PRESSURE. Did you feel it?
I know I did. I was a quiet mess before the game and first half. I was a state, quietly bubbling, quietly seeing the worst at every opportunity. How’s your bottle? Ask me on 23, there. Gone, mate. Gone.
The worst was only ever this: Nil. Nil. That was the worst I could see but that worst hurt a great deal. The worst was indeed the worst. Nil. Nil. Liverpool impotent. Liverpool stuttering. Liverpool knocking at the door. But. But. But.
And then Mo Salah happened to Brighton and then the game was different, the pressure (for me, at least) dissipated. Suddenly the birds were singing, the sky was blue and my shoulders unknotted. There, there it is and there we are. In exclesis deo. Did you feel it, though? God, it was fabulous and terrible in equal measure to feel it. It reminded us we are alive. The most alive.
The thing is that the mighty boys in red played the whole game with unknotted shoulders. They were cooler than I was, perhaps than you were. They were never in their groove but they were in their element and these are two different things.
Liverpool’s spine had an excellent game without excelling. All of Alisson, van Dijk, Henderson and Salah were constant and certain. They don’t always do what I would like but then their needs and mine could well be different. They have the game plan to implement. From my point of view I’d like us to score right now, if you don’t mind.
Instead they pick their moments to force the issue and that forcing is as much about forcing Brighton back as it is creating a chance. It is to create space to then create a chance, and at times that is hard to watch but it is essential to see.
Between van Dijk and Henderson was Fabinho who produced, if not his best, his most important performance for Liverpool. He thought his way through the game with aplomb. He took the Glenn Murray elbow, shrugged and let him know 10 minutes later.
It was a performance of both character and nous, the performance of an excellent footballer who is now undoubtedly ensconced in this squad. He is one of the boys, one of the men.
It was a day that reminded you they are men. This column loves to remind you these are mostly lads in their 20s living our dreams, trying to match our ambition. We often think of them as far older, far wiser.
Today was that sort of day, that day where I am crumbling under the weight of it all, pressure pushing down on me, and they are standing up and being counted, they are shaming me with their certainty, their inevitability. How’s your bottle? Mine is fine the other side of all that, but theirs was picture perfect before it.
The full backs constantly available and seconds away from being in. Brighton’s blanket being compact and thick but struggling to stretch and Liverpool doing all the things that grown up teams do, make it so hard to break quickly, make everything feel arduous, make you yearn for the sweet relief of the final whistle whichever side you are on. Put us out of our misery, referee. We toil but we know. We know.
Brighton had a late semi flourish but there was not a shot on target. Alisson Becker saves something he should leave and in the end that was the dirtiest he got.
The achievement of this manager is that he has created and coalesced these most certain of footballers. They aren’t getting carried away but theirs is a 22-game start which should carry us all away. They’ve been almost as close to spotless as is possible and they share that memory.
How’s your bottle? Well mine is now absolutely glistening. Perfect. We’re seven clear and we have the next two at home and we are back on track, back doing our thing. For the avoidance of doubt, our thing appears to be the avoidance of doubt.
Jürgen’s boys are the steadiest, the most irresistible; their will is back to being what will be bent to, their certainty becomes the certainty of opponents and referees. And us. They lead us. They whisper things, the city sings them back to you. They live forever tonight.
You know the drill. Twenty-two down. Twenty-two. Liverpool top of the league. A state of affairs that will take some changing. Liverpool are certain. It will take a lot to make them uncertain. Sixteen to go.
See you next weekend you magnificent lads, you magnificent men. It will feel an age since we have roared them on at Anfield. Imagine. What are we in it for if not that? No trepidation, no pressure, see you next Saturday when we live. The most alive, on the edge of the night.
See you next Saturday.
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You captured my feelings Neil. Oh what a Saturday night We should all have! Great stuff! Up the reds.
My bottle is steady Neil. It’s helped by listening to yourself and fellow contributors of The Anfield Wrap on a daily basis. It’s also helped by the fact we are one hell of a side.
I was listening to the game on LFCTV and I thought we were in control for much of the first half, dominant if not ruthless. I knew it would come and Salah delivers yet again.
We’re the absolute business and will take some stopping. The shite we’ve had to listen to all week from the mainstream media especially BBC Sport nomarks has been ridiculous.
18 wins from 22 games. Outstanding Redmen. We march on!!! YNWA
You somehow managed to nail my thoughts exactly Neil, absolutely superb piece…
Mature. Calm. Defensively solid. Consistent.
These Reds march on to glory.
Im happy to admit I have been a mess since we lost to City. Then we loaned Clyne which I think is bad business, lost to Wolves even though I wasn’t really that bothered about it, only what the media would spin.
But this game, looming large, was like a warship on the horizon. Brighton are no great shakes, but they are no mugs either at home and I feared the worst. Even a draw would ramp up the pressure.
But that was the type of performance I regularly saw in our pomp back in the 80’s, not always pretty, but effective and professional. leave the swashbuckling for the home games.
I can now relax this weekend, but in three weeks I’ll be sitting in Salt Lake City in Utah on a training course in the afternoon whilst the boys will be taking on Leicester in the evening. thats gonna be a tough one.
I am still smarting over the City game, more so about a Manc ref bottling it and not sending off Kompany when on either count it was a red all day long. Kompany was the last defender, so that’s a red in the eyes of the rules. Kompany left the ground, both feet up at one stage and hit Salah, with studs up. That’s warrants a red any day of the week.
