Lovren over Gomez. Look, if Gomez is on the bench next week against Arsenal then I’ll be as annoyed as anyone, but playing Lovren in this game made perfect sense. Cardiff are a physical side who played a big lump up front. It was a good chance to sit Gomez and use Lovren. Besides, big Dejan provided the highlight of the afternoon when he tripped over his own laces in front of the Kop when running back after a set-piece. Great that. As for Lallana, he’s been out a long time and isn’t going to immediately hit top form. He needs playing time to get back to his best level and Klopp is trying to manage it as best he can, giving him minutes when he can against opposition who we should be able to beat while not at full strength. The only issue I have with Lallana’s inclusion is when he’s used out wide, which to me is pointless. I’d be amazed if he started next weekend, same with Moreno. Lovren might get a start if Klopp decides to use Gomez right back but that’s a 50-50 call at this stage as it feels like Jurgen wants to take it easy with Trent and not overplay him as he’s had a lot of football in 2018. The Cardiff fans are a weird bunch aren’t they? Great vocal support and they showed up in large numbers, but what was with all the anti-England stuff? Did they not know where they were? Taunting US about England losing a semi final? You’re not at West Ham, lads. Most of those inside Anfield probably ranged somewhere between ‘not arsed’ and ‘made up’ when England lost to Croatia. Hell, some of us probably wanted them to lose even more than you did. Ordinarily I’d have expected the Kop to have responded with “we’re not English we are scouse” but it was the kind of day when nobody could really be arsed. The atmosphere was grim, possibly because of the unexpected cold snap but mostly because it was only Cardiff. It’s always been the way, the crowd saves its best performances for when it’s really needed. Yet shitty little clubs come here and mock us about the absence of our “famous atmosphere”. You have to earn the right to be treated that seriously. If it’s a strong opponent or an important fixture, then the atmosphere will be there, but you can’t expect us to be all hyped up and rabid when nobody knows who 90% of your players are and it’s more or less a foregone conclusion that we’ll win. And it is becoming a foregone conclusion these days. We’ve been massively improved when it comes to beating the bad teams, especially at Anfield. I don’t actually remember the last time we lost a league game at home, so yeah, we’re generally turning up just expecting to win these games now and the atmosphere won’t be great more often than not. That’s genuine progress though and it’s one of the most important things successful sides need to be able to do. Getting results against the big boys is important too but beating up on the little teams is how you win titles. If you avoid defeat against the top sides and beat everyone else, you generally won’t go far wrong, although City have raised the bar so high that it probably won’t be enough this year. Drawing with City and Chelsea is ok, but we probably need to be beating Spurs (which we have), United (which we will) and Arsenal (who we’ve got next) if we’re going to stick with City. Given that the forwards look to be finding their stride now I’d say we’ve got a great chance next weekend, because as well as Arsenal have done results wise of late, every time I watch them they look wide open at the back with that high line. There’ll be loads of opportunities for us next week and if the final ball is good enough then we should have every chance of picking up the win. Star man for me is Gini, who was everywhere. Along with Van Dijk and Gomez he’s been our best player so far this season. Mo was good too and I thought Fabinho had another encouraging game. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Moreno; Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Lallana (Shaqiri), Firmino (Milner), Mané; Salah:

The law of averages says that the modern-day footballer is likely to move clubs at least once in their career, and quite often much more than that. The ability to settle quickly in your new surroundings is something that changes from player to player. Some can make it look like a true artform, but others naturally take a bit longer especially when they come from far and wide across the global football landscape Reds midfielder Fabinho fits into the latter category. The summer signing from Monaco told ESPN Brasil that he had to learn to be patient for his chance to arrive. "This moment to adapt, it hasn't been easy - many times you are out, there were many times I wasn't [picked]. "But I tried to learn from all this, tried to give my best during practice. The coaches were very nice to me, they didn't let me get down. I worked to be well prepared". The Brazilian was naturally eager for his opportunity, but so too were Liverpool fans who wanted to see what value the highly rated defensive midfielder could add to the team. After some cameo roles, last week saw the 25 year-old make consecutive starts in the Champions League and Premier League fixtures against Red Star Belgrade and Cardiff respectively. It is fair to say the reviews have been incredibly positive and the man himself is also quietly satisfied while at the same time recognising that competition for places is fierce. "I got the opportunity last Wednesday, I believe I had a good match, and [against Cardiff] I believe I helped the team in the midfield. "So I'm very happy, I hope I can keep it. "I know the rate here is very high, you have to always try to keep a good performance, and in our team we have a lot of options in the midfield. Of course it's not always possible, but whenever the coach needs me I want to be ready for it." For foreign players, the physicality and tempo of the Premier League are some of the things they take time to adjust to. Fabinho is certainly not what you would call lightweight in football terms (188cm/78kg), but he was given an intense physical examination by Neil Warnock's side on Saturday. "The match was rough,” Fabinho said. "We scored one during first half, which was important, but the match was very intense in the midfield. "Only at the last 10 minutes that we could get an easier game and scored the third and fourth goals. "This is Premier League, I'm still learning day by day how rough the games can be." Andy Robertson became one of the stars of the second half of last season after having to wait for his opportunity in the early stages of his Liverpool career. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Fabinho could have a similar impact in the latter stages of this season.

