The magnificent seven
Well that was a thing of beauty. Prior to the game I think we’d all have gladly accepted a scrappy 1-0 win but to win 7-0 was surely beyond everyone’s wildest dreams.
The first half was actually quite competitive, given the eventual score line. We had more of the ball but United were looking dangerous on the counter in what was a fairly even first 45 minutes.
The breakthrough came just before half time, Robbo collecting the ball before running between two opposition players, telling Gakpo where to run before delivering a perfect pass for Cody to run onto and then finish expertly like a young Thiery Henry.
Second half and Nunez, who had been quite quiet by his usual standards, burst into life to nod home his first of the day after United struggled to clear the ball and after that, the floodgates opened. Gakpo’s second was my favourite goal of the day, Salah turning Martinez inside out, before laying it onto Gakpo who beat De Gea with a delightful chip. Both his goals had real class about them and as he settles, we’re starting to see why he was so highly rated in the Netherlands.
After the third goal went in, United’s capitulation was something to behold. Nunez got his second, Salah got a brace of his own but the biggest cheer of the day went to Firmino, who signed off his last game against United in style and I couldn’t be happier for him.
Focusing on United for a second though. For those of us who have been frustrated with our players seeming lack of fight and desire at times this season, go back and look at the performance of Antony and especially Bruno Fernandes yesterday. Antony clearly doesn’t think he needs to track back or do any defensive work, the result being the excellent Robbo completely destroyed them down that flank all game. As for Fernandes, Neville branded him a disgrace during the game and if anything that was being too kind. From not chasing back, to repeatedly feigning injury, to kicking out at our players, pushing the linesman and then complaining to the bench that he wanted to be subbed, I was angry at him on the United fans behalf. He’s meant to be their captain?? Absolute joke. If I was Ten Hag, he’d never play for me again. It put some perspective on some of our own lacklustre performances this season though.
I said before the game that I felt victory yesterday would be a real turning point for our season and while that remains to be seen, it certainly feels that way and we’ve put ourselves in a great position to finish in the top four now. We’ve been gradually building some momentum in recent weeks, not always particularly convincing but you don’t go from the turgid form we’d been in to world beaters again overnight but we’ve been slowly finding a bit of form in recent weeks and then yesterday it all came together and then some.
There were a number of candidates for McMOTM, Robbo was excellent and Gakpo looked nailed on for the honour after an hour played but I’m going to go for Salah. Two goals and two assists, becoming our top scorer in PL history in the process but more than that, we finally saw the Salah of old. He was a constant threat and I suspect Shaw and Martinez had nightmares about him last night.
Bournemouth up next then, a team we beat 9-0 earlier in the season so on paper it looks an easy three points but they gave Arsenal a real scare at the weekend so they can’t be overlooked and we have to continue to capitalise on our resurgent form, which happily is coinciding with a drop off in form for Spurs and Newcastle. Our league position looks much healthier than it did even two weeks ago though and top four is very much back on.
We’ve made history a few times in the Klopp era, at times even taking it for granted. Nobody will be taking a 7-0 win over United for granted though. This is a result that will be talked about for generations, a game that has reserved its place in the echelons of football history and no matter what happens in the future, we’ll always have that 7-0 victory over United. Rarely, if ever, has a result tasted so sweet. Walk on!
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