Blink from Anfield end but the race is far from over
WHATEVER happens between now and the end of May, no matter how many trophies Liverpool lift this season, the future could not be more exciting.
The rest of this season, the next, the one after that, and so on. It is as simple as that.
This was the first match at Anfield since Jurgen Klopp committed another four years of his future to this team, these fans, this stadium.
And in this compelling, two-horse title race, they blinked.
But they didn’t really. In a super-charged atmosphere, they left nothing out there but were partially outfoxed by the cunning of Antonio Conte.
These points dropped might mean it is advantage Manchester City but it is not over.
If Liverpool continue to play with this much intensity, there is unlikely to be another slip-up.
And they will not come up against a team likely to defend as magnificently as Tottenham did, while always carrying a potent counterattacking threat.
Spurs deserved what they got from this game, fully.
But, apart from greater composure perhaps, Klopp could not have asked for more from his side.
Klopp, with that contract until 2026 sealed, is well on his way to becoming an all-time great.
But in these times, it is not enough for something or someone to be merely good. It’s all about the best-ever this or the best-ever that. Hence, the hours of air-time devoted to debates about whether Klopp is already the greatest manager in Anfield history.
Well, of course he is not. Yet.
Bob Paisley won the European Cup three times, the First Division six times, the League Cup three times and the UEFA Cup once.
Surely, that is the discussion over in double-quick time.
And after his instant impact, similar chats surface about Luis Diaz, asking if he could be the best-ever January signing.
He could be, yes, but get back to us when he has played a couple of seasons and made the same sort of contribution as, say, Luis Suarez. Or Virgil van Dijk, for that matter.
But that is not to downplay the Colombian’s obvious talent.
Leave aside the trickery, the impressive thing about Diaz is how often he gets himself into threatening positions – and that, eventually, proved crucial in this match.
His mobility is outstanding but, in fairness, that applies to this entire Liverpool squad.
However many trophies they lift at the end of this season, one thing is for sure – it is hard to recall an English club team with this level of fitness and endurance.
It is phenomenal. And against an outfit organised by Conte, it had to be, purely because of Spurs’ counter-attacking speed.
But while it is now advantage City, it is not over.