Saturday Oct 20: Huddersfield 0 L 1 That was brutal. Really, really bad. The kind of performance that in the past would almost always have seen us drop points. I mean go back and look at every season for the last twenty odd years, and you'll invariably see us dropping points to a relegated side thanks to a performance like this. And make no mistake, Huddersfield will be relegated. And yet we won. Imagine how pissed off Man City must be right now. Sweeping aside everyone they play, and then having to watch us playing miles below our best but still churning out the wins and matching them stride for stride. Has to be a little demoralising. We've got to get better though as this isn't sustainable. When I say 'we' I basically mean the forwards. Everyone else is doing fine, although I feel as though the midfield could do a bit of help creatively and Shaqiri needs to play all the time now. The front three though, fucking hell. Some of what we saw from Salah and Firmino late in this game when we had chances to kill them on the break was just astonishingly shit. It's hard to believe players who are that good can do things that shit. Still, ultimately we got away with it so it doesn't matter. We need them to hit their stride again soon though, that's for sure. Also today, how funny was that Chelsea / United game! The result was ideal, especially the way it ended with United conceding in stoppage time. The main story though was Sarri's assistant giving it the beans to Mourinho, and Jose jumping up and trying to chase him down the tunnel. Can't help wondering just what he would have done if he'd caught him. I mean, you know that Mourinho can't actually fight, and he's fucking tiny. He owes those stewards a big debt of thanks as the Italian fella would surely have battered him. The whole thing was great though. Sarri once again showed himself to be a decent fella too with the way he handled the whole thing. I don't want to like him, but it's hard not to at this point. Sunday Oct 21: Some wild goings on between Arsenal Fan TV and the United Stand today. Mark Goldbridge, who for me is the current king of the internet, has been needling that DT hothead all week ahead of a ‘friendly’ match between the two fan channels, and all hell broke loose today when they played. DT was sent off along with a couple of other of the Arsenal lads and the game was abandoned because they didn’t have enough players. Goldbridge kept his cool, but has since been running his mouth saying “they wanted a bit of Keane versus Vieira and I gave it to them”. That DT has completely lost his shit about the whole thing and has been hurling all sorts of abuse at Goldbridge on twitter, while Goldbridge has taken the moral high ground while continuing to wind him right up. He’s got him on a string right now and the whole thing is hilarious. I expect in time the whole Goldbridge thing will become tiresome, but at the moment I can’t get enough of the fella, he’s comedy gold. Monday Oct 22: Arsenal’s winning run continues, but as with many of the other wins it wasn’t without a wobble or two. Leicester tore them to pieces at times but their finishing let them down. This seems to happen every time they play anyone decent. They have a spell where they look great and you think they’re going to pull off an upset, but then they just fold like an accordion. Arsenal’s third goal was a thing of rare beauty though, hats off to them for that. This is what happens on those six or seven occasions a season when Ozil shows up. The main talking point from MNF tonight though was the comments made by Souness about his time as Liverpool manager. Everyone seemed to be talking about it, but I haven’t even bothered watching it. I'm not interested. There’s nothing he can say that is going to make the S*n thing ok, and it’s up to the individual whether they forgive him for it. Personally I do, but I don’t completely buy his explanation either. He’s getting talked about almost as much by United fans too though after once again laying into Paul Pogba. The complete and utter disdain Souness has for Pogba is hilarious, while also being completely understandable. Souey was the greatest midfielder of his generation so it must massively piss him off seeing the hype that surrounds this absolutely fucking waster. Meanwhile, one of the most bizarre transfer stories in a while has Dortmund in for Bobby Duncan, who is the cousin of Stevie and only joined us last summer from City. This is doing my head in now, German clubs supposedly wanting to sign every good English youngster just because that Jadon Sancho left City and is doing well for them. File this one away with Rhian Brewster to Monchengladbach. Speaking of Duncan though, he’s doing well so far. He’s been outshone by Paul Glatzel but he’s still averaging a goal a game while still finding his feet here and he will only get better. Really rooting for him to make it for three reasons. One, he’s a local kid and fan. Two, he’s Stevie’s cousin so that’s cool, and three, it’s a minor win over City. Tuesday Oct 23: The Mancs lose to Juventus, prompting more bizarre comments from Mourinho. I’ve said this for a while, but he’s definitely trolling as no-one can be so lacking in self awareness. I mean come on, he’s talking about how