One down, three to go!!

First silverware of the season available and the first trophy in the bag as we continued our recent tradition of low scoring but incredibly entertaining cup ties against Chelsea.

I must admit to not being overly confident when I saw the squad. We could just about field a side of first team players but the bench was (on paper) as weak as I can remember it being in a long time. How wonderfully wrong I was but we’ll get to that later.

We started brightly, getting after Chelsea and pressing them. They looked nervy and resorting to long balls in an attempt to beat our press and counter attack. In the absence of our three top scorers however, we were understandably lacking our usual cutting edge up front and when Gravenberch went off with a nasty looking ankle injury following a poor challenge by Caicedo, I feared the worst in an attacking sense. Gomez was our only senior player on the bench and so replacing Gravenberch with Gomez and pushing Bradley further forward, we were now playing with 5 defenders in the team, a patched up midfield and very much a makeshift front three.

The odds looked to be stacked against us and the break in play gave Chelsea time to settle and they rallied somewhat as we got to grips with the change to the setup and the game could’ve been very different if not for the heroics of Kelleher. He had an immaculate game, never put a foot wrong and made two saves that defied physics. It’s very rare that you don’t notice a stark drop off in quality when fielding your second string keeper and especially when your first choice is arguably the best in the business. It’s the nature of the position but there can be no greater compliment paid to Kelleher than the fact we not only didn’t miss Alisson but there’s actually every chance had he been playing that we’d have conceded one of those point blank chances. That’s not a slight on Ali in any way, there would’ve been no blame attributed to the keeper if Chelsea had buried both those opportunities. It was Kelleher’s day though and those two saves were the equivalent of scoring two goals at the other end and therefore enough to earn him the prestige of being named 4KK’s McMOTM for the day.

There were other notable displays as well. Virgil was superb at both ends, his first goal being disallowed was a shocking decision in my opinion. You see that kind of thing at every set piece, every single week and it brings us back to one of the most common complaints about the officiating – a lack of consistency. Every week shirt pulling, holding, grappling etc is ignored and yet they chalk off a goal in a cup final for that? I don’t buy into the conspiracy theory stuff but you could be forgiven for feeling like the VAR officials went out their way to find a reason to disallow the goal. Thankfully justice was served in the end as he scored the winner regardless. He’s been superb again this season and the captaincy looks to have given him a lift.

Staying on the subject of standout performers, Endo impresses me more week on week. He had a slow start as he struggled to get to grips with the pace of the English game and I’d be surprised if he wasn’t struggling a little with imposter syndrome to begin with, coming into a massive club with a team full of superstars at 30 years old, having never played close to that level in his career. I’d be surprised if anyone wouldn’t feel a little self doubt in his situation, of whether they belonged at that level but it’s testament to his strength of character that he’s overcome that and has arguably been one of our most important players in his last few games for us and just shows you that you don’t always have to buy big money superstars. Caicedo cost seven, yes SEVEN times what we paid for Endo. Can anyone honestly justify that based on performances not just yesterday but the season as a whole? That looks a bullet dodged for us and we’ve found another gem in the market. I appreciate his game, keeps it simple, nothing flashy but reads the game brilliantly and keeps possession ticking over. Unlucky to miss out on McMOTM.

As the game wore on however with no breakthrough, I started to fear the worst. Our players were looking leggy and to say our bench was threadbare would be putting it mildly. It was a massively brave decision by Klopp to make a triple change and bring on 3 youngsters who barely had enough first team minutes between them to make a full 90 and I must admit I feared the worst. I should know better than to question Klopp’s in game management however. He’s the best in the world at it bar none and if I’m honest, I’m struggling to think of another manager past or present who’s subs and/or tactical tweaks mid-game, have such a frequent game changing impact. I thought the sight of 3 unknown academy products coming on would give Chelsea a confidence boost and encourage them to come at us but it had the opposite effect. We badly needed an energy boost into the team, which the kids provided but they brought a whole lot more than that to the occasion and showed real quality and bravery on the ball as we dominated extra time and got our just desserts in the dying minutes, with Chelsea pretty much just playing for penalties in the additional period.

All the youngsters did themselves proud yesterday but the next superstar coming off the academy production line is undoubtedly Connor Bradley, who’s form is going to force our backroom staff into making a decision on Trent’s position sooner than they will have expected I reckon. I mentioned it the other week but he’s very much made in the Robbo mould of fullback and coming from me, there can be no greater compliment for the lad. Fast, aggressive, busy, can defend as well as attack but is also far from just being a blood and thunder type, as he brings real quality on the ball as well. He even has a similar running style to Robbo and the added solidity he brings to us defensively can’t be ignored. If he keeps this up, he’s fast making himself undroppable.

Anyway I could go on and on, it was just one of those games. By the end of it, I was exhausted, elated, emotional, bursting with pride and had goosebumps and a lump in my throat when the team and staff sang YNWA with the fans. A truly special club, fans, team and a manager that will be remembered for generations as a true great. If anyone deserves a historic final season, it’s Klopp and you can’t help feeling that something special is happening this season and that Sunday won’t be the last time we lift silverware before the final curtain comes down on the Klopp era. Injuries are the only thing that look likely to stop us but if yesterday doesn’t instil belief that this group can overcome adversity, nothing will.

A final to remember then, call it the Mickey Mouse cup or whatever you want but yesterday was what football is all about and it’s a day that neither players or fans will ever forget. Now bring home that quadruple. One down, three to go… Walk on!!