Two down, two to go
We never do things the east way do we? We started like a train, putting Chelsea under real pressure, with Diaz causing them all kinds of problems. You’re thinking, for the good of my blood pressure, just pop a couple in now and we’ll have a nice easy afternoon but oh no, that’s not the Liverpool way is it? It’s a full 120 minutes of squeaky bum time, leaving finger nails chewed to mush and soiled under garments. It’s all worth it though isn’t it??
With this season, the domestic cup curse is lifted as we complete the domestic double for the first time since 2001, Hendo is now the first Liverpool captain to lift all 6 trophies at the club and Klopp became only the second manager after Fergie to lift every trophy with the same club in England. What a day!
It was a mixed display, no more characterised by anyone than Trent who I thought struggled badly for an hour, especially defensively and then was absolutely superb for the next hour, especially defensively. I thought Robbo was excellent, had Mount in his pocket and ran until he simply couldn’t run any more. Lukaku did cause our CB’s some trouble but thankfully wasn’t really on the same wavelength as his wingers. That leaves Alisson (McMOTM), a string of brilliant saves, dominant on crosses and then the decisive penalty save to clinch the trophy.
Our midfield functioned really well I thought, with Thiago excellent and Hendo never put a foot wrong in the six position. I thought Naby played well but a little frustrating in their final third.
Serious fitness concerns though, as Salah went down off the ball, signalling what seemed to be a groin injury and Virgil going off at full time. I think Robbo had just emptied his tank and was cramping up, I don’t think he was injured and I’m hopeful Virgil was precautionary also. Going into the CL final without Virgil, Salah and potentially Fabinho is not a nice position to find ourselves in.
That’s a different worry for a different day however. Today is about winning the cup double and this team and manager further etching themselves into LFC folklore.
Really pleased for Mane as he’s been riding the crest of a wave since AFCON and that penalty miss would have hurt him if it had proved costly and I’m also really pleased for Tsimikas, who has always performed admirably when called upon and really deserves to play more often with his performance levels. He can feel a really big part of our season now though and was beaming in his post match interview.
History beckons then. The quadruple is still on, however having seen what that game took out of our boys and how exhausted they looked at the end of the game, I think we now need to prioritise the CL final and heavily rotate. To that end, my team for Southampton would be
————————Alison————————
Gomez——Matip——-Konate——Tsimikas
————————-Milner————————
-————Ox———————-Curtis————
Minamino—————Firmino————-Origi
If it’s good enough it’s good enough and if it’s not, well we’ve had an amazing season. You could see in our players today why the quadruple has never been done. Chelsea’s as well, having played a similar number of games. The physical and mental fatigue has to catch up sooner or later, even to the mentality monsters.
That’s it then troops, another trophy in the cabinet as this season just keeps getting better. Back to PL duty on Tuesday but it’s hard now for all eyes not to be on Paris. Walk on!!
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