YOU’VE got to score the second goal in the game. You’ve got to score the eighth goal in the game. Fuck it. Score the ninth goal in the game.
I don’t know where my Saturday goes from here. I don’t know where your Saturday goes from here.
Football makes idiots of us all. I saw the wonderful Andrew Beasley tweeting this morning about this being a low scoring game. I met Steve Graves and he told me the team and I said I simply don’t know where the goals come from. I was implacably furious at 3-1, I wanted people bombed out.
Perhaps I still do. Neither full back acquitted themselves well. Sakho’s dreadful for both Norwich equalisers. Lads running off Can and Lucas like they are Charlie Adam, this is 2011 and Reina/Mignolet has packed in saving things.
But forget that. Jib that. Fuck that. It’s 3pm on Saturday, a Saturday that could go anywhere, Adam Lallana has scored a last minute sausage dinner in a 4-5 and he has rightly took his top off. He took his top off and ran at a manager who wants his football emotional and is perhaps just beginning to realise what emotional is in this madhouse. Adam Lallana sensibly kicked the ball into the ground. And created carnage.
Because football. Not because the Reds are mustard but because the ninety minutes are nothing but a constant state of emergency, a state you manage as best you can but perhaps occasionally just embrace. Just get on board with it.
Embracing this fact at 3-1 could turn Liverpool’s season. Klopp’s brought sanity and shape. Solidity except in the area, where it counts. But Liverpool did mad well. At 1-3 Moreno nearly creates a goal. Seconds later Henderson scores one and gets the ball. It was all Liverpool the way it should be. Firmino does brilliantly for a lovely third before he and Lallana get the ball out of the goal.
They got the ball. Firmino excellent throughout. He may well be goals when he leads the line. He may well be assists. Again for another day. What counts is he got the ball. The Reds were mad as hell and they weren’t going to take it any more.
Getting the ball at 3-3 counts for something. It counts for everything. It counts for an attitude. Look at the ninth goal. It is Caulker in the penalty area winning a header. There are no good points any more. There very rarely ever has been.
Stick your point. The Reds are bananas and they will have all three. Should be written on the back of hands. Tattooed on eyelids after signing. The Reds will have all three.
Should lead to a seachange this. Should or could. Score the second goal. If you can do that make sure you get the fifth. Get the eighth if you can. Embrace the ninth.
Imagine the end. Imagine the pint. Imagine that. Embrace it. Feel it. Store it. It is the attitude, the feeling, the heart pounding that leads to something.
It is a joy to be alive. There. It is a joy to be alive. Wherever you are. It is, suddenly, a joy.
Up the Reds.
If it’s a joy to be alive why did that game depress me so much.
Yup. Am reminded of that Newcastle 4-3 in 1997, when I thought we definitely wouldn’t win anything that season.
Norwich are a fucking dreadful football team. And they scored 4 goals against us. I’m made up we won, but way more fucked off at the manner of it. Our players are fucking MINDLESS. Moreno. I mean, MORENO?
But up the Reds. I’m going for a beer
Dreadful fun ;) I’d like to think that the emotion is potentially a platform but seriously has there been ANY game EVER n Opta stats history with that number of individual errors. There must be some data on that.
I’m afraid same old same old but at least this one ended with the little ivory ball landing on red.
Madness..total madness.
Agree with Mr Gibbons – ecstatic with the win (and secretly enjoyed the drama) but equally depressed at how a 5-4 is possible and how close we were to fucking it up. All a bit tenuous and built of sand. But that aside, I’ve got a massive smile on my mush right now and loved the love in at the end.
I don’t want to live in a world where that mad bastard isn’t our manager.
best comment ever JB . immense!
This. And wtrwwaw. Embrace the madness and joy of it.
the best signing of Liverpool since Suarez!
Spot on!
In a season of being out battled and showing little, we dig in and scrap till the last. Sakho was dreadful, Migs wasn’t on the pitch and the stress this must be putting Klopp under is incredible, but…..we won!
Give the man what ever it costs to fix the b ack -2 goal difference.
Alaves 2001 revisited for me. Pure heart attack material but enjoyable all the same.
As someone pointed out, a will to win and fight is beginning to emerge. Just need the ability for everyone to remain level headed and stop losing the plot defensively.
spot on, Steve. both Alaves and fighting spirit. (we fought hard against Arsenal, MU, Exeter and today). Hope this is a turning point for us.
