THE Reds are mustard again.
There was a purity to the occasion, a purity to the two performances. A reminder what this thing is. Two sets of lads mostly in their 20s being bold and brave, and playing, and playing, and playing. Two teams running themselves into the ground. And what should always happen, happened: Liverpool came out on top. Resplendent and proud.
The Reds are mustard again, and you saw them become mustard before your very eyes. It is when it becomes 2-1 through Roberto Firmino doing his best Roberto Fowler impression.
In the time it takes from it leaving Firmino’s foot and it nestling in the corner of the net (about six minutes for those counting) you realise it is our time. You know, you feel suddenly, that everything is Liverpool, Liverpool are everything and out of the mists of celebration and jubilation after the ball has finally landed home, Jürgen Klopp is signalling push, push, push on, push up. Get in their faces, push home the advantage. These lads, my lads are mustard again, these lads are the better side and these lads can win this game now. The game is there for them. The game is afoot.
He was proven right. Liverpool were rampant and Manchester City were in ribbons; Sadio Mane hits the post, Mane scores and the champions elect left shredded by the mighty boys in red. They took the game away from their opponents and built the buffer they eventually needed. They should never have needed that because Man City were done. By 75 they were exhausted, walking wounded, tired and they wanted to go bed.
Their lads were only half a football team; their lads had fallen off the highwire. They’d gone.
Watching Manchester City’s heads fall off as events unfolded reminded me of something:
The Reds.
We have seen that happen to this Liverpool side this season. We’ve seen them lose their way when a game goes against them. It’s worth remembering this is something that happens to really good teams. Every side in this division can lose its way and lose it quickly but it is different again when the way you are set up is based around such fine margins, such specific instructions.
Today’s opposition are the champions elect and the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion. It is noticeable it didn’t in the first half when they went one down. In the first half they shrugged it all off, kept playing and showing their class and quality. But the second, compounded by the strike against the post and then the third ruined them.
They walk the same highwire as us. Highwire football which they are normally able to play, normally able to execute but the thing about highwires is when you fall off them there is splatter everywhere.
It was a performance from Liverpool like a relay race. At any given moment a different Liverpool player was the best Liverpool player on the pitch up until the 80th minute. First half, Emre Can was brilliant out of possession and while he was too ponderous in it, it didn’t matter. He was shepherding the side through their lead and through City’s best patch.
In the second half Firmino is irresistible, Mane has 10 magnificent minutes and Gini Wijnaldum has his best game of the season. There’s Andy Robertson, shutting down and winding up Raheem Sterling before charging across the turf. Dejan Lovren was brave, clearly under instruction to get out of his comfort zone at times and follow an opposition player right into midfield. Joe Gomez recovered from his mistake and kept Leroy Sane reasonably quiet and Joel Matip looked and actually was magnificent.
Each of these lads came to the fore while for Man City it was all Kevin De Bruyne and, while he was magnificent, while he may have been the best player on the pitch in a defeat and with a scoreline that flattered his side, he showed he couldn’t do it on his own — though Bernardo Silva was an obvious bright spot for them.
Liverpool’s players didn’t have to do it alone. They showed today the spirit within that camp and even though they gave two late goals away, they and Anfield didn’t complain, didn’t slaughter one another, instead sleeves were rolled up and resolve redoubled. It became a game Liverpool couldn’t fail to win and strangely Man City’s goals just made that clearer. We weren’t standing for an equaliser, we were standing together.
The collective has rebound itself in some strange way since Leicester. There is something that one-goal victories give you while being the better side, something that galvanises. This is a season now soaked in quality, hewn with iron. A season where Liverpool look superior most of the time they are on the pitch and today they showed that against a side which has taken to the pitch in league football 23 times and won 20 of them.
Today Liverpool announced to the wider world, to potential targets and most importantly to each other and to us that they are the real deal. The Reds are mustard again. They are also the team, squad and club mostly likely to take the fight to today’s opponents.
There is much still to do. It means nothing without a win at Swansea and a win at Huddersfield, nothing without going deep into the two remaining cup competitions, nothing without doing the business again, and again, and again. But this is a side which is unbeaten in 18, a side which looks capable of being deadly serious as well as being deadly.
Liverpool are on the march and Anfield strides in unison with them.
SUBSCRIBE to TAW Player to listen to our post-match show:
“What a football team. What a gang of lads.” 🙌
🗣 Subscribe to #TAWPlayer to listen to our immediate post-match reaction show – https://t.co/moOlrh7fXX pic.twitter.com/uWu7fgMDDA
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) 14 January 2018
Recent Posts:
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
What a statement … Bobby F and the lads failing to feel sorry for themselves after their mate Phil leaves …. deciding to continue this great run. What a game from the Ox, who got things started, from Bobby F himself, who was resplendent, and from Robertson, who seems to thrive on big game atmosphere …
I am so ridiculously happy! That’s what football can be, just feel like I’m walking on air. Yes, we haven’t won owt’ but oh, the possibilities. Brilliant……Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant.
