Appreciating greatness
I was going to do the usual ratings thread but I think after that we can all just accept 10’s all round and Salah McMOTM. Instead, I just want to pause for a moment and appreciate the greatness we’re witnessing.
That game couldn’t have gone much better if I’d written the script myself. I mentioned in the last ratings that if we played the opposition and not the occasion then they were there for the taking and that’s how it panned out as we brutally exposed their weaknesses and simply swept them aside.
United fans were crowing when they signed Ronaldo but they didn’t understand at the time that the best player in the world is already in the PL – Mo Salah. This is a player at the peak of his powers and he’s making the game look easy. Follows up his brilliant goals at City and Watford with a hat trick at Old Trafford – the first player to achieve that in PL history!
Then there’s the imperious Van Dijk, another player comfortably the best in the world in his position. You could argue the same for our goalkeeper, DM and both fullbacks. There are world class players all over the pitch, carefully selected to complement each other.
Then there’s our manager. I was speaking to someone on one of the threads the other day about the importance of having a system, a clear vision for how your team are going to play and sign the players to make that system work accordingly. Klopp has done that perfectly and the system is so strong, the players so well drilled, it allows us to absorb the loss of top players like Fabinho, Matip, Thiago etc and not even miss a beat.
The contrast to what is going on at United is like night and day. I was highly critical of Norwich yesterday, as they got torn apart by Chelsea. I questioned what their identity was meant to be and ridiculed how easy they are to play against. Well United are just a half a billion pound more expensively assembled team, that are exactly the same! Their pressing today was laughable, we forced them into countless errors when they were trying to play out from the back and defensively, they’re absolutely all over the place. They’re utterly reliant on individual quality to win them games and when you have players like Ronaldo, that’s always a possibility but come up against a proper TEAM like they did today and… well, to say they got found out would be a gross understatement.
Make no mistake though gents, enjoy this Liverpool era as you’ll be very lucky to see again in your lifetime a team and manager like we have right now, who are not only world class but likeable, honest, have done it the right way, spending within our means… It should be every fans dream. We didn’t even have a player booked today!
Spare a thought for Naby Keita who’s career has endlessly followed the cycle of just starting to get the fans excited before facing a long injury lay off. Let’s hope he hasn’t succumbed to Pogba’s shocking challenge and it’s just a sore one but in the only negative of the day, joins Milner on the treatment table and now we really are looking short on midfield numbers. On the other hand, Ox may well be in line for the run of games he must have been desperate for, giving him one last chance to resurrect his Anfield career, so there could be a silver lining.
What a game then and a fine birthday present from the lads to myself and Red. Manchester United 0-5 Liverpool. Enjoy it, savour it, as these games don’t come along too often. Walk on!
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