Glorious frustrations

What a strange experience last night’s game was. I can’t ever remember a game where we were SO dominant, won by two clear goals which moved us three points clear at the top of the league, yet being so wound up and frustrated both during and after the game, although the fact we set a new PL record for XG, while limiting the opposition to a pitiful number of chances but still managed to make the game a stressful, nervy affair may have something to do with it.

In truth, the game should have been done and dusted at halftime, by which point we should have been at LEAST 3-0 up and arguably more. Now there will always be games where you just have one of those days and the ball just won’t go in for you but this is far from the first time this season that our profligacy in front of goal has been an issue. We only have to look back to the United game where we were utterly dominant, 30 odd shots on goal but didn’t manage to convert one and with the chances we conceded to them in the last quarter of the game, we actually could have lost that game which would have been possibly the most vomit inducing, infuriating result of my life. There’s other examples – Luton and so on but you get the point. We didn’t expect to be in a title race this season but the door has been opened for us and we’ve as much chance as any of our rivals this season so we need to stop needing to create 20 chances to score one goal, especially given the fact we almost always concede these days and generally to the opposition’s first or second shot of the match.

The thing is, there was a lot to like about the performance. We absolutely battered them and we were unlucky in a few occasions with marginal offside calls and whatnot but not making the opposition pay when we’re so dominant is becoming an unwelcome trend that will cost us sooner or later.

I remember the season we won the league when we won so many games in the dying minutes and Guardiola was asked if it annoyed him that we seemed to be lucky in that regard. His reply was when you do it every week, it’s not luck. That’s how I feel at the moment about our finishing. We can bemoan our bad luck, Nunez especially it seems but when it happens week in, week out it’s not luck, it’s a problem that needs to be addressed. People were raving about Dubravka and while he did have a good game, if the vast majority of your shots are straight at the keeper, then at this level he’s going to save the vast majority of them.

Darwin in particular really needs to find some finesse and composure to his game. I love his passion, work rate and blood and thunder approach to games but the world’s top strikers have ice in their veins when presented with big chances. Darwin has hellfire pumping through his. His record in one v ones is dreadful and I have zero confidence he’s going to finish the chance when I see him running clean through on goal and considering a huge part of his game is playing on the shoulder of the last defender and running in behind, he’s actually not very good at it. Offside way too often and then his finishing in these situations is really poor, invariably straight at the keeper. Adding a little dinked finish to his game, or the composure to go around the keeper would go a long way and he needs to start improving in that regard.

It’s really time we had a discussion about Salah being our penalty taker as well, he misses way too many and even the ones he scores aren’t convincing, as demonstrated last night. Missed the first and although he scored the second, it was because the keeper went the wrong way. If the keeper had gone the right way, there’s every chance he’d have saved it as it wasn’t particularly near the corner and was a good height for the keeper. Salah is our best finisher but that doesn’t always equate to penalties. We’ve had two expert penalty takers in recent times at the club in Gerrard and Milner, both of whom took almost identical penalties – low and hard and aiming for the side of the net as close to the post as possible. Why? Because they’re not saveable. There was no smashing it down the middle etc, it was the same penalty every time. The only thing that changes was what side they went for and they very rarely missed. Now we all know personal records are important to Salah but his ego and thirst for personal glory should NEVER come before team results and the harsh truth is we have better candidates in the squad now to be our preferred penalty taker. He wouldn’t be happy but that’s too bad.

Anyway, that turned into more of a rant than I meant it to, promising myself I’d find the balance given the fact we did win the game and are top of the league. It was that kind of night though.

Looking at the positives now and to be fair, there were plenty. I thought Diaz had his best game in a while and looked more like his old self, although drifted out the game a bit second half. Gomez looks really good at LB, as he did in his first season with us under Rodgers to be fair and his form has abated what could’ve been a potential injury crisis at LB. Van Dijk looks imperious again for the most part, although was a bit lackadaisical for one of Newcastle’s goals last night but I think he’ll always have that in his game. Thankfully he rarely costs us and the defence has actually looked much more solid this season for the most part, which is why it’s so frustrating to keep conceding. We limit teams to so few chances but they’re always big chances that invariably lead to a goal. I do feel it can be fixed with a few minor tweaks though, unlike last season when there was so much wrong with our defending, I could’ve written a book instead of an article.

The big positive for me in recent weeks though has been Endo. He’s growing into the team more with each passing game and I’m gutted he’s off on international duty, just as he’s becoming an important player for us. At the start of the season his timing always seemed to be off, always a yard behind or fraction late in the tackle. To be fair to him though, it’s no surprise he struggled to get to grips with the pace of not only the PL but our game to begin with. It was a giant step up in class for a 30 year old and it must have been a bit overwhelming for him, not only the pace and quality of the league but being in training with some of the best players in the world, LEVELS above anyone he’d played with before and there must’ve been an element of self doubt questioning whether he belonged there. It’s testament to his character that he’s got up to speed so quickly and is now looking like exactly what I’d hoped he’d be – a Klavan style stopgap signing. Not fancy but competent and good enough to do a job until the long term solution presents itself.

Szoboszlai’s recent form has been a cause for concern after his electric start and it looks like he’s going to miss a few games with a hamstring injury but that may be a blessing in disguise and with Gravenberch, Elliot, Jones and even Trent, we should be able to absorb the loss for a few weeks. We could do with Thiago and Bajcetic coming back though. Seems like they’ve been out forever.

Speaking of Jones, he was excellent last night I though and seemed nailed on for McMOTM but I can’t ignore Salah’s two goals and an assist so he nicks it but Jones is finally starting to look like the player we all hoped he’d develop into. Just needs to stay fit and keep grasping the opportunities as they arise.

It’ll be interesting to see what Klopp does in Salah’s absence. He’s the only player in the team we’ve no obvious, natural replacement for. He may stick with the same system and try any of Harvey, Jota, Gakpo or Diaz out there but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see us change system and play two up top. Time will tell and I trust Klopp to get it right. He usually does.


Anyway, this has turned into a bit of a novel so I’ll wrap it up. It was a very frustrating game but we got there in the end and are now three points clear at the top of the table – a standing that at this stage of the season, I doubt even the most optimistic of Liverpool fans would have expected before a ball was kicked this season so perspective is key. Says me who’s just had a stupidly lengthy rant about it…

Anyway, another three points and we go again! Walk on!!