Then the ball hitting the post. Come back to the fact that Mane has beat the goalie all ends up. The ball hits the post and comes back into play. However Mane can’t react to it as their keeper brought Mane down. If the ball is live and the keeper has got nothing on it and he’s brought down the attacker, it’s a pen.
So amazing that we can be denied by 1 cm when applying the rules, a case of 99.9999 recurring % of the ball across the line, yet when it come to 3 decisions at 0 vs 0 we got none of them. All this just reminds me so much of 13/14 when if the correct decision had been given at that match at the Eithad, then we would have won the League that season.
As for Kompany, twice this season he has got away with getting straight reds for studs up challenges. let’s hope that starts to come back on them and they soon start getting them.
As for us, we got no decisions at the Eithad and a can’t even begin to start about last season or the early part of this season. Today was a pen all day long, despite Brighton cryarsing about it all day long. They are just one horrible, dirty, niggling team and every time we put the ball in their box they were dragging our players all over the shop. I thought refs were supposedly clamping down on all this shit. It would appear not after watching Firmino, VvD and Co being grappled as if in a scrum or wrestling match today.
We need to remember the City game and play angry each game as a result of the injustice of that game.
All of those things mate, plus you put that ball on the ground and the whole ball is well over. But l remember Wenger I think (maybe SAF) winning at Newcastle 1-0, not with any fluency, media trying to make it about performance, manager saying it was the best win of the season. League titles are for a significant made of 1-0 wins away to difficult opponents when you are not at your best.
I can’t say I am ever comfortable with 1-0 but with Allison, VVD and co. equalisers are only likely to come from acts of God or wayward refs. And that is not going to happen very often, especially when the ref has here.
ref has hair I meant
Absolutely bang on mate, I often think about Sterling clean through one on one and it being ruled unfairly offside
That away game was followed 2 days later by another away at Chelsea when Eto kicked lumps out of Suarez in the box and we got nothing for it, I think they took out Henderson too, early on
Shocking stuff
Bang on with this. I do recall all this (the Chelsea game you discuss) and more. In that City game, how many times was Suarez fouled by that ex-Everton player Lescott, one foul was a definite penalty and nothing awarded to us
The tussling that goes on in the penslty areas needs addressing, and urgently. One month of proper scrutiny would see the practice disappear. For one corner, one Brighton defender had hold of VVD’s firearm with both hands.
We do it, too. And it should be stopped. Plus, whatever happened to ‘obstruction’?
That game will be happening sometime around noon in Utah. My advise is completely ignore it and watch it on LTV after your supper. Unless your surrounded by non Americans, no one will mention football at all
Impressive game management from the lads today 45 points this season from teams outside the top six up the red’s as always Neil fantastic reveiw
Forced by circumstances to listen to Radio Merseyside for the first time in over 10 years. The co-commentator was Nick Tanner. The only and only. As good a summariser as he was a player. If Nick was painting pictures he was using a blunt pencil today.
Anyway, really important win today, no matter how we achieved it. We’ll need bottle alright, but we also need patience and belief. You really can’t have too much belief, and these boys possess it more than any Liverpool squad in the last 2 decades. Stick together, focus on the next game, stay clear of injuries and that belief takes us to the title.
Concourse after the game was great. Klopp demanded a song for Bobby. And fans delivered. It’s catchy too.
It’s a good song but it doesn’t quite seem to flow right
I’ve changed the words a bit any better ??
There’s something that the Kop want you to know
The best number 9 in the world’s Firmin-e-o
Our number 9,
just give him the ball cos he is sure to shine
Si Senor, give the ball to Bobby and he will score
I felt calm, until Salah missed an open goal.
I don’t know what to say. I can’t bring myself to say that we could win it. I keep expecting us to have a wobble but with every game i’m realising how good this team actually is.
The loss to City bothers me because we deserved more.
In other seasons being 0-0 at half time would’ve meant the team and crowd looking at Gerrard to produce something. With this team there are a number of players who can step up.
I agree with the poster above. Loaning Clyne makes no sense. We have little cover at fb. We should be strengthening not letting players go.
First league game since Southampton in 2017 – according to the Forza app – where Liverpool have restricted the opponent to zero shots on target.
Totally controlled that, but was still a bag of nerves for the last 10.
MoTD listed the average shots per game we allow across the 22 league games it was 2.6
City was 2.7 for 21. Which also helps when twice this season that Kompany has escaped a red card.
Was unsure after we scored since Fab was in defense. But was happy to see the team grind out a result, which in previous seasons would have let “that” goal in from a set-piece or deflection, etc.
One game at a time for me. Next up CP. Going to be a tough game.
Come on your Reds!
Can anybody tell me why the majority of the EPL referees are from ‘South Yorkshire’ or Greater Manchester’, and all claim to support Accrington Stanley or Stalybridge Celtic or some such? Who selects them?
Am I paranoid?
The FA select them and I am in agreement with you, it’s always amazing they support some obscure team and yet those teams can never recall them supporting them… Best of the lot is then when you find out they have tatts of teams they claim not to support.
Anyways, Boly was a red last night and he won the ball. Kompany was a yellow and he didn’t win anything other than trying to injure Salah and he would have succeeded if Mo hadn’t tried to get out of the way. Funny how Kompany has had 2 occasions at City this season where he should have seen straight red cards. Imagine if they had been awarded by these officials who support The Dog & Duck Rovers from the Isle Man, junior league and they grew up with mates who followed their big two local clubs, don’t see it happening myself either.