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Game Analysis: Vitality Stadium Showdown

Match Overview: Reds Stay Top Despite Challenges

A wet and very window game under floodlights at the Vitality. Real sense of deja vu in that eh. We’ll have to talk about referees but we also get to talk about the reds staying top of the league and being five points clear of the rest. We get to talk about the joy of the forward line despite Salah not even being here. We get to talk about a defender who’s unreal at the moment. We also unfortunately have to talk about a possible knock which couldn’t be timed any worse. However, three points was what we were looking for and they delivered. We look at the lessons learned from the victory over Bournemouth.

VAR….I’m Officially Lost

To be honest we all get a bit sick of talking about referees and the PGMOL so let’s get it out the way. Sinisterra’s challenge on Luis Diaz. In itself, I’ll be honest I didn’t think it was as bad as half of Twitter was suggesting. However, it’s hard to see too much difference between that and Curtis Jones’s red card against Spurs. We always ask for consistency and most level headed fans know that neither were deliberate but unfortunate. However, playing blankety blank (ask your dad if unsure), if you’re going to give a red for one.. it didn’t matter in the overall context but as soon as you saw Paul Tierney was on VAR. The rest as they say is history.

Photo: IMAGO

No Salah, No Problem

It all lacked a bit of quality in the first half truth be told. However, the forward line came to the party in the second-half big time. Jota notched two goals and an assist, looking deadly through that middle. Sky loved the Nunez narrative and after mentioning how many chances he missed, Smith, Carragher and Redknapp must have been choking on the double he scored. Combined with Cody Gakpo coming on and laying on a beautiful assist for Jota’s first, a great all round day. Not many had us notching four but they deserve their plaudits.

Photo: IMAGO

The Great, The Good and The …S**t

There was a mix of everything. Ibou Konate was the reason we kept a clean sheet and the Frenchman has been in sensational form of late. He really should have had man of the match in this one. Alexis Mac Allister was also very very good in this one and his passing was the only players on point in the first half. It’s right they get the shouts Darwin and Jota do. The biggest concern though will be about Curtis Jones who’s been Liverpools most important player over this recent period and has a chequered injury history. We could really do with a few back ahead of a Carabao cup semi final in the capital. Could do with some good news on that one.

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