CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS?
IT makes no sense to keep looking to the past, but the occasional historical reference fits Liverpool’s current pursuit of glory perfectly.
There was one such moment against Bournemouth. Liverpool had just scored a wonderful third goal. The stadium was raucous and it made you think of a quote from Bill shankly.
‘aye,’ he once said when asked about a perceived poor run of form. ‘Here we are with problems at the top of the league.’
Those sentiments would chime with Jurgen klopp. some of the reaction that followed Liverpool’s draws with Leicester and West Ham bordered on preposterous, and the way they skewered eddie Howe’s team illustrated how rash certain judgments have been.
‘Hopefully the supporters saw one of the best performances of the season,’ said Trent alexander arnold, the young right back who returned from injury. ‘We hardly put a foot wrong. I said to Jordan Henderson that I’d never seen anfield like that at 3pm on saturday. We needed this to push on.’
Consecutive draws were never going to inflict fatal damage to Liverpool, but there have been issues to address.
Three unanswered goals meant klopp got exactly what he wanted and he may in the future mark this as the moment Naby keita’s stuttering career on merseyside received lift-off.
To go overboard about keita now would be wrong.
He received a huge build-up after his £52million arrival from RB Leipzig last summer and the fact he took steven Gerrard’s No 8 shirt suggested Liverpool had signed a force of nature to transform their midfield. It hadn’t worked out that way but it was different against Bournemouth. He was given time and space but what he did with it was impressive. For the third goal, keita’s pass to Roberto Firmino was precise, but there was much more.
With each minute that ticked by you could see his confidence rising. He stopped taking the safe option and started looking forward, his passes inviting mohamed salah, Firmino and the superb sadio mane to scuttle forward. He was everywhere and his manager was thrilled.
‘It was a big step,’ said klopp, whose side will spend the next week at a warm-weather training camp. ‘The second half against West Ham was a big step but nobody really realised it because nobody was happy.
‘maybe people liked to talk more about the negative things from the first half with Naby. It was not good at West Ham, that’s no problem. But it looked natural for him. That’s exactly where we wanted it to come and where we wanted it to go. It was the big step he needed.’
Liverpool are approaching a defining run — manchester United away, Watford at home, everton away. What should not be in doubt is the quality of klopp’s team. They were helped by an opening strike from mane that looked offside, but when they moved through the gears Bournemouth could do nothing to stop them.
mane is arguably in the best form of his Liverpool career — ‘outstanding shape’ was klopp’s assessment — and nobody was better than Gini Wijnaldum, scorer of a terrific second goal.
‘People say they’re under pressure,’ noted Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser. ‘They’re not. I’d like them to win the league. With the players they’ve got, I think they will.’
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 6; Milner 7, Matip 7, Van Dijk 7, Robertson 8; WIJNALDUM 8.5 (Alexander-Arnold 77min), Fabinho 7, Keita 8; Salah 7.5, Firmino 7 (Sturridge 90), Mane 8 (Origi 87). Subs not used: Mignolet, Henderson, Camacho, Lallana. Scorers: Mane 24, Wijnaldum 34, Salah 48. Booked: Matip, Robertson. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 7 BOURNEMOUTH (4-4-2) Boruc 7; Smith 6, Cook 5, Ake 5, Rico 5 (Mepham 80); Ibe 5 (Solanke 59), Lerma 5 (Mousset 73), Surman 6; Gosling 6, Fraser 6; King 5. Subs not used: Begovic, Simpson, Taylor, Surridge. Booked: Rico, Smith. Manager: Eddie Howe 5. Referee: Anthony Taylor 6. Attendance: 53,178.