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They called it winning ugly and in some way I don’t really understand that.  Does it mean we were a bit lucky, does it mean we dug in and ground out a result or does it mean we were rubbish but somehow got over the line?  It certainly wasn’t pretty to watch but the record books won’t tell you anything about how we played they’ll just show the result and that’s all that matters.  There were plenty of times in the glorious past when we didn’t play well but won, sometimes we didn’t deserve to win but we won and no matter what Burnley fans thought they went home with nothing to show for their efforts.  All I know is when I got home I was cold but glad of the points and the day ended well.

Having spent most of Sunday doing family things I did have a bit of time to reflect on the showing against Arsenal and I was both delighted and frustrated – maybe a bit like many of our supporters who go to near enough every game. Just how can our team play like they did against Arsenal and indeed Tottenham but also play like they did against the likes of Swansea, Hull and Leicester? “Consistently inconsistent” was one comment. To be honest Arsenal played with about the same passion against us as we’d showed against those other sides mentioned and looked as if they were there for the taking but you can’t say the same about a team such as Spurs. Maybe it is as some of the so-called experts say a question of the player’s mental attitude but the story is Jürgen was fuming in the immediate aftermath of the Hull loss but was in a foul mood for about 72 hours after the Leicester defeat. I don’t think any of us really know what the root of the problem is but the fact is we steamrollered Arsenal and could have been four or five up before halftime. Whether Wenger left Sanchez out for tactical or other reasons had no bearing on our performance because we’ve been playing like this against the top 6 all season, in fact almost since Jürgen arrived. Sometimes Jürgen’s gone for the square pegs in round holes and its worked, like against Tottenham where Lucas had Kane in his pocket, other times its not, like Leicester when Vardy exposed so many flaws. Against Arsenal I thought Klavan did okay and towards the end he got in a couple vital blocks when they were looked for the leveller. Can, awful against the whirlwind Leicester released but more than adequate against the Gooners. I don’t where we’ll finish the season because of the inconsistency but I’m confident Jürgen Klopp will sort it eventually but what we’d all probably give for “The best midfield in the world” at the moment.

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In the days before this game I’m sure we’d all read and heard the countless comments about how Leicester players had let their manager down, their supporters down and themselves down. How they’d shown no desire, no fight, and no heart and looked tactically clueless and useless. We saw all of that again at the King Power Stadium…only from Liverpool. I was reluctantly prepared to accept January was a bad month and lot of that could be put down to the stupid fixture congestion so what was last night’s excuse…ring rust? I’m sure we all knew Leicester would be up for it, had something to prove but didn’t we and shouldn’t we have been up for it just as much? Leicester want to stay in the Premier League because of the riches and rewards it brings, we’re supposed to want a Champions League place for exactly the same reason but you wouldn’t have known it last night. Some of our supporters started to leave after the third Leicester goal; by the time the added minutes got showed the away end was almost deserted. There can be no doubt Leicester showed fight but by comparison we were nothing more than Pacifists, conscientious objectors almost. How bereft we are of talent might be summed up by the fact that 3-0 down we sent on Moreno and he shouldn’t even be near the squad let alone in it. I’ll give credit to Leicester but our display was once again, shameful.

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It had been a bad week on the football front; in fact it has been a bad year. The stench from the Hull defeat lingered and in the modern world there’s no escape. Travelling to Anfield yesterday there was as much pessimism in the air as there was cold and it was apparently one of the coldest days of year.
There’s surely too much speculation these days and yesterday it was about our goalkeeping situation, would Mignolet start or Karius. The words “Not exactly spoilt for choice” came to mind and the same could be said about who’d play at the back alongside Matip? However, no matter what the situation there’s only one place apprehension can be lifted and that’s on the pitch.
And that’s exactly what happened. In fairness the first fifteen minutes saw little to separate ourselves and the North Londoners but then came the opportunity to go ahead and going back to how we were playing pre-Christmas we took it. As Manè bore down on the Spurs goal those of us in the cramped Lower Anny seats were just begging him to have a go and unlike post-Christmas he didn’t mess about. When one became two only minutes later Sadio Manè had changed the whole mood around L4, the ground so subdued against the smaller fry who we couldn’t get past was visibly rocking. Oh if he could have made it three just moments later we might have even started to think about sitting comfortably.
It was a former Spurs great who often used the words “It’s a funny old game” but if Jimmy Greaves was watching his words weren’t far off the mark.
Tottenham came to Anfield on a long unbeaten run, and whilst not exactly threatening Chelsea’s title charge they have been making them occasionally look over their shoulder. On Saturday night, however, they looked like we’ve been looking since the turn of the year. The highly touted Kane and Alli and the rest of their frontline rarely troubled Mignolet and although we have to give some credit to our defending [for a change] the back four hardly needed to break sweat. We, in turn, looked like a team in command of the situation and that’s probably the most annoying bit.
We know what this side is capable of, we’ve played the likes of Chelsea [twice], Manchester United [twice], Tottenham [twice], plus Arsenal and Manchester City and have not just matched them all, but in most cases been better. We’ve got at least a fortnight to dwell on this result before we play relegation threatened Leicester away. That might be when we find out if the wheels have been put back on.