WE aren’t unbearable. Unbearable was nonsense. But we have been unbreakable.
That’s what has been astonishing about the enterprise. They lose in Kyiv. They win in Madrid. They lose out on 97 points. They go played 27 won 26 drawn one. They refused to be denied.
So did you. You refused to allow anything to get into our way.
We wouldn’t be stopped, wouldn’t be swayed. I saw you. I saw you after Arsenal when it was all about just being sure, being certain. I saw you, saw you when we beat Newcastle and then City dropped points at Norwich. The following week I was all the way around the world but still I saw you, saw you when they beat Chelsea. Snarl, swagger and my god that smile, you did for me. You always will.
I heard you. I heard you roar after James Milner scored a last minute penalty against Leicester. You knew nothing was done, but you knew they were making it harder. I heard you give it the big one at Old Trafford and I remembered we’d won our sixth European Cup because I’d forgotten.
All I’d heard was about the next thing, the title, the yearning. But I heard you sing about winning in Madrid. You sang proudly but you needed more than wanted and you wanted for all time.
I felt you. Felt you fall on me when they beat Aston Villa, felt the weight of it all, the need for it all. Felt we needed one another and felt we needed to be ready to beat Manchester City. We knew after Villa, City and then Palace, we felt that it was coming our way.
It was overwhelming for the senses at Leicester. Then we knew. It was on the verge of inarguable, on the verge of being the act of a flat earther to deny it but deny it some still did. We exploded at Wolves you and I, Henderson headered home unanswerable, Firmino scoring when we would take the draw like cowards. He showed us.
We went to Wolverhampton and watched the lads who were going to be league champions and then Mo Salah ran the length of the pitch against Manchester United and we announced it. It was a loudspeaker of an announcement. It was a voice from space. We told the world that they were not to be denied and they weren’t being denied either.
There was a desire in the pandemic to talk it all down. It was sensible in one sense, sensible to take a breath, sensible to do it right. But we weren’t to be denied even then. They tried to null us and to void us.
We made the best of it. Tonight eight goals are scored at Anfield and they are scored in front of banners made and arranged by us. About 12 years ago some clowns tried to rip our football club off and we didn’t stand for it. We battled them. We saw them off. Fractured, not broken. We repaired.
Their successors nearly brought the promised land but then tried to put prices up beyond what we deemed bearable. We walked out. They built a football team which we could love and adore and we loved and adored it. We believed in something, we were something; and they realised we could be part of all of this, they realised that it all didn’t work without us.
Those banners don’t symbolise just our support, but instead they symbolise our support in conjunction with the people who make decisions at the club. They symbolise that with one another we are unbreakable, that we can move in the same direction, not always agreeing but always working together. We galvanise at our best in all directions.
Tonight, the football match was an enormous amount of fun for us. Not for Chelsea who needed the points but for us it really was. Talk about Chelsea. They are a good side; they should still finish fourth at worst and yet when we are playing at it we could still outplay them. We are a league above and a league away.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal that sealed it told some story. I loved Andy Robertson’s split second look at Jorginho knowing he had him all ends up.
We are league champions. The trophy lift was something special under the circumstances, Jordan Henderson doing his thing. We should all be together. We should be in Anfield or in our bars and clubs. But that’s OK. We’ve been unbreakable for ages now. We know the ropes.
Until we can be together know we’re going to celebrate, yeah? Know not to stop the dancing.
Thirty-seven down. One to go. One more chance to watch the Champions in the season they have become Champions. Then we can watch them all next year. Then we can see one another hopefully.
It’ll come. We’re unbreakable. So are they.
And now you gonna believe us!
Thanks Neil and TAW. A match report that had seemed an impossible dream only a few years ago. What a game last night was. Like 5 Klopp seasons distilled into 90 minutes.
Loved all your writing over the years – your passion for the club and the City jumps of the page like a Reds counter attack!
Keep up the great work fellas.
Beautiful. Thanks Neil. What a moment, one for all time.
The end of the storm
Lampard needs to learn to smile on the touch line. The cheek to say we should not get arrogant,all because he seen his arse over the foul(which it was). He needs to look at himself. and do one.
tears
yes to all that
I wanted it so much i was afraid to show it…
So…..this team from Mars…
Neil you’re a bloody poet! What a season, what a team, what a club, it still feels like the most beautiful dream!
I was stunned by how much that win meant to me. Had pretended all day that the job was done and all that mattered was the trophy lift, but that was BS. Wanted the win so bad. They were the right opponent for the night. A symbolic victory against an opponent who have been there at some of our worst recent times.
The fact we beat them without needing to, and did so convincingly, just shows the level we’re at. They had stuff riding on that game but they couldn’t even get a point from us. Come to the home of the Champions with your Champions League aspirations all you like, but you’re getting dispatched like the rest. Some absolute pearlers as well. I knew Trent was scoring, just knew it. Can’t remember if I was aware of mockney Frank having a meltdown in the dug-out before or after the goal, but that added an extra layer of sweetness to that goal. Didn’t like him as a player, don’t like him as a manager.
Trent’s delivery for Bobby’s goal was just showing off to be honest. Rude.
The footage and subsequent images of that trophy lift are going to live forever. The club did a fantastic job in trying circumstances. Kenny & Henderson’s embrace as Jordan went up had me gone frankly.
Just one the issues that concerns me is the mix up that Virgil and Joe that led directly to a goal. I was brought up on Thompson/Hansen, Lawrenson/Hansen central defensive partnerships. Have tactics changed since those days? Whenever a long ball was played to the front man, one central defender would challenge for the ball, whilst the other would drop off, in case he was beaten, and he could mop up. Now it seems that both go for the ball together, collide with each other, and this results in an opposition player having a free run on goal. I think they should go back to the old ways.