hard it is to reach the level of Juventus, Barcelona, City etc because of the spending power. It was less than two years ago he took Juventus’ star player off them for 90 million pounds!! I mean fucking hell, he has to be aware of that, right? I actually love all this now. Every time he opens his mouth something really funny comes out. If it wasn’t for Mark Goldbridge then Mourinho would be the funniest thing about United right now. Speaking of Goldbridge, he was on fire again during this game, going off on a random tangent about garden paths. Just watch… Sunderland are two leagues below Newcastle at the moment but they’re an awful lot happier. They have a new owner who sits in the away end with them and most of the overpaid shite that got them in this mess have gone. They sell out every away trip (even Plymouth!) and they’re loving their team again. Newcastle can't win a game, their football is shite to watch and they have possibly the worst owner in football. They aren't in a position to mock anyone. Yet some of their fans are paying to sit in the home end at all of these Sunderland away games. It’s so bad it’s even beyond Blueshite behaviour. The funniest story I’ve heard about Sunderland this year was it all kicking off outside when they went to Coventry. My bother in law went and I got a text after the game telling me there was murder everywhere. I assumed it was because when you venture below the Championship it’s still the 1980s but he kept going on about “Jimmy Hill's fault, the big chinny bastard”. I had no idea what he was on about, until he later sent me a link to an article explaining it all. It’s fucking gold. Sunderland and Coventry have major beef going back to the 70s and Jimmy Hill is indeed the cause of it all. Both teams were involved in a relegation fight on the final day of the season, and Hill had Coventry’s game put back 15 minutes due to non-existent crowd congestion. Sunderland lost, meaning Coventry and their opponents (who were also in danger of going down) knew that a draw would see them both safe and the Mackems relegated. The final 15 minutes were like Germany / Austria in the 1982 World Cup, with neither team coming out of their own half. Sunderland went down and they’ve never forgiven Jimmy Hill. That wasn’t the cause for the fighting though, it was Coventry’s revelling in it that tipped Sunderland fans over the edge. Coventry had a big flag with Hill’s face on it covering a third of the empty seats in the home end, and according to my brother in law “they kept flashing his ugly big chinny bastard face up on the scoreboard" just to wind up the away fans. I love old standing beef like this, it’s fucking boss. Sunderland and Coventry absolutely fucking hate each other because of something Jimmy Hill did in the 1970s. How great is that? Friday Oct 26: Klopp says the players voted for who should be captain when Hendo and Milner are unavailable and that Van Dijk and Wijnaldum were the two they picked. No shock with Virgil, but it’s interesting to see how highly thought of Gini is by the other lads. He seems like one of the nicest lads you’d ever meet, but I didn’t have him down as leadership material but obviously I’m wrong on that. In other news today, there were a couple of high profile donations to the Sean Cox fund today. Jurgen threw in 5k as did Seamus Coleman. Cue lots of talk about how sound they are, which is true of course, as they didn’t need to do it, but it this sort of thing makes me feel uneasy. Fair play to them for doing it, but they shouldn’t be lauded any more than those giving a tenner, because in terms of the impact it has on their finances it’s probably the same. In fact, those giving a tenner may miss it more than someone earning 100k a week. This isn’t a shot at Klopp or Coleman by any means, but let’s keep some perspective here. This is the problem when donations are made public like this I guess, but then the flip side is it generates more publicity and encourages others to give, so that’s a good thing. Let’s hope Sean gets all the help he needs and we see him on the pitch at Anfield as the guest of the club. Meanwhile, Martin Keown and Paul Merson believe they have the answer to why Salah isn’t celebrating his goals. Not sure who's explanation is more daft. Here's Keown's first: "Salah looks like he is trying to remain humble when he scores. The way he celebrates suggests he realises how lucky he is to be doing what he is doing." Now Merson: “If he keeps on scoring Madrid will come calling. How can they not? They need to do something big and they will want him in January. They are struggling like mad. If Salah wanted to go, Liverpool would be powerless to stop him. "I can't remember the last player to say 'no' to Real Madrid or Barcelona. It's another level. Salah doesn't look happy at Liverpool at the moment and we've seen this before". Ok, Keown's is daft but Merson is a whole other level. How is this fella still given a platform to talk? Has there ever been a thicker ex pro paid to give his terrible hot takes? What kind of fucked up mind joins the dots between Salah looking a bit pouty after scoring, with ‘he wants to go to Madrid and Liverpool can’t do anything to stop it”. Just say ‘no’ kids. Just say ‘no’. That was the week that was….

