On a weekend when the hype surrounding at least one game in the Premier Division was Sky high and Mario Balotelli said joining Liverpool was biggest mistake of his life – and the list of his mistakes is very long – what a pleasure it was to watch a performance from the current crop that was more about team ethics and team work than any one individual.
I’ve long stopped getting carried away by just about anything but this performance showed we’ve got a bit of quality around the place and it was fitting that it was shown in front of the former players and no doubt a few celebs filling parts of the new Main Stand. I’ve read and heard a few comments about how Daniel Sturridge is more an individual than a team player but on Saturday he was as much a team player as anyone on the pitch. Whilst the not to super Fab Mario was having his say Sadio Manè was doing his talking on the pitch and that’s all that really interests the majority of us. Since his arrival at the club there might be as many doubters as there are believers in Firmino but on Saturday maybe he swayed a few more of the doubters into the believe camp, that first goal oozed class. And his Samba pal Coutinho wasn’t even on the pitch but for once we hardly noticed. If Adam Lallana saved fat Sam’s bacon in midweek well he added a bit of relish to this display against the Champions of England [that’s what they are].
We still made mistakes; the goal we gave away was just that, a giveaway. As somebody said afterwards, it’s part of our game now giving goals away. The goal apart I thought Lucas did okay as a makeshift central defender, I wouldn’t want him there every game but both him and Matip didn’t do too badly.
No, I don’t get carried away anymore; the win at Arsenal remains very much in the mind but so does the non-show at Burnley. The evil of Stamford Bridge waits on the Sky hyped Friday night football. Now we no longer have Skrtel Costa will be looking for someone else to leave his stud marks on.