Brilliant writing as always. What a team we are by far and away the second best side in the league just need to push on and prove it by getting as close to city as possible. It was the best game of the season by a long way 2 proper football teams having a go with the better team on the day deservedly winning out .
Up the pressing reds
Superbly written and a work of art as much as the performance today was. There is something significant happening at Anfield this season and this team must not be denied a destiny that we all await and will cherish. We have the man and we have the squad and as fans we now believe. Yes Reds we believe!
poetry in motion sung with belief by the Kop at 4:1 re minded me of THAT other City game when PC stroked the winner and Stevie got the players in a huddle. wow it’s bsck.
Felt I needed oxygen and an emergency blanket a la Kolo at the Etihad, after that glorious, frenetic spectacle! And I was sat in my own house the whole time – except when I was running round the room like a lunatic scaring the dog and the neighbor’s dog and anyone within half a mile. Holy hell, what a statement! Fantastic write-up, Neil. On we all march, indeed. No prisoners today, but back to work at Swansea. Up the table-climbing Reds!
*Yaya -nostalgia made me put the wrong Touré!
What a fucking review the best I’ve ever read. The red gang is back alright. The red gang is here to stay. Klopps band of brothers are alive a kicking. Is right. Is red. Red for ever more.
I stole this from someone else….
Today might have started life after the Fab Four but it didn’t matter as I just saw Firmino rolling Stones….
Brilliant stuff today. Mustard!
Agree with the comments re: the quality of the writing in the review. Absolutely top class. Today epitomised what we’re about and, more broadly, what football should be about. Hats off to City, it takes massive character and belief to get on the ball and continue to play when you’ve just been subject to a whirlwind like that. They’re a top team and the game was all the more special for that. Special mention to De Bruyne, the amount of ground he covers goes under the radar because of his quality on the ball but he is the real deal in all aspects. And yet we were the better team, not just the better team but absolutely the better team. We’ll inevitably have some blips going forward but this is a team to revel in and it’s going to get better. Oh – and don’t mourn the death of our atmosphere just yet, team and crowd totally in sync today.
“There is much still to do. It means nothing without a win at Swansea and a win at Huddersfield, nothing without going deep into the two remaining cup competitions, nothing without doing the business again, and again, and again.“
Glad you also see it through the emphatic win tonight.
Game highlights:
– Ox being an Ox
– Firmino making us forget Coutinho
– Mane and Salah letting them know that Leroy Sane isn’t the only one who can pick out a corner or the goal from distance
– Robertson running from left to right and nearly knocking the player off the ball
– Can and Winaldum giving their best performances
– the defense containing them for those minutes before nearly losing the plot
– Klopp’s ability to turn this team around since we last played City
– keeping the home record against city without Coutinho and VVD
– Aguero missing the last grasp goal for once
– the crowd getting well in!
Need to work on:
– not caving in after subs are made
– finding an established keeper
– keeping up the momentum one game at a time
Up the Glorious Reds!!!
agree with all of that
In a week when only 2 tranfers were discussed, the team showed what there is without them. (And not a mention needed in the review)
Great stuff Neil. Amid so many positives, Robertson’s supernatural surge forward was my personal highlight – whose ghost was he channelling for those 20 seconds?
Robo could be the new Crazy Horse!!!
Fantastic game. Hopefully leaves city with a few mental scars. Its sublime when two teams choose to play especially when we come out on top. We had them on the ropes at 4-1 and i just wanted more. Its greedy of me to say it’s a shame but i wonder what 5 or 6 goals could have done to city’s confidence going forward. I suppose they would always have their moment and showed alot of nerve to come back close. Perhaps a lost opportunity? Perhaps our lads were fucked after being sublime for so long.
Either way an awesome game and fantastic result. Keep it up reds!
Ox is Ringo, Coutinho is Pete Best.
Great game , great review,great fans ,great site and a GREAT team .
Thanks and great comment from you too! :)
Fantastic game with so many great performances. What great signings we made last summer! Andy Robertson must have cemented his inclusion in the side after the last two games, surely. I would also like to mention the referee today – he let the game flow so well.
Good shout out about the Ref, Angie.
“Two teams running themselves into the ground. And what should always happen, happened: Liverpool came out on top. Resplendent and proud.”
Long may that continue.
YNWA
Great write up Neil. Cheers. Up the Reds!
Watching MOTD2 . Today’s win stopped Man City @ 30 unbeaten, one behind LFC of 87/88, even more reasons to celebrate !
The Arsenal game in the summer was a great advert for the Reds in the market, and players were turning down bigger paychecks to come here.