Not the most fluid or dynamic performance but in flashes we saw more evidence that the frontmen are regaining their collective mojo. At times it was too easy and that resulted in a lack of urgency, but Cardiff’s goal provided the jolt that was needed. Or maybe it was Shaqiri who did that? The good Another three points and more goals for Mo and Sadio, as well as a terrific first Anfield strike for Shaqiri. The bad The flukey goal conceded took a little of the shine off the win. The defensive record is something to be proud of and giving up a soft goal like that is irritating to say the least. Player ratings out of 10: GK Alisson Becker, 6 -- Didn't have anything to do. No saves, no crosses to deal with, nothing. Conceded a goal from the only effort he faced, but had no chance with it as it was a total fluke. DF Trent Alexander-Arnold, 6.5 -- Steady enough, but had one or two near uncomfortable moments against the pacy Murphy. Crossing not at his best but generally a decent performance. DF Dejan Lovren, 7 -- Presumably brought in for his physical presence and he didn’t disappoint, battling hard against Cardiff’s big frontman Paterson. Amusingly, tripped over his own feet in front of the Kop when trying to get back after going forward for a corner, and was mocked on twitter afterwards by Milner. DF Virgil Van Dijk, 7 -- Not exactly overworked but exuded machismo and authority with everything he did, the big smooth bastard. Except when he didn’t clear the cross for their goal, that wasn’t cool. DF Alberto Moreno, 6.5 -- Enthusiastic as always and channeled it in the right way, for the most part anyway. He did give away one needless free-kick but other than that he was fine. MF Fabinho, 7.5 -- Not quite as masterful as he was in midweek, but still pretty good. Some class tackles again and used the ball well. I like him. MF Georginio Wijnaldum, 8 -- Seemed to be everywhere, probably because he was. Always available for a pass, always in people’s faces trying to win the ball back, and generally just a top all round performance from the in-form Dutchman. FW Adam Lallana, 6 -- Surprise selection to start the game. Did ok, some nice touches and very unlucky not to score just before half time with a back post header. Slowed the game down a bit too much for my liking though and I never really like seeing him playing wide. Should benefit from the playing time though. FW Robert Firmino, 6 -- Not much went right for Bobby. Gave the ball away loads, won it back quite a bit too but overall he’s been a little bit unconvincing in this new number ten role. If Klopp persists with it I expect he will get better, but the truth is we looked better after he was subbed today. The back heel nutmeg as he lay o the floor in front of the Kop was glorious though. FW Sadio Mane, 7 -- I’ll be honest, I didn’t think he played too well but the goals were different class. His first summed him up. Looked like he’d messed it up and then produced a stunning finish out of nowhere. His second goal was a brilliant run and classy finish. Seven goals for him now this season, which is all the more impressive considering the barren run he had between his first four and last three. FW Mohamed Salah, 8 -- Sharpest he’s looked all season, even though Cardiff actually played him quite well for most of the game. Sol Bamba stuck to his task really well but Mo just wore him down eventually. Good finish to open the scoring and then two nice assists to wrap things up. Looks like he’s back on track now. Substitutes: FW Xherdan Shaqiri, 7 -- Rested after a hectic couple of weeks for club and country, but wasted little time in making his presence felt when he replaced Lallana after an hour. Always on the move, always wants the ball, always wants to do something positive. His goal was boss. I love this little guy. MF James Milner, 6 -- Sent on to replace Bobby as Klopp went back to 4-3-3 for the closing stages. Did exactly what you’d expect him to do. Manager Rating: Jurgen Klopp, 7 -- Took the opportunity to freshen things up a bit and brought in Lovren, Moreno and Lallana. Many won’t have been happy about it, but we all accept the need for rotation so why do we get so annoyed when it happens. With all due respect to Cardiff, if you’re going to make changes then this is the type of game to do it. Dave Usher

1. 4-1, three points, top of the league. Get in!!! 2. It was frustrating as to watch though. Cardiff were the worst team I’ve seen at Anfield in a long time; Maribor bad, at least. However we made very heavy weather of beating them and the match was certainly nowhere near as entertaining as the score suggests. 3. Cardiff came expecting to lose, merely hoping to be within a single goal of Liverpool going into the last fifteen minutes, and incredibly that’s exactly what transpired until a brace of late strikes from us. That’s not a slight on them though. They’re perfectly entitled to play however they want and we should be good enough to deal with it. Ultimately we were of course, but it was agonising for much of this game. 4. In my view, playing a parked bus side - especially one with very little pace or talent - should simply be a case of pushing the full backs right up the pitch, getting every outfield player into their half and then switching the play from side to side at a high tempo in order to pull their packed defence around until a space opens in the middle for a forward to strike. City do this with their eyes shut. And to be fair, we’ve certainly got everything we need to do the same (pace and technique in virtually every single outfield player) but that’s not what we saw. Instead we had tippy-tappy, slow and circumspect football that really did nothing but play into Cardiff’s hands. There was just no urgency and this was compounded by the sloppy rubbish being served up by Bobby and Mané. 5. The latter in particular has done my head in this season. This is a player with pace and skill beyond measure and yet he can contrive to slow down an attack or misplace a pass with the worst of ‘em. Bizarre then that he grabbed a brace of cracking strikes to guarantee us the points. It seems that when he thinks, he struggles; certainly he’s at his best when playing on instinct and that was what delivered his first as he turned and laced it in the blink