Terrace Talk - Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp is nothing if not courageous

City are building a home hoodoo over us. Though it will never match Anfield’s power over them, it’s still a concern

Mon, 09 Nov, 2020 - 06:00

Steven Kelly

Win or lose at City, it would’ve been too early to talk about season-defining results anyway. When you drop from first to fourth without even kicking a ball, the table is obviously yet to stabilise itself.

The thumping of Atalanta was most welcome, a game you’d have been forgiven for thinking might finish the other way around.

The usual dismissal of the Italians and their “naivety” followed, begging the question why no-one else does this to them, but we once beat Besiktas 8-0 and there was speculation about them match-fixing so we should be used to it by now.

We were just too good, especially Jota whose ascent continues to astound. There was even a clean sheet, after a fashion.

The smooth transition of Jota from bench alternative to integral star inevitably opened a Pandora’s Box of mischief regarding Firmino’s future.

Klopp was having none of that. He was being disingenuous of course, with his “if you don’t appreciate Roberto, I can’t help you” riposte.

Nobody was being unappreciative, far from it. Mo also chimed in with some spiel about our false number 9 (getting falser by the week) and his “sacrifices”, like he was some watercarrier a la Cantona’s cruel dismissal of Deschamps.

Firmino’s far more than that but hasn’t been at his best for a while now. Jota’s shone a cruel searchlight on that fact. The squad era protects him temporarily. He can still contribute even if most of his gifts are temporarily deserting him.

Back in the day if you weren’t in the first team you were history. I worshipped Jimmy Case, an admittedly hipster-ish affectation during the reign of King Kenny.

When Paisley said, “no more”, his career still flourished. He got revenge by knocking us out of the FA Cup with Brighton, Paisley’s last chance to win the one trophy that eluded him.

Jimmy was still commanding midfield and scoring at Anfield (for Southampton) nine years after leaving. We did okay without him, so nobody blubbed about it, least of all him. It still rankled with a bitter few.

And to City, an early battle of the giants in the rarefied ‘atmosphere’ of the current season. Still no sign of Thiago. After the fuss over Pickford and Van Dijk the nastier challenge of Richarlison fell off the radar.

Home hoodoo

Liverpool may be doing well, no thanks to our lovely neighbours, who are having enough (karmic?) troubles of their own.

City are building a home hoodoo over us. Though it will never match Anfield’s power over them, it’s still a concern.

Maybe we’re too greedy wanting wins at Goodison, Old Trafford, the Emirates, or the Etihad. Symbolises how far we’ve come I suppose, but the odd victory, surely? If it weren’t for Stamford Bridge, they’d be calling us flat-track bullies.

But you can’t complain about a point. Klopp chose Jota for form and Firmino to snap out of his funk. The manager is nothing if not courageous.

He must’ve known what the reaction would be after another tanning from Guardiola and he’d picked four forwards.

Was he trying to repeat his only league win there, in 2015 when the game was over after 30 minutes? Did he chicken out of throwing Firmino to the wolves? It surely couldn’t have been that simple.

We had a great start, so the element of surprise almost paid off, but you need a three-goal lead to kill off a team like City and that never looked possible.

The equaliser was pretty much against the run of play, but De Bruyne’s miss from the spot maintained a relieved parity. Can’t say anything about Gomez; who knows what’s a penalty and what’s handball anymore. They make it up as they go along.

Firmino left on the hour, still troubled and troubling. Liverpool looked exhausted, settling for the point a lot earlier than the home side. They’ll be more concerned about it than us, that’s for sure.