I thought we just did what we had to do against Derby and don’t think we ever needed to get out of second gear. We scored two quality goals but for some reason in the build up to the third the contribution by Lucas was seemingly missed by the Sky crews. He started things from inside our own penalty area and was as big a part of the goal as Little Phil who was given the assist credits [always baffles me does that – assist being part of the stats] and Origi who belted it into the net.
Many eyes of course were on Karius in goal and the interviewers were all over Jürgen about who’s going to be his ‘Number One’. After a game such as the Derby one it’s not fair to draw comparisons because when a team hardly has a shot they shouldn’t trouble the keeper. I’d agree he was a lot quicker off the line than Mignolet but he missed a couple of crosses that he came for, the one late in the game would have been scary if we weren’t already warming down. As far as his distribution was concerned I didn’t honestly see a massive difference although as somebody said afterwards, giving the ball to Moreno never seems a good idea. I’m not sure what’s more frightening, Alberto with the ball near our goal or his latest hairstyle? That’s a bit harsh because the much maligned full back had a decent game.
Although The Kaiser made several changes it was near enough a team of Premier standard and although the game was done and dusted and the foot well and truly taken off the gas at the time, it was great to see Danny Ings back. Get this guy up to speed and we’ve got another good option up front. Also good to see Emre Can back, probably not 100% ready but when he is the midfield options, like those up front improve.
It appears that Herr Klopp has hopes for young Ovie Ejaria and players coming through and getting some time on the pitch is never a bad idea.
I like our manager’s honesty and when talking of some players he doesn’t mind saying things like Origi didn’t have the rhythm and when speaking of Marko Grujic he suggested if his defensive skills were as good as his offensive skills we’d have an outstanding player. He might like to hug and kiss ‘em but he doesn’t mind telling a few home truths either.
Off the pitch I thought the away support was pretty good and it would be equally good to hear ‘songs’ such as ‘Born Under A Liverbird’ and ‘Don’t Worry About A Thing’ getting more of an airing at Anfield. I thought ‘We Played The Shite On A Wednesday Night’ was right up there. We don’t usually sing about Everton or anybody else unless we’re playing them but as news filtered through about their League Cup setback it did cause a little mirth.
So Spurs next and at home which is good. Be interesting to see what sort of side we send out in that one.