More points won and fewer goals leaked... no wonder Reds are feeling champion
VICTORS & SO MATURE SAYS KLOPP
JURGEN KLOPP is relishing a two-pronged title and Champions League assault after ending Liverpool’s defensive nightmares.
The Reds, who go to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, crushed Watford 3-0 on Saturday and have shipped just five goals this season.
Klopp believes Liverpool’s mature display at Vicarage Road proves his rookies have grown up.
“Iit was one of the most mature performances we have had so far,” Klopp (with Watford striker Troy Deeney, above) said.
“We stayed cool. Usually the concentration drops, we play a sloppy pass, they have a counterattack, and it’s 1-1.
“Those situations we had much more often in the past.”
Klopp praised Roberto Firmino, who scored only his second goal since mid-September.
Critics say the former Hoffenheim striker has failed to reproduce last season’s form but Klopp disagrees.
He said: “It all depends on what you want to see. In the last game against Fulham, 20 German coaches were in the stadium. When I saw them and we had a drink together, they were saying ‘Bobby Firmino! What a player!’
“It was because of the small things he was doing. He was working so hard. He’s here, he’s there, he’s got five goals, he opens 5,000 gaps for everybody.
“It’s about how you see it. He will never come to me and say ‘Because people are writing that something is missing, could I play my old position again?’
“He’s doing the job and that makes him so unbelievably valuable for us. I’m really happy for him. Yes, sometimes there are fitness issues of course. And last season was a long season, with the World Cup. But it’s all about what we have to do in the right moment. We have to find a system where we can bring our quality on the pitch, and against Watford we did it.”
Salah Alexander-Arnold Firmino
AND THEN there were two.
Not just any two of course. The two most complete outfits in the Premier League right now. Two sides shaping up for a battle royal over the next six months.
Frighteningly, the defensively-improved Liverpool are still nowhere near their electrifying best yet they were just too good for a very capable Watford side.
Premier League leaders Manchester City will not find Jurgen Klopp’s men as easy to shake off as the Chelsea team that had their pants pulled down at Spurs on Saturday.
Liverpool are in it for the long haul. A deeper squad, a more resolute defence, and a strike-force waiting to explode.
“We’re going to be there until the end,” said Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri. “We don’t have to look to Man City, we just have to look to ourselves.
“We just have to go from game to game and not look at where we might be at the end of the season.”
Let’s deal with the Watford injustice first. Any Hornets fan still sore about the penalty denied them by Jon Moss, a referee who looks like he enjoys his dinner, would be right to feel aggrieved.
Andy Robertson clipped the leg of Will Hughes with the goalless. A Watford goal at that point and who knows what the final outcome would have been.
Why Moss chose not to give it is a mystery. VAR cannot come soon enough.
But Liverpool, that moment apart, had little to scare them on what ultimately was a comfortable afternoon.
They played with supreme composure, led from the back by Virgil van Dijk.
In this fixture last season Liverpool conceded three times, with the last goal – in the final minute – denying them three points. They went on to bottle it against a string of opponents they were expected to beat, including Burnley, Newcastle, and relegated Swansea.
So the significance of this win, against a good Watford side, cannot be underestimated. “When you win games like this, you feel that you’re going to fight to the end for a lot of things.” said Shaqiri.
“So I think we just have to keep going, keep working hard, and keep winning.”
Liverpool are now undefeated in 13 League games.
Their haul of 33 points is more than they have ever had at this point of a Premier League season. Even more importantly, the five goals they’ve let in is a club record for this stage of a top-flight campaign.
“We are very strong at the back,” said Shaqiri. “Even when Joe Gomez is not playing we have Dejan Lovren, a very good player who is very good in the air and who can play football.
“We played very well defengame (home) (away) (home) (away) (home) (away) sively and it’s nice to have this record for the club because it gives you more confidence in the next games.”
Jordan Henderson’s dismissal for two silly yellow cards was the one blemish on a fine afternoon for Liverpool, still breathing down City’s neck at the top of the table.
Mo Salah, Trent AlexanderArnold, with a sumptuous freekick, and Roberto Firmino found the net after an hour or so of resistance from the wellorganised Hornets.
Alexander-Arnold (top) looks to have taken a leaf out of Shaqiri’s book at set-pieces.
“Most of the time he was teaching me!” laughed the Swiss forward. “I’m happy for him that he scored and it was a nice goal. I hope he can score a lot of them.” (away) (home) (away) (home) (away) (home)