This is an even more brilliant advert. Now is the time to recruit whoever we’re going to recruit. On current form, we look entirely capable of becoming European Champions across 5 matches. Replace VVD for Lovren and we look the business.
Goretzka would not be cup-tied, since Schalke finished 10th last season. Oblak is cup-tied, but his release clause stands at 88M and would seem to provide enough balance to place us in Europe’s elite. And the only gettable top drawer GK in the universe.
But ultimately this day is not about idle transfer speculation. It is about the magnificent Reds in their diesel-engined pomp. And about Raheem getting the hook after getting served on toast by our back-up LB. It is dizzying to figure out which Red was better than another, and at a certain point you just sit back in satisfaction knowing that you have witnessed the very best of what footie is about.
All while our rivals dropped points.
All of the above… and in addition our team are so good they cause two Top ? England players (Rooney and Sterling ) to be so fustrated their managers have to pull them. So all the above and we can screw great ? players into headf–ks that break their mojo.
Great tribute to the “flying pig” today in so many ways.
Games like that are why we go to the match. When you come away hoarse and knackered, everyone’s happy and talking about it all the way home. It’s what we all live for.
but the thing about highwires is when you fall off them there is splatter everywhere.
Yep. – On another note: Still don’t get, why Barca didn’t go for KdB. Tbh, to me the more complete player than Couts.
I just love Bobby’s mad flying kick celebration. Only topped by Degsy’s hoarding kicking celebration
It’s one of those games we’ll never forget. We really won’t. The night Jurgen Klopp’s mad bastard reds took down the champions elect and snapped their unbeaten streak.
You could feel we were up for it from the start. Firmino’s touch and hooked pass over the top to Mane opened them right up. An early warning from us – “we can get at you today and we’re going to keep getting through.”
City are a fantastic side and De Bruyne is the best visiting player I’ve seen at Anfield for a very long time, but they couldn’t get to grips with us.
There was a sneaking suspicion we were going to trouble them but you daren’t even think about such things before kick-off. What transpired was a whirlwind of attacking brilliance. They actually started well in the second half but a ten minute attacking blitz left them in pieces. They were falling apart under the relentless assault of our high press. The moment Salah’s goal goes in is one of the best moments of the Klopp era. We were shredding them. Klopp once again besting Pep.
Can and Wijnaldum are all power, energy and application. Can having one of ‘those’ games where he’s the strongest man in the stadium, bar perhaps his midfield partner…….
Wijnaldum is having maybe his best game in a Liverpool shirt. Definitely this season. He takes the ball away from their players with contempt before driving at them in a way they just haven’t had to deal with.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal. If he never does anything for us again, which he clearly will, we’ll never forget that moment. Driving through the middle and just smashing it past a goalkeeper Sky Sports had spent most of the game’s opening fawning over.
Firmino’s goal might be my favourite moment. Stones leans in. He’ll just ease this skinny git off the ball. Until he doesn’t. Get to fuck Stones. Who the fuck are these Reds? That’s what they’re thinking. Before they’re done getting over Firmino’s goal they’ve been hit again by Mane. First off the post and then in the top corner of Ederson’s net. Pep’s telling them to calm down because they’ve gone. They’ve absolutely gone. Nobody has had the courage to come at them like this and they don’t know how to respond. They haven’t had to. Minutes later we’ve hit them again and Pep is screaming at them to calm down. The man widely accepted to be the best manager on the planet – the man who’s won it all – is beseeching his side to get a grip of themselves as they wilt under a Red assault. Sterling fails to heed the message and is subbed early yet again at Anfield. Thanks for coming Raheem.
They do recover themselves and get us a bit worried but the damage is done. No Coutinho, no van Dijk, no problem.
Andy Robertson. Outstanding. Talk about playing for the shirt.
As usual, beautiful prose from Neil.
Did anyone notice Tyler over-compensating on the commentary
from our perspective? Has someone in Sky had a word with him?
He went almost ‘Marsh-eee-alll’-esque for one of our goals.
Truly superb review, Neil, so nailed on with every word!
But my favourite? “It was a performance from Liverpool like a relay race. At any given moment a different Liverpool player was the best Liverpool player on the pitch up until the 80th minute…” – So many players could’ve been MOTM in my opinion, which is what ‘team’ means, with Klopp continuing to emphasize this – who can resist him? Who were the captains out there; who was their captain? Our most expensive wasn’t even in the squad.
I also wish to posit what could be a significant question – who hasn’t peaked yet this season; what more can be asked of them? I’d say there are several
Awesome publishing output, TAW – Up the Reds
The Fab Four are dead. Long live The Crucial Three!
Now, push for the title Reds. Nobody believes it will happen. To maintain this tsunami of football, you MUST just believe it. It can. It could. Make it so.