WOULD you forgive me for gloating; for saying ‘I got it right’? No, of course not but against Spurs on Sunday afternoon Liverpool’s performance harked back to a time when Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano would literally tear teams to pieces with their power, pace and passing – the three ‘P’s, if you will.
With Alonso and Mascherano long since removed from the Liverpool midfield however, only Gerrard remains of that imperious triumvirate. But with the captain in the Sky Sports studio on Sunday, the midfield was shorn of the last of it’s former world-class trio. Did anybody notice?
You’d have been forgiven for thinking we were watching those three against Tottenham though, or maybe even Iniesta, Xavi and Mascherano in their Barca heyday, such was the dominance of the Red’s midfield and the utter imperiousness of their movement and passing.
Prior to the match all the talk was of Sandro, Paulinho and Dembele and how Andre Villas-Boas had moved Tottenham’s midfield on from the days of Modric, Bale, et al and crafted a midfield full of height, power and pace but against Liverpool’s diminutive three they looked pitiful, with only Dembele left by the end to look shell-shocked.
There was not a single area of Liverpool’s 11 starting players on Sunday that was not outstanding, with Skrtel and Sakho looking like they’re cementing themselves as the first-choice centre-back pair, Flanagan starting to look more and more confident at full-back and the front-three of Suarez, Coutinho and Sterling giving Spur’s back four a 90 minute nightmare, to the extent that Kyle Naughton had to be withdrawn – for his own good – at half-time.
But it was in midfield where Liverpool won this battle from the start and it was all down to the absence of the captain. With a freedom they don’t get very often their performance was ferocious and feral, never allowing the Spurs players a second to relax on the ball – Gerrard just doesn’t have the legs to keep that up for 90 minutes anymore and that is exactly the kind of energy this kind of showing requires.
I wrote in mid-week that Liverpool needn’t have to suffer from his absence and that it was a prime opportunity to see what life was going to be like without the ageing captain, offering youngsters like Henderson and Allen a chance to show that we’re full of healthy options without him.
Between them, the pair put in a performance reminiscent of the man himself in his prime. Allen’s passing and movement off the ball was as slick as it was intelligent, whilst Henderson seems to have been born with the same gene that made Kuyt the human Energizer Bunny; his energy is apparently boundless, whilst allowing him the freedom to get forward and fill that role his captain used to allowed him much more influence on the game, winning him Sky’s Man of the Match.
There will always be a place for the captain in the side, but without his huge presence in the team on Sunday Liverpool’s play in the middle just looked so much more structured. Everybody knew their role and played with what can only be described as having the ‘shackles off’.
We’re so used to seeing youngsters like Allen and Henderson get into a good position, then look for the experience and reputation of Gerrard but without him to turn to they grew and showed, finally, some real confidence in their own abilities and boy did Spurs pay for that.
Still, it is only one game, and we may well end up getting turned over by Cardiff at Anfield on Saturday. Given the two recent home performances against ‘weaker’ opposition however, and Liverpool’s reputation for nothing more than ‘flat-track bullies’ the game should really be in the bag, provided we perform to anywhere near the level of Sunday’s game.
With Arsenal seemingly faltering, Chelsea still failing to convince, that leaves Manchester City the current favourites to become Champions come May. This was further reinforced by a resounding 6:3 victory over league leaders Arsenal on Saturday morning.
According to ESPN’s John Brewin, the Premier League is City’s to lose, following their pasting of Arsenal. As a Red though you have to wonder why? Considering that we currently sit 2nd, 1 point ahead of City, with the 2nd best goal difference in the league, 2 points behind the Gunners and more than likely to be top going into the game at the Etihad on Boxing Day.
Not only that, but we don’t have any other commitments – FA Cup aside – going into the second half of the season, while Wenger, Mourinho and Pellegrini will all be under pressure to deliver in Europe too.
Sure, we may have a much smaller squad but we showed on Sunday that we’re capable of coping with key absentees and – Suarez aside – those absentees don’t come much greater than Gerrard and Sturridge. We’re likely to only add to our numbers in January too. Hopefully we’ll have a similarly successful mid-season window to the previous one, when Coutinho and Sturridge were brought in.
