Greatness beckons for Reds
Mean defence gives Klopp’s Anfield marvels growing sense of invincibility
THIS is an era in football when the underappreciation of a moment, a period or a person involved is recognised and suddenly, there is room for overstatement to travel far.
Maybe nowhere more so is this likely to be found than in Liverpool, not least because this is where a manager was brought in because it was believed he would be able to harness the emotion of the club and the city, but also because of the yearning that exists there, and the time that has passed since the delivery of innermost desires.
It is fair to say these are unprecedented months in Liverpool’s modern history because of the way they have risen to the summit of the Premier League.
The way they are winning games; the way they are recovering from setbacks, the way substitutes are impacting outcomes when the pressure is really on – like when Roberto Firmino punished Paris Saint-Germain as the clock ticked down, like when Divock Origi emerged from the shadows to play a defining role in the Merseyside derby, like Xherdan Shaqiri did yesterday against Manchester United, just three minutes after he’d been introduced.
It feels significant that Liverpool have made the third best start to any Premier League campaign – the best came only last season by Manchester City.
Liverpool will have to break new ground to prove themselves as the very best but it should also encourage that they are already on the brink of doing that in some crucial departments.
As Jurgen Klopp rammed his fist into the night air and the Kop roared, Alisson Becker bear-hugged Shaqiri, kissing the crown of his head repeatedly.
Without Shaqiri’s intervention, it may have finished 1-1 and the story would have been about the goalkeeper, whose first-half mistake had allowed United to equalise.
Alisson should have gathered Romelu Lukaku’s cross easily having dived out from the goal but it squirmed from his hands, bouncing off his knee and into the path of Jesse Lingard.
It was bad enough for Liverpool that their dominance over United had been almost absolute until that point and dramatically the score did not reflect that, but it also because it checked their confidence and the purpose in their stride disappeared.
There has been a sense of invincibility about Liverpool this season because of the way they have defended, with Alisson introducing the same calmness and authority to his position as Virgil van Dijk upon his arrival.
Suddenly, even Van Dijk wasn’t quite himself, hesitating whether to meet Lukaku in challenges or whether to let him receive the ball and then try and pounce.
In front of Van Dijk, others – Firmino particularly – were less certain about what they were doing as well and the energy was sucked out of Anfield for final 15 minutes of the first half.
Perhaps it was fortunate that the mistake came then rather than after the break.
There was time for Liverpool to get it out of their system and recharge. By the end, the mood had transformed completely.
Van Dijk and Alisson were casting glances at one another, smiles on their face.
In the wind and the rain, Unit-