LIVERPOOL (0) 4 – 0 (0) Southampton.
I love the look of this. It has an old-school vibe. It tells a story. Like most stories worth telling, it is both true and false.
There are a ton of possible interpretations. The first being Liverpool dominated first half and broke resistance second. That is nonsense. Southampton were always in the game until 3-0, and even then weren’t taking a backwards step. They were backing their process. They back their process. We back ours.
Process is everything. Process is why the ground acclaimed Mohamed Salah’s offside goal even after it was confirmed as offside. It’s the best goal not scored at Anfield since Luis Suarez against Arsenal in 2014. It was a triumph of the process in both ways.
Southampton keep closing, keep getting close; Liverpool keep moving, keep getting away. They unpick the press as you can imagine they do in training, they go stage by stage and then score. It doesn’t count because Southampton get their line right. Fair play to them. Well done all round.
It was a big win for VAR. In years gone by I would have been livid with it not being given in real time. But now I know it must be right, so I wasn’t livid. I was able to applaud. Well done, everyone.
Well done all round was my half-time takeaway. The facts were that the two sides had been well matched. I felt Southampton needed to have done more with their opportunities, that Liverpool would half time better, that Liverpool would finish better, that Liverpool’s bench was better.
And so it proved. Almost too quickly if anything. Suddenly Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had an unbelievable amount of space which he used with aplomb. The ball was drilled home and, under normal circumstances, Liverpool would be all but home and hosed.
But the Saints kept coming. Fuck me, they are game. Fuck me, they are likeable. They show and graft, enjoy both aspects of the game. They want to play, they want to hunt.
Jordan Henderson getting the ball fed back to him from Roberto Firmino, thundering home. Liverpool clear the ball. Then they score because this is what they do. The pair of them irresistible for 45 minutes, the pair of them that combination of unbelievable brain and sheer work rate. They are both so determined to see Liverpool home, game after game.
Henderson is now the absolute essence and leader of this team. He epitomises every single value it has, time and again. He plays, works and bollocks in a way which is about being unbeatable. Second best is not an option for him. His goal, his acclaim has never been more righteous. Anfield has become his. I verge on soppy about it.
But Mo Salah. Good God, Mo Salah. He’s just remarkable in the context of being endlessly marked. He gets smothered and breaks free over and over. He is the most marked player I have ever seen. He is a magnet for opposition footballers.
They all get on top of him but he looks after it time, and time, and time again. And then scores a brace. He’s never played as well for Liverpool as he has across the last eight weeks. The goals are beginning to come to match the performances.
The story of the game is that Liverpool withstood a very good Southampton side. They looked at how much they work and outworked them. They saw how well positioned they were and outthought them. They got around the area and just finished them.
In the widest sense imaginable, today should ring out across Europe. Because Liverpool were stood up to and solved it by being clinical. They could well prove to be champions for longer than anyone. They get that acclaim now because they show they are deserving every single time.
I am so glad Southampton had a go at them, so glad that Ings and Redmond and Bertrand showed. I want them to be good because they are such a credit to themselves. It helps when they actually are.
Liverpool beat the side who have been the third best since the November international break. They beat them 4-0, cut them asunder. They worked them out, they outplayed them, they boxed them off.
They ticked them off. On the way to the promised land, they saw them off. They aren’t stopping.
Liverpool (0) 4 – 0 (0) Southampton.
What a side. Thirteen to go. A lovely big break, but 13 to go.
Seventy-three points from a possible 75. An astonishing team. This is the best you have seen. The best you ever will see.
These are the days. These are the Champions. Why deny the obvious?
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Nailed it. It’s a bit of a challenge: don’t let up, don’t relent, don’t drop the “one game at a time” mantra that has got us this far, but still revel in it, still celebrate it, still delight in it as it’s unfolding before our eyes. We know the lads and Jurgen won’t change tack – this glorious dilemma is ours. Really, what a time to be alive. I still say we treat all the matches like a cup final. At this stage staying unbeaten for the whole season, charting a new points record, all that is what this team deserves. Throw in retaining our Champion’s League title as well. Let the kids win the FA Cup. But this one can still be a procession, kind of, and thrill-a-minute. We just need a bit of recalibration. This needs celebrating every minute of every day.
Well said NB; to paraphrase Neil himself from the Numero 6 book; in regards to our team…Come worship them, let us Adore them. The best footballing side we’ve seen. Mentality Monsters is how history should remembers these Immortals
I love the authority , poise and confidence. Looks like football is a mystery that we have solved but we aren’t gonna let anyone else know the secret. We make it look simple.
Alisson parrying a shot in the air then catching it nonchalantly in one hand made me laugh out loud. Opponents just know they aren’t gonna score.
We are pacing the season beautifully. Bobby and Mo look fresh and ready to kick on. We know we can shift up a gear or two when we need to.
Brilliant Neil, very well said, great article.
This is what I put on Ben’s article;
Southampton caused us many problems but not as many as we caused ourselves. Wind wasn’t helping conditions. Oppo worked their balls off. Kevin who is deffo not our Friend made lots of mistakes in both directions, but the penno first half he turned down was a shocker. It was a penno and a red card in my book. Had we been Man Utd we would have got that. Also on a day when every fecker was getting yellows and reds across the PL, there were so many outrageous tackles by the oppo on us (mainly Hendo) that didn’t even see a talking to from Friend. That guy himself needs a talking to. However what can we say about these Reds, our Reds. They are just effin unreal. They have won 100 points out of the last 102 available. They have 108 points now from a rolling 38 games (new record after our 106 points midweek and 104 points before that), Citeh’s is 102 points, which I think they share with Roman’s Chavski. We now also have joined Forest on 42 games unbeaten, Winning an incredible 37 to their 21. We also (again) got turned down by VAR, twice so that completely messes up that Narrative… It’s getting scarily good now how we can not be our best and still thump teams. I just love these fantastic record breaking reds. Love them.
Here is a link to Salah’s from yesterday:
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/exbgyo/liverpool_vs_southampton_mohammed_salah/
Such small margins.
As good as Firmino’s goal against Man. City last year.
8 passes to spring Salah. A thing of beauty and simplicity.
Hope this game is representative of this season; steady in the first-half, ruthless in the second. I do miss those games when blew teams away then tried to hold-on. Not the holding-on but the blowing-away.