Journalists may well want to ignore it but what Liverpool did against Spurs on Sunday was send out a very real message: Liverpool are resurgent and you’d be foolish to write them off. At present, we’re looking for a top-4 finish and Rodger’s seems to have learned about making outlandish statements after one good win.
But it won’t be long before we’re at the season’s mid-way point and depending on the outcome of the next three Premier League matches, it might start to become a little bit difficult to write off Liverpool’s chances of finishing even higher than 4th.
This is not anything new. Many of us have been of the belief that the Tim is well past that Stevie should be benched. He has slowed too much this last year.
No, S. Gerrard should be opted for early retirement and join the management as trainee. Preparing for managing LFC in the future.
Yana, get the facts right before speaking crap. S. Gerrard is still the heartbeat of liverpool.
Who has the most assists in the premier league? Gerrard (6 assists)
Who has the most key creation passes in the premier league? Gerrard
Who is the 3rd highest goal scorer in the liverpool? Gerrard
Who has the heighest long ball pass accuracy in liverpool? Gerrard
Who is liverpools Captain? Gerrard (and he’s earned it)
Who did everything he could to convinced Luis Suarez to stay? Gerrard
Who has Luis Suarez said is the best midfeilder he has ever played with? Gerrard
This is the session for LFC to win the PL title. My advise for BR is to lose FA cup as soon as possible and concentrate on PL matches.
LFC can be the PL winner because: We have the hottest striker on the earth (Suarez), pair with consistent goal scorer (Sturridge) with very good defense and ok keeper in Mignolet (though Reina is way better).
Chelsea: Mourinho getting older and less pushing for result. The days of unlimited transfer fund has gone
Arsenal: Without consistent strikers that can score goals and have a bad keeper
Man City: Manager still new and have a bad keeper. Easily conceded goals and dropping points. CL commitment.
ManU: Self destruction under D. Moyes
Spurs: Never a title contender
Emphatic fantastic performance . Didn’t think this squad had it in them . If we can keep up that level then anything is possible. IF 0:)
Suarez has to be alongside messi n Ronaldo as the best in the world . HE REALLY IS THAT GOOD. Certainly better than bale ever was .
Before there was ‘LFC play better without Joe Allen’, now ‘LFC play even better without S. Gerrard’ !!! OMG, hard to believe but it is true. S. Gerrard, please save LFC by early retirement.
Total bollo x . Gerrard is still our best midfielder . Allen is still sh it.
Emphatic victory from liverpool. Lats keep it up!
Make the most of this win still think full strength Tottenham team will finish higher than the pool.
looooollllllll
Yana u are stupid by saying Reina who is currently being benched at Napoli is better than Migno and I said it b4 Gerrard is dragging our dynamism down,slowing the pace of our tiki taka and often not patient with the ball.
Tino you dont know what you are talking about:
Who has the most assists in the premier league? Gerrard (6 assists)
Who has the most key creation passes in the premier league? Gerrard
Who is the 3rd highest goal scorer in the liverpool? Gerrard
Who has the heighest long ball pass accuracy in liverpool? Gerrard
Who is liverpools Captain? Gerrard (and he’s earned it)
Who did everything he could to convinced Luis Suarez to stay? Gerrard
Who has Luis Suarez said is the best midfeilder he has ever played with? Gerrard
There is a good reason why Rodgers has asked Gerrard to play every single game of the premier league, even when he’s not 100% fit.
BR is afraid of Gerrard. It is a political tussle or office politics. Gerrard controls the dressing room. Performance wise, Gerrard should be benched long long time ago.
RUBBISH . Gerrard is still the best . What age are you ?
We should play the under 21 in the FA cup and just push for the league title, period…
Message will be against Chelsea/City who have two centre backs playing, not makeshift defence as Tottenham had.
Taking nothing away from the win and performance but CFC/MCFC are much sterner tests.
Two losses in those games will knock our confidence and BR under attack from some, again.
One draw and one win, start to believe.
Two wins then we have to be serious contenders, especially with Sturridge returning January.
Boring troll . Nobody cares what you say .
Idiot
Poor troll hunter hasn’t any friends so wants to play with us. Idiot.
Aaron/ian or any of the other many names this troll uses . Boring idiot.
Don’t waste your time here. Get a part time job or shaking your stick.