of an eye to leave Cardiff’s keeper bewildered. His second was a boss finish too. Why then his propensity to dawdle on the ball rather then rip past a markedly slower opponent? Ultimately, who cares I suppose, but I can’t deny it annoys me because it really does. 6. The starting line up seemed to bemuse almost everyone I spoke to before the game. However, if we’re going to win the league we need to: a. rotate b. acclimatise new players c. take opportunities to do so when facing weaker opponents. So I didn’t have a major issue with the starting line up, even if I felt Shaqiri deserved to start. Certainly, we needed Lallana to play his way back to fitness and Fabinho to continue building some familiarity with our style. And if you can’t rest Robbo against Cardiff, when can you? Look, I’m about as far from being an Albert The Moron fan as it’s possible to be, but if he can’t play against these there is literally no point in having him. So in that context, sound. Shaq, though! 7. There’s a great big Ox shaped hole in our team this season and Shaqiri is the only player with even a glimmer of a hope of replicating what his injured teammate offers. He has pace, power, a great range of passing and an eye for goal, all of which would’ve been exceptionally helpful from the off today. As I've suggested above, I can live with that if it helps us over the course of the season - but it’s no coincidence that everything changed from the moment he entered the game. He’s just busy, isn’t he? And that’s what we were crying out for. I see Crouchy succumbed to club politics and grudgingly acceded to the “didn’t track back at Stoke” narrative today in his column. However, I could not give a shiny shite what he did prior to joining us because what we’re seeing now is exactly what Klopp wants. Put it this way, I'm now so convinced by what I’ve seen thus far that I’d jib this 4231 thing off and play him in a midfield three with Gini and Big Games James against The Arse next week. They will not handle our 433 with him breaking from midfield and picking passes. I suspect Klopp will go with his grafters midfield, but I think we’ll need Shaq’s guile. 8. Mo was boss. That was his fourth goal in three games, with a pair of assists to boot today. I know some shite gets thrown around as received wisdom on the football internet these days, but the poor start to the season thing is embarrassing isn’t it? That record of 50 goals in 65 games is just mind-bogglingly good. Look at the players whose records he smashed: literally every great forward we’ve ever had! He’s sensational. So let’s stop over-thinking things and just luxuriate in that fact. He is world class. 9. Let’s see how City deal with a serious opponent on Monday night in the context of our result. We know for a fact - because he said so on their Amazon thing - that Guardiola has a thing about us. We also know that we have their number of the pitch and that they crumbled last season when we were the obstacle in their path to the European Cup. All we can do is do what we did today: bag our points, score our goals and see how they react. I’m not convinced they’ll handle it well. 10. Either way, come on you Reds!!! Paul Natton

Leadership is a tremendous quality to have in an individual, but with that comes a fair bit of responsibility and pressure along the way. Just like a football manager, a club captain is bound to be compared to their predecessor. In many ways, Jordan Henderson has had to walk in the shadow of Steven Gerrard ever since taking over the armband from the iconic figure. Quite often the discussion about Henderson focuses on what he lacks instead of the positive aspects of his play. To put it simply, Gerrard is one of those once in a generation players and comparisons are simply unfair on the incumbent. With Henderson suffering a injury interrupted start to the current campaign after his participation in the World Cup, the armband has been in the possession of James Milner who naturally has carried the role with aplomb. On Wednesday night against Red Star Belgrade with the two main leaders not involved, a new candidate for the role emerged. While it is clear Virgil Van Dyk has that type of leadership aura about him, Jurgen Klopp explained to The Guardian that it wasn't as simple as gifting the armband to the big Dutch Centre Back. A clear process had to be observed. "When I came in I built a players’ committee," Klopp said. "There were five-six players including Lucas Leiva, Adam Lallana and Phil Coutinho. "This team has grown now and they all have very, very demanding and confident players in the squad so you can decide who of them you want. " It was a close decision. Dejan [Lovren] was close, Adam was close. They all had their votes. The players see it in the right way – that the players could do the job." In the end, Van Dijk and his countryman Gini Wijnaldum got the nod as third and fourth choice leaders. Klopp is excited by the prospect of what his two new leaders can bring to the role. " Virgil is still young, he looks more of a man than he really is. There is nothing wrong with that and he can still improve. "If you see and hear him you think there is big distance between him and you because he looks impressive. "There will be a day for sure when he will wear the armband and there will be a day for sure when Gini will wear the armband too. "These two guys do a similar thing in Holland for the national team it is a natural thing for them." However if you are thinking that the glowing praise dished out to Van Dijk and Wijnaldum means that Klopp is leaning to a permanent change in leadership anytime in the short term then prepare for disappointment. “I really think Milly and Hendo are doing an outstanding job for the club and the team,” the manager said. "Being ambassador for the club on one side and impressive for the team on the other side is brilliant. They combine pretty much everything." While it is true that every player is a leader of sorts as they aim to play their role on a match-to-match basis, it is vitally important that you need strong hands on the wheel to steer the team in the right direction. In stark contrast to a few years ago, it is reassuring to know that there is now a growing band of leaders to fill the role when called upon to do so.

