Liverpool’s Path to the Top: Key Lessons from a Hard-Fought Win
Liverpool Liverpool top of the league….Liverpool…top of the league. Anfield was in fine voice on an absolutely Baltic night on Merseyside, but as well they should have been. There was a huge cheer when George Sephton announced that Brighton had beaten City 2-1 beforehand and reds in the stadium knew full well what this meant.
Villa are a really good side, they’re well coached and this was far from a routine victory. However, three points gained and five ahead at the top was all that mattered come full-time. We look at the lessons learned from a battling victory.
The Full Nunez Portfolio
How the heck would you describe Darwin Nunez to someone who doesn’t follow football?!?! The Uruguayan always gives everything and truth be told he should have had a hat-trick in this one. Maybe it was telling that with the opener he didn’t have time to think about, as he took it to the side of Martinez and placed it into the roof of the net.
The 1-1 was a shank in the end and that typical groan that follows a typical Nunez miss reverberated around Anfield. The third from Robertson’s cross looked routine, but he headed it well wide. Things could have been different, but let’s not get too down on anyone when we’re five ahead at this stage.
Salah Shows How It’s Done
Fortunately, the Egyptian king was on hand to show Nunez just how it should be done. There was an element of fortune with his assist and the ricochet within goal, but certainly not with the composed finish. He now has 10 goals and 10 assists in 17 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions.
That’s the fastest any player has reached double figures for both goals and assists for us in recent years. The banner in the Kop told FSG to pay him his dough. If Ramy’s got any sense, he’ll wheel the tv into the boardroom during the international break and play his season highlights on repeat. You can’t undersell his importance.
King Konate
There were superb performances from the likes of Kelleher and Gravenberch. It seems criminal not to mention then, but it would be travesty not to single out Ibou. We all held our breath when he went down, landed and held his knee but thank god he was ok. He dominated all game and the stats of 5/5 aerial duels, 4 clearances, 100% tackle success rate snd 2 interceptions told their own story.
There’s talk he’ll be the France captain during the international break, but we’re just praying he’ll come back ok. With Trent out for a spell, we couldn’t afford another one.