LIVERPOOL buried a ghost this afternoon on the south coast.
A big Toxic Thunder-splashed ghost of Christmas past was well and truly consigned along with the memory of Ryan Fraser embodying a combination of Lionel Messi and David Fairclough at the mere sight of a Liver bird.
It can be as perplexing as much as it is enjoyable, given a week of frustration that amalgamated in two points out of a very gettable six against mediocre opposition. However you look at the current labyrinthine Liverpool, they are, without question, the second best side in the country on today’s form.
This was a return to the fantastic, free-flowing Reds that have left us craving more all season. Against a Bournemouth side who have remained a stern test for top six opposition all season, with only Arsenal conquering them by more than a one-goal margin, Liverpool set out to cast aside the challenge of The Cherries from the first whistle.
The cut loose, tops-off, dancing in the dark football coupled with a real determination not to concede and to stay switched on as a team all over the pitch will remind fans and opposition alike just what Liverpool can do to opposing sides, particularly on the road. Yet the question now being asked will undoubtedly be why Liverpool cannot show such vigour and suave on home soil?
Fixtures such as this, as well as the stereotypical Stoke, West Ham and insert newly promoted side (Brighton) away have sent shivers down the Kopite spine for many a year prior to this season. Even early on in Jürgen Klopp’s tenure, his Reds wilted at places like Watford and Newcastle in away performances so bereft of bottle yet somewhat oddly accepted around the club as just “one of them”. Something we always felt would rear it’s ugly head at least once or twice a season.
Yet this side isn’t interested in such a rhetoric away from home lately. We can look at the collapses against Manchester City and Tottenham as well as the frustrating draw at Newcastle, yet we know this side Klopp has created is a high-wire act and at times we have to accept the wheel may come off. What must be celebrated readily is days like today when Liverpool make winning 4-0 away from home an absolute formality.
4 – @LFC are the first team in top-flight history to have won four consecutive away games by a margin of at least three goals. Record. pic.twitter.com/Kjowqc6676
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) 17 December 2017
The attention will obviously come back to the week past, where the Everton and West Brom results will be contextualised and compared against the result and performance today. It is interesting that Liverpool now have 17 points from nine games each home and away this season, yet the home form has yielded five draws. While away only two games have ended all square.
In 2008-9 Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool drew seven home games and four away. This is widely regarded by most as the reason we never triumphed to the title that year. Although the stakes are slightly less high given Manchester City’s steamrolling of the current campaign, the point remains that the current crop are also allowing a passiveness and stalemate element to their Anfield form that is in stark contrast to what is being produced away. Draws kill league campaigns a lot more than defeats that are taken in isolation, Liverpool have to buck that trend quickly if they are to find true momentum and consistency this term.
You felt amid the clobbering vanquishment of Spartak Moscow recently that the enjoyment was back at Anfield. An enjoyment we’ve not felt often enough amid a sea of anxiety and fictive narrative that has often played out. While it’s true Liverpool will undoubtedly be finding that teams are opening up a lot more away due to their own domestic pressures, they must also remember that the game doesn’t have to become attritional at home just because of the nature of the opposition. This is something the fans must also admonish on home soil.
Whatever the formula is, it feels like Liverpool need to now find a way to bring home the noise and erase the fear that has crept into home form. This is needed club wide, this is a side too good to be compared to narratives past. Looking at them today makes you more excited than ever for the next time you get to watch them play.
I saw a tweet last night, I can’t remember who from, that simply stated “Manchester City fans don’t deserve this kind of football”. Whatever your viewpoint on that, it serves that we should grasp and encourage every sinew of goodness this Liverpool side holds.
If this team can get it right in front of our eyes as well as on the road, the sky is truly the limit.
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Thanks for the article Danny.
It was a great all round display from the Reds and Jurgen. Yeah at 3-0 I admit I was a bit worried especially with that Fraser coming on, but it was inspiring to watch the Ox and especially Robertson really making those runs leading to that superb first goal and not tiring at all.
So happy to see Ings and Lallana back again. Somehow the subs felt right in this game.
Extremely happy to have seen Lovren put in a great shift, even when Defoe thought he could outrun him, and the effort and determination for that goal was sublime. He’s been getting so much crap from everyone I am really proud of the guy and all of the players, except maybe Gini.
I really don’t know what Gini’s problem is with away games, but he has not impressed me this season and I hope he can pick his game up before the CL games.
The offside goal by Bobby went our way and escaped an early momentum derailing goal, when they hit the post. Lucky for both. No need to blame the refs or linesman tonight. ;P
Overall job well done, but the real tests still come with a packed defense we need to overcome. Credit to Bournemouth and Howe for not reading the Everton and WBA script and tried to play through us.
Arsenal away is tough, but if this team has what it takes we will give them a great game and increase the momentum and pressure on the top three. I expect nothing less, especially no fucking draws or excuses.
Up the Reds!!!
Teams come to anfield invariably with a deep defensive plan for example Everton, West Brom even Chelsea & Man U ! They don’t come prepared to take us on and are happy to allow us to come onto them upto the final third, willingly surrendering possession while they sit deep and block our attacks and shots until we become frustrated and a passage of play opportunity opens up for them. This is a tactic made famous by the great Italian teams like Inter Milan in the 60’s it is dull and boring now as it was then. However I am confident with Jurgen at the helm and with one or two quality additions going forward we can overcome these negative teams and achieve this season a top four place and a lengthy run in the Champions League.
Possibly explains the focus on attacking options instead of the traditional wisdom of “building from the back”..
The Italian Catenaccio was a little more scientific than the ‘park the bus’ tactics employed against us at home. Catenaccio involved the use of a libero, usually behind a back 4 of specialist markers with fast counter attacks particularly employing the full backs. Given the fluidity of our attacking play Catenaccio could be countered, but simply flooding the final third, choking play and hoping for a long ball to cause havoc seems to do for the likes of our Premier League deep thinkers.
Yes, top 4 and a lengthy run will suffice this season. With the right buys added to this team we can only improve for next season. Patience again is needed.
Although most of the praise is going to Liverpool’s attacking play – LFC haven’t conceded a single goal from open play in their last six games! And just 2 in our last 9 Premier League games!