Cast your mind back as little as six months ago and there would a sense of nervous apprehension any time Liverpool took the lead in a game. Ridiculous as it sounds, even when the Reds had a two or three goal lead, there was a general feeling of looking at the clock watching and waiting for the final whistle to blow. As supporters, we often think what the players themselves think of the situation. Does it impact their mindset or do they just brush it off and move on to the next game like nothing has happened? Joe Gomez has arguably been Liverpool's best player in the early stages of the 2018/9 season. Finally in his natural position of centre back, Gomez has formed a superb partnership with Virgil Van Dijk who along with new goalkeeper Alisson has proven a very tough nut to crack in the heart of the back four. In a terrific open and honest piece with the Daily Mail, Gomez says there were times when the defence was dreading the ball coming back into their area even when they were seemingly in control. " I remember the Man City game here at Anfield. We were 4-1 up with about five minutes to go and won 4-3. "They had a header that hit the side-netting and you ask yourself how you would have felt if that had gone in. "It takes something away from the joy. It should have been easier so it’s not always nice after.” The Reds were often viewed as the 'favourite of the neutrals' for the way they played their Football, but Gomez knew there had to be a balance between defence and attack. He recalls a famous Reds 'collapse' in Europe as somewhat of an awakening in regards to how bad things had become. ‘We had a few games where we let things slip and a team that wants to win the Premier League can’t have that. "In Seville, we needed to manage the game but couldn’t keep the ball and got intimidated. I was like: ‘What is going on?’ "When that happens it feels like a slippery slope and once one goes in you can start panicking. It feels like it’s out of your control and you are going to concede again. "Last season we struggled with set pieces and when we lost the ball we could be vulnerable. We would concede a corner and think: ‘Please let them not score from this, just don’t score here.’ "Maybe it accelerated my learning, we have all had to learn if we are going to improve.’ The versatile defender talked about the change of mentality in regards to this season. " We are not a less attacking team this season, it’s a matter of being conscious of game management and the manager is making sure we stay switched on. "We take pride in those games now. He (Klopp) used to yell at the top of his lungs , now he doesn’t need to. ‘So we have to continue that stubbornness and not think we have to score three or four times to win. "Keep the ball better late on and make better choices. See the game out. That is what we need if we are going to challenge for the title. The competition for positions in the back four this season is fierce with Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip who for the early part of Klopp's managerial reign were the first choice CB's, are now regularly on the outside looking in. The 21 year-old former Charlton junior recalls a time when that was clearly lacking. "That level of competition was previously missing,’ he said. "We went through a phase that if we had injuries, all of a sudden Lucas Leiva was playing at centre back" For someone so young, Gomez has had his fair share of setbacks, with his first two seasons written off by knee and achilles injuries, and then with a World Cup spot virtually in his possession, ankle surgery put an end to his 2017/8 season. It is therefore very pleasing to see the youngster injury free and showing the footballing world his true potential.

Aside from collecting three points and returning to the top of the qualifying group, there were two things of real significance to come out of the Reds' comfortable 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday. The first was that all three members of “the big three” were on the scoresheet together for the first time this season. The second was the hugely impressive performance from Fabinho, who was handed a long awaited start after three months of bit part action. Fabinho’s display brought to mind the old adage that good things are worth waiting for. The Brazilian has had to be patient and his only previous start came in the Carabao Cup when Jurgen gave several of his fringe players a run out in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. There were times earlier in the campaign when Klopp had a full squad to choose from that Fabinho could not even make the subs bench. Based on his display on Wednesday it’s unlikely he will find himself in that situation too often in the future. Alongside the equally impressive Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho bossed the midfield and was involved in an eye popping number of duels. 24 to be exact, 18 of which were won. I'm not big on stats as you know, but some are worth paying attention to and this definitely falls into that category, as that's an incredibly high number. Even without knowing the numbers you could see just from the eye test that he was throwing in tackles all over the place. The solid defensive platform provided by Fabinho and Wijnaldum allowed Klopp to include an extra attacker in Xherdan Shaqiri, and for perhaps the first time this season we looked like the side that plundered 135 goals in all competitions last year. The names of the goalscorers were most pleasing, as for us to be able to keep pace with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League we need our prolific front three to at least get close to matching what they did last year. Mo bagged two, making him the fastest player to reach the 50 goal mark for the club, while Bobby and Sadio also found the net. Mane also missed a penalty and then inexplicably failed to convert the rebound from a couple of yards out. Other clear chances were missed too, and this could easily have been a similar scoreline to the 7-0 win over Maribor at the same stage of last year’s competition. It’s too soon to say the attacking trio are back to their best, but this looked a significant step in the right direction and there were spells during the game where they looked like they were flying again. Shaqiri’s influence was a big reason for that and Klopp surely needs to find a way to keep the diminutive Swiss playmaker in his line up as much as possible. Shaqiri provides the guile and passing ability we have lacked since the departure of Philippe Coutinho last January. They are different players, but they do possess some of the same attributes, specifically the ability to pick out and execute passes that most players on the pitch could not even dream