Winning swamps most things but that was a terrible performance in so many respects. That was Norwich. Norwich! And we made them look good for much of the game. Shouldn’t need to score 5 to win by the odd goal against one of the weakest teams in the division.
Klopp can surely afford a new pair of specs.
But as a gesture, these players should chip in:
~ Mig: 4 shots on target 4 goals. We were leading 4-3 with few mins left; and he released the ball early to Milner, and from that pass Benteke was offside, and from that free-kick, 4-4.
~ Moreno: time for Smith to start.
~ Clyne: Glad Flenno is going to give a good fight
~ Kolo/Sakho: bad game for both; Looking forward to Lovren start soon.
~ Lucas: Inconsistent throughout. some good tackles, but didn’t cover well enough
~ Can: was hoping Allen comes on (the game was played tight in the middle; Allen could have kept the ball much better)
100quid each, lads.
Lucas, apart from his bit in the second goal, was consistent throughout, consistently effective. I loved the way he battled to fill the huge gaps left by the rest of the midfield and covered both full backs. A man who left the field leaving nothing behind.
And his part in the celebration was great, too. Just screaming repeatedly. Classic.
Spot on Frankie, Lucas cannot do it all himself and he gets zero help from Can & Hendo.
Time and again the only Liverpool player who looks like he can remember how to pass a ball. Yeah he’s slow but its not just him in that midfield though he’s the easy scapegoat for a good few people
Hear, hear!
Lucas must bear a share of the burden of responsibility for their 2nd goal but it is Can whose man Naismith is. If he intended to ‘hand him’ (so to speak) to Lucas (unclear as to whether that is how we’re supposed to be defending in that area of the pitch under Klopp) there doesn’t appear to be any indication that he gave Lucas a shout or any other kind of ‘heads up’ that he was supposed to pick up the ‘runner’ in that instance.
To claim that Lucas was ‘inconsistent’ vs Norwich is the height of negatively-biased hyperbole.
Lucas was boss.
Oxford English Dictionary ~
“Inconsistent: not acting or staying the same throughout”
And sack all them man city heads picking our players. Little small weak players. Lucas is still a main player for us. Mingolet is our first choice. We spent 60million on lalanna and benteke. It’s shocking. Southampton got Charlie Austin for 4m. Imagine what we would pay for him.
Speechless, not sure if I prefer a somber 1-0 or not !
Hope klopp chinned that fat bloke who waited for him in the tunnel
haha. agreed. not sure what that guy was up to.
I still want people bombed out. Brutal. Good to see some crossing from wide though.
Have to agree with mr Gibbons senior. Ok Minge was not responsible, but just the kipper on him depresses me.
Made up, embrace the kloppmadness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had to stop watching when it was 1-1 after half an hour so of course Liverpool go on to put on what by the sounds of it, was the best game in this and many a season. They can’t do right for doing wrong for me at the minute. Don’t even know what our next league fixture is but we’ll probably get beat 1-0. Inconsistent dickheads.
Good a time as any for Lallana to score his first league goal as well. I like him but he needs to go on a bit of a Benayoun/Maxi second half of the season purple patch to justify his place in the team.
And are we the only team in the league who gets beat by United these days? Fucks sake.
Still not quite sober yet, Tom? (since MU loss? :)
Lallana actually played like Benayon today (and faster than Maxi too..). Actually his sub turned the game around. After Lallana came on we started pressing from front and showed more urgency. And yes, he’s got tattoo on left side of ab. Enough summary for you mate. cheers
Thought I liked Lallana before this body tattoo news. Fuck him off now. The nerd.
Back on the ale obvs.
Nailed it again, Neil – Fair Play. Over-analysis is the way of Nurse Ratched. Give me McMurphy anytime.
Oh my word.
So I was at this game. Sat in the Norwich City directors’ box. Imagine having to sit through all that and not be able to show much emotion for NINE GOALS! Fun though weren’t it? Daft, but fun. When the Reds win……
Nice Network reference Neil. Great film. Great game. Both hysterical.
Kloppo has said he wants LFC to play with emotion, he wants heavy metal football. I don’t know what that was today. Heavily Mental if you ask me. We were warned by those that were involved with Dortmund it was going to be a roller coaster. Fuck me they weren’t joking!!
