SUPER SADIO PUTS THE TITLE TILT BACK ON TRACK
THEY’RE losing their bottle, apparently. The pressure, the expectation, it’s all getting too much and it is crippling Liverpool. Well, if this is Liverpool playing with inhibition then they will be quite a sight when it all clicks.
On a night when all eyes were watching to see if they would take a false step, Liverpool summoned their most authoritative performance of 2019 to retain their lead at the top of the table.
Watford, it was suggested, were exactly the kind of opponent Liverpool did not need after an anaemic display against Manchester United. The reality was this game was perfect for them to make a positive step forward. Be under no illusions how much this team wants to become champions.
From start to finish they dominated and five unanswered goals was the least they deserved. It didn’t matter what was going on 40 miles away in Manchester, this was Jurgen Klopp and his team making a statement.
Klopp has been flummoxed by the nitpicking of Liverpool’s form and, in his programme notes there was a declaration of intent for the final 11 games.
‘Nobody takes a point from Liverpool now unless they are prepared to prise it from our clenched fist and I haven’t seen many teams that can beat us when it comes to will and desire,’ Klopp wrote.
‘We are a team built on positivity and attacking intent. It flows through our veins.’
Those words must have formed part of his pre-match address as Liverpool, to borrow Linford Christie’s phrase, flew out the blocks on the b of the bang. They are at their best when making fast starts and Watford’s players struggled to see which way red shirts were moving.
It started in the third minute when James Milner, playing in an advanced midfield role, scurried after a ball and charged down Ben Foster’s attempt to clear. Not only did it unsettle Watford, it roused the home supporters.
Soon they had a goal to acclaim. Milner was instrumental, winning possession and ushering it on to Trent Alexander-Arnold. The young right back, whose absence at Old Trafford was such a surprise, whipped in the perfect delivery and Mane did the rest, guiding his header beyond Foster.
Klopp looked to the floor without even a flicker of emotion, but inside he must have been dancing a jig.
Everywhere Watford’s players looked there were threats, from the dancing feet of Salah to Alexander-Arnold’s youthful exuberance and Mane’s panache.
Salah has been a shadow of himself in recent weeks but you could tell he was in the mood here as soon as he started setting off on those runs when the ball appears glued to his foot and he seems to be guided by a joystick.
One Salah surge in the 22nd minute created the second goal as he twisted past Adam Masina. The left back was able to get a foot in but the ball was not cleared. Again Alexander-Arnold provided the centre and Mane did the rest, chipping the grounded Foster with a back heel. Yes, you read that right.
There could have been more. Salah, chasing another little piece of history, was determined to score his 50th goal but the woodwork thwarted him in the 37th minute after he had jinked past the increasingly frazzled Masina. Fabinho went close from 25 yards.
Watford were limited to counterattacks but each time they tried to cause mischief, Virgil van Dijk was in the way and Gerard Deulofeu quickly realised that the generosity Cardiff’s defenders showed him last Friday would not be replicated.
With such a buffer — and in such a mood — there was never any possibility of Liverpool letting Watford back in. The only question was whether Liverpool were going to really cut loose and improve their goal difference: the answer was an emphatic ‘yes’. Divock Origi, who was given the task of replacing the injured Roberto Firmino, scored the third, cutting in from the left and fizzing a drive past Foster.
Klopp celebrated this one, and by the end he was positively beaming. Van Dijk added two headers from close range — one from Alexander-Arnold cross, the other from Andy Robertson’s centre — to leave the stadium bouncing.
Liverpool are in an outstanding position with 10 games to go. They are 10 games from greatness.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 7; ALEXANDERARNOLD 8.5, Matip 7, Van Dijk 8, Robertson 8; Milner 8 (Henderson 70min, 7), Fabinho 8, Wijnaldum 7 (Keita 84); Salah 8, Origi 7, Mane 8 (Lallana 78). Subs not used: Sturridge, Lallana, Mignolet, Shaqiri, Camacho. Scorers: Mane 9, 20, Origi 66, Van Dijk 80, 83. Booked: None. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 8. WATFORD (4-4-2): Foster 5; Janmaat 4, Cathcart 4, Mariappa 5, Masina 4; Pereyra 5 (Sema 84), Capoue 5, Doucoure 5, Hughes 5; Deeney 5 (Gray 73, 5), Deulofeu 4 (Cleverley 73, 5). Subs not used: Gomes, Quina, Navarro, Kabasele. Booked: Cathcart, Masina. Manager: Javi Gracia 5. Referee: Graham Scott 7. Attendance: 53,316.