of. Shaqiri played a big part in the first two goals having also created Salah’s match winner at Huddersfield last weekend. We have looked much better in attack this season when Shaqiri has been in the side but Klopp has felt the need to alter his formation to get him in there. In theory there is no reason why Shaqiri could not just play in midfield in Klopp’s usual 4-3-3 system. Coutinho isn’t known for his defensive play but he played in there on several occasions to good effect, as did Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (a converted winger) last season. It took some time before Klopp trusted Ox to play in there though, with the former Arsenal man himself admitting it took him months before he was completely up to speed with the intricacies of Klopp’s counter-pressing tactics. Perhaps that explains why Klopp has shifted to a 4-2-3-1 whenever he has started Shaqiri as well as the other three frontmen? Whether this is a long term option or if Klopp is just waiting until Shaqiri is ready to play in a more orthodox midfield role remains to be seen. Finding the right balance is the key. Defensively we have been outstanding this season; the back four were again imperious against Red Star and never allowed them even a sniff of a chance. If the attacking play ever catches up to the defence (who’d have thought I'd ever be writing that line?) then the Reds are going to take some stopping. The signs were there against Red Star that this might be happening but the attackers need to build on this now over the next few weeks. Cardiff at home this weekend could be a grind, as Neil Warnock will no doubt just pack his defence and hope to sneak a draw, but the three fixtures that follow (Arsenal, Red Star and Fulham) should all be open games and will provide a good opportunity for the front lads to make their presence felt. We've been saying all season that it's only a matter of time before they move through the gears into last season's form. Looking at the games coming up, now is as good a time as any for it to happen. Dave Usher

That was exactly what we needed. The front three all back among the goals and the overall performance much more like what we’ve come to expect. It might be the best we’ve played all season, although in truth tat’s a pretty low bar. Red Star were the perfect opposition really. I’ve mentioned before that the Champions League is much easier for us because even the unfancied sides play quite open. Red Star are top dogs in their own league and they’re used to winning every week. It’s hard for a team like that to suddenly go into shithouse mode and pack the defence, and that’s why we usually spank them. Maribor, Spartak, now Red Star. They were lucky to escape with a 4-0 and it should have been six or seven easily. Some of our football was fantastic and although the clinical finishing still isn’t there, it was better than it has been of late and hopefully it will be the start of a return to how we were. I’m not completely sold on this 4-2-3-1 yet but I do love seeing Shaqiri lining up with the front three. He’s the creative spark we’ve been missing, the link between the midfield and the forwards. Every time he gets on the ball I expect something to happen. I’d prefer he was just used in the Coutinho / Ox attacking mid role, but presumably Klopp won’t play him in the 4-3-3 because he’s not yet yet fully up to speed with the intricacies of the pressing game. Ox took a while last year before he was comfortable enough to play in there, but I hope we see Shaqiri given a chance in the midfield three soon. Perhaps because of the lack of trust in Shaqiri, Klopp has adjusted to 4-2-3-1. Against Southampton Shaqiri was the number ten, Firmino was wide left and Mané wide right with Mo centre forward. This time Mo was still up top but the other three were switched around, with Shaq on the right, Sadio left and Bobby as the ten. It worked pretty well but in an ideal world I like Bobby through the middle and Mo on the right. I could get used to this though if they keep this up. It was a slow start though and it took 10 or 15 minutes for us to get going. Not much was happening and Red Star looked quite confident early on. They weren’t scared to throw men forward when they had the ball, but that gave me confidence that we’d have little trouble creating chances against them. And so it proved. Shaqiri was at the heart of most things. He’s such a clever little bastard and was always looking for the first time ball over the top to release Mo. That almost led to the opener but the keeper did well to smother the ball at Salah’s feet after he’d brilliantly brought down Shaqiri’s lobbed pass over the defence. Most of our attacks were coming down the left where Robbo was flying forward at every opportunity. That’s where the opening goal came from, although most of the credit goes to Shaqiri. First, he chased back and won the ball (take note Gary Neville), and then seconds later he played a perfectly weighted and angled ball behind the defence for Robbo to run onto and cut back to Firmino, who finished with the aid of a deflection. Shaqiri is a special talent and it’s his passing and awareness that’s really standing out. The ability to put the ball into tight spaces and weight it perfectly so his team-mates don’t have to break stride is something not many have. The ball to Robbo was inch perfect and couldn’t have been weighted any better either. It’s little things like that which make all the difference. Same with the assist for Mo at the weekend. If the pass isn’t played exactly like that, a goal isn’t scored. I feel as though Shqiri really has to be in the side more or less every week now, at least until the front three get back to last year’s form. We’ve lacked that bit of guile and creativity in there all season, and when he’s in the side it helps the front three immensely. The goal sparked a spell of brilliant football and a few times we were within a whisker of scoring what would have been stunning goals. Firmino almost found Mané with a first time flick that the defender just about intercepted, and Robbo sliced one horribly wide after another sweeping move. Salah missed a sitter but had his blushes spared by an offside flag. He soon got another chance and this time he finished it. Again Shaq played a part as it was his lovely little cushioned volley that set Mo in. The second half was a bit of a stroll and at times it was almost like a training session. We were in total control and the most impressive thing for me was how the lads kept their concentration and never got complacent. They wanted the clean sheet badly, and they defended so well that Alisson had nothing to do all night. Joe Gomez is fucking brilliant. He’s actually now playing at the same level as