Jim Boardman and Jay Reid are back with Liverpool still stuck in that strange end-of-season place where a win is welcome, but hardly enough to lift the mood properly. Beating Palace in the sun gave the Reds a few decent moments and nudged them along in the race for Champions League qualification, but no one’s pretending this is where Liverpool should be. The bigger picture still hangs over everything: out of the cups, out of the title race, and left clinging to scraps of encouragement.
There were some of those scraps, to be fair. Freddie Woodman came in and looked far more comfortable than anyone could reasonably have expected, the Kop took to him straight away, and there was a bit of fun in the middle of all the frustration. Add in a goal for the recovering Alexander Isak and a few more hints of what Florian Wirtz might become, and there was at least something to talk about beyond the usual groaning.
That said, the familiar problem hasn’t gone anywhere. For all the talent Liverpool have brought in, Jay and Jim are left asking the same question supporters have been asking for months: what exactly is this side meant to be? There are good players all over the place, but not much clarity, not enough rhythm, and still the sense that the club bought the ingredients before deciding what it wanted to cook.
Then came the part that took the air out of the place a bit: Mo Salah going off injured, with the horrible feeling that his Anfield farewell might not get the ending it deserves. If that really was his last meaningful walk off that pitch in red, it feels far too flat for a player who’s given the club so much. The wider mood stayed angry off the pitch too, with the yellow-card protest over ticket prices underlining just how little patience supporters have left with a club that too often feels cold and transactional. And it wasn’t a minority.
Next up it’s Old Trafford, and that still means enough on its own, even in a season as disjointed as this one. There’s top-five pressure there, there’s pride there, and there’s always the chance to make life miserable for the Mancs, which never stops being worth a bit of effort. And that’s really the tone of this one: a bit of hope, a fair bit of annoyance, plenty of questions, and Anfield turning all yellow to make sure the people running the club know exactly how supporters feel.