The emotional outpouring at the end was absolutely something to behold, even Benteke couldn’t contain himself. Look again, he looks like a twelve year old. THIS. Things like this is what makes a team, what binds men together, to look at one another and know – that mad bastard over there won’t quit, doesn’t know when to quit, will run and kick and fight until he drops or they do. It’s still too soon to say but I think there’s a seminal change on the rise. It cannot be a coincidence that there are late goals in this side. That this side CAN come back from a kick in the bollix, I don’t believe that was in them under BR. I think Jurgen is instilling it, slowly. Too slow for some but we have to believe – as he asked at the beginning. They’re learning from him and you can be assured he’s learning who’s who in the team he’s inherited. We’re really not actually going to know who he thinks he can trust to continue on this madcap journey with him until the summer and beyond but fucking hell I wouldn’t miss it for anything. The big grin on all our faces after days like today are why we watch, why we love, why we care. WTRWWAW.
“No Premier League team has scored more goals after the 75th minute than Liverpool (7) since Jürgen Klopp’s appointment.
Never say die.” (Squawka Football)
Great comment fellah. Actually seeing Benteke smile, let alone ragging Klopp’s glasses during the mass love-in, brought tears to my eyes, We’re shit, but we’re our own kind of shit, y’know? Just the 4-5 away win there. Ha ha, idiots. That’s the team, I mean. Don’t think it will continue.
ok we were shite. Utter shite. But that. That is why we all watch footy. Our manager is a wonderful mentalist. The next few years are going to be a riot thanks to him. #WTRWWAW
I just hope all the guys remember how good it felt to play with some passion, freedom and desire. Been very little of it so far. And hopefully Jurgen learnt something too….let them PLAY!
Norwich were fighting for their lives.But we outfought them.We’ve scored 11 goals in the last 4 games!
Formino’s goal trickled over the line but Naismith’ s thunderbolt should have been saved by Mignolet?
Don’t you just love those pundits?
I actually love this season. The uncertainty of it, the wondering which of our players’ doppelgängers will turn up; the dread of losing touch with top four and the relief in finding that our rivals have done just as badly as we did. Love it!!
And we have a manager to cherish!!
My mind goes to the classic Orange Juice tune “Falling and Laughing.” As picking balls out of the net goes, the tormented poet in me will always go for Suarez against Crystal Palace, but there were a couple of fine candidates on display this afternoon.
Got to ask yourself, though, who exactly is keeping Allen out of the starting 11? He’s gone far beyond the “neat and tidy” tag in the past month or so, unshackled from the DM position he was never meant for.
Lallana was brilliant, immediate in his impact. But I’d love to see a bit of pace along the lines of Teixiera and Sturridge up front. And who wouldn’t want to see a Coutinho firing on all cylinders with a Firmino firing on all of his own cylinders?
Maybe it’s the lager talking, but we’re only 13 points off the top now that we score for fun.
Our target Texiera is a goal machine, but he’s only about as tall as Kevin Keegan (so, for that matter, give or take, is King Kenny).
In other words, he’s a false no. 9.
How many do we need?
Christian Benteke is 6″3
Sergio Aguero is 5″8.
It will be interesting to see in 12 months time which players from that starting 11 will be in the team.
Methinks not many.
More like “mehopes.” I don’t think FSG brought Klopp into the club to rip it up and start again.
Absolutely brilliant article, Neil. Made me laugh several times.
Only just saw this game due to being abroad and rights restrictions. Knew the score but no details beyond that. Watching those Norwich goals made me really angry. If I’d been watching live I’d have probably broken the TV.
I’ve defended the Minger a few times before this but he was atrocious for Naismith’s cross-shot. I’m a 47 year old keeper who played lower leagues and that’s probably not beating me at my age. And as for the other goals… (Sighs)
JK spoke of winning the first balls but now the second balls becoming an issue. He’s sugar-coating it: I saw first AND second balls lost that led to goals.
But to win after conceding that 92nd minute screamer, Norwich fans going bonkers, laughing at us – tells me we are going to be just fine under this man they call Jurgen Klopp.
We celebrated a lucky win over fucking Norwich like its 1999.
Fucking Norwich.
Rodgers legacy.