Big Virg. He’s got the same confidence, swag, speed and ability on the ball. He’s just smaller and therefore not as dominant in the air. The burst of pace to snuff out a rare Red Star attack was great to see, but it was never in doubt. As soon as the ball was played in behind and I saw Gomez had it in his sights, I almost felt sorry for the forward. He probably thought he was favourite to get that, but we’ve seen that movie before and there’s no happy ending for the forward. Van Dijk was majestic too of course, and the Red Star forwards didn’t have a sniff all night. This is ou best back four right now but we’re in good shape as you won’t find a better back up than Lovren anywhere in the league, maybe even Europe. The Red Star players were getting proper ratty the longer it went on and some naughty tackles started flying in. I can’t really blame them, as the two penalties that were given against them were an absolute fucking joke and I’d have struggled to keep my head in that situation too. The first one was a nothing challenge on Mané that saw him go to ground holding his face. The second was an unintentional handball as the lad headed it against his own arm. I couldn’t believe the ref gave either, especially the first, as initially he seemed to have ignored it. I did wonder initially whether the stiff behind the goal had drawn his attention to it, but then I remembered that they never do anything, the wage stealing fucks, so it couldn’t have been that. The man penalised was their captain, but fuck him as he had a face like a smacked arse all night. He was moaning at the ref from start to finish and that’s probably why the pen was given. If I was the ref I’d have wanted to do him over too, the moaning gobshite. That left back was a twat as well. He hit Trent in the face twice and there was a lot of niggle between them all night. Something to look for in the return game there I think. Salah stepped up and scored easily from the spot. Now it was just a case of how many we’d get and whether Mo could get his hat-trick. He didn’t, as he was subbed soon after. He wasn’t happy but it was a sensible decision. He’s only just over that minor injury that he picked up in the international break so no point taking any risks. Sturridge took his place, while Lallana had earlier come on for Shaqiri. Both were heavily involved but it was Sturridge who made the bigger impact. He was quality and created several chances as well as having a couple of goes himself. He unselfishly set up Mané for the fourth and he put chances on a plate for Lallana (who fluffed a one on one after being caught from behind despite a ten yard start) and Mané again (who hit the side netting). Mané had earlier missed the second penalty and made a complete hash of the rebound too. That’s one of the worst misses you’ll ever see, he poked it wide from about two yards. All in all though a near perfect night. All three forwards scored, Shaqiri was boss and we kept a clean sheet. Not only that, Napoli and PSG drew so we went back to the top of the group and if we can win in Belgrade we’ll have one foot in the knock out stages. Star man was Fabinho. Could easily have been his midfield partner Wijnaldum as they were both outstanding, but I’m going for Fabinho because he’s had to wait a long time for his chance and it was great to see him impressing. He did everything well. Tackling like a machine, closing down well, dropping in to cover for his defenders and he showed a good range of passing too. Very encouraging. Don’t know why he didn’t take the second pen instead of Mané really. He’s scored 21 times from the spot in his career and I don’t trust Sadio on pens at all. Hopefully this result can be a bit of a turning point in our attacking play. Cardiff at the weekend could be tough unless we get a couple of early goals, but after that we’ve got a trip to Arsenal (who are in good form but look tailor made for us), the rematch with Red Star and then a home game with Fulham, who are leaking goals at a record breaking rate. So there are goals to be had and let’s hope this is just the start, because if we get our attacking game going I don’t think there’s anyone who can beat us, not while we’re defending as well as this anyway. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson (Moreno); Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Shaqiri (Lallana), Firmino, Mané; Salah (Sturridge):

Virgil Van Dijk has hailed the performance of midfielder Fabinho as Liverpool registered an emphatic 4-0 victory against Red Star Belgrade in their Group C Champions League clash on Wednesday evening. The Dutch central defender took ownership of the captains' armband with Jordan Henderson sidelined through hamstring tightness and James Milner taking a place on the bench. One of the performances that really caught the eye was that of the Brazilian defensive midfielder. The summer signing from Monaco has had to bide his time in the early stages of the campaign with Jurgen Klopp easing the 25 year-old into the rigours of English football, similar to what he has done with other signings during his reign. The midfielder had only played 21 minutes of league action (last weekend against Huddersfield), along with some cameo appearances in the first two group games and a start in the Carabao Cup clash against Chelsea. The clash against Red Star presented itself as the perfect moment for Fabinho to take centre stage and he did not disappoint. Van Dijk had a perfect vantage point watching on from the heart of defence and The Express reported that he was very impressed with what he observed. "I think he [Fabinho] was fantastic, he won a lot of balls, great passes and was very important in our win tonight." The stat line of Fabinho showed the sort of overall impact he made, winning nine tackles, five successful aerial duels and a 90% successful passing rate. With the emergence of Fabinho, Adam Lallana returning to full fitness, along with the evergreen Milner and ultra consistent Gini Wijnaldum, Klopp has a pleasant headache on his hands after years of the midfield three virtually picking themselves. That is without even mentioning club captain Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita who has not hit his straps yet and is currently out with a hamstring injury. Van Dijk was impressed with the way the team reacted after a sluggish start. "First of all they’re in the Champions League not for no reason, they need to be respected. "At the beginning of the game there was a bit of chaos, a bit all over the place. After that we controlled the game.” Liverpool's next game in Group C sees a return fixture in Belgrade in two weeks time. The Reds now hold a one-point advantage over Napoli with Paris St Germain a further point back in third.