Terrace Talk - Liverpool: The team that blew Everton away must return, and quickly

Liverpool's midfielder Mohamed Salah and Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard. Picture: Getty Images

Steven Gerrard, Steven Gerrard, Steven Gerrard, Steven Gerrard, Steven Gerrard. There’s my allotted quota for the week.

It’s been very strange, no more so than for Villa whose 150-year existence now sees a name change to Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa (the last one, I promise).

Not that we should waste any sympathy there. By all means sing about us never getting a job, just not when the most important one in your city’s been given to a Scouser.

They didn’t sing about Demba Ba, anyway, which showed a little restraint. I heard City fans singing it at Watford, so you can’t always rely on common sense nor relevancy.

Klopp got a little creative with a positional switch for Ox, gave it an hour and then scrubbed it. The goal came shortly after his substitution, so don’t expect any more experimentation for the rest of the season. Once bitten, etc.

It was a slog, as expected. A sluggish, almost arthritic goalkeeper (apart from his numerous saves) and petty, spoiling fouls seem to be the template for Anfield visitors. A compliment? Maybe. A pain in the backside? Most definitely.

We paid Ray Kennedy a lovely tribute. There’s a tradition in US sport of retiring jerseys, and I’d be in favour of that for our number 5. Konate wouldn’t mind, and too bad if he did.

After all my ire about Everton’s fallback on the referee conspiracy, I was reluctant to mention this one – but he was awful. He can see what the goalkeeper’s up to and does nothing.

He’d have ended up booking him on 90 minutes if he hadn’t burst into life after our penalty. 

The opposition aren’t there to make it easy for you, obviously. For the second league game in a row, we’ve snuck past brick-wall pragmatism, but you’d expect that ‘fortune’ to end soon. The team that blew Everton away must return, and quickly.

We clinched maximum points in Europe, which is nice for the record books but hardly vital. I fully expect us to get the hardest possible draw (PSG), and City to get Vladivostok Reserves or whoever else is the easiest.

It won’t be Barcelona, anyway. We’ve absolutely broken them, haven’t we?

It was both enjoyable and saddening to watch Nat Phillips. Too good to sell, too good to let rot. Managers say that’s the nicest sort of problem to have, but it can’t be really.

Origi scored again, his rehearsal for January is going nicely. Of course, Divock and Nat are injured now, so we’ve still got the fitness hurdle to overcome before we even begin speculating upon what pittance our owners stick in Jurgen’s winter begging bowl. “Please sir, I want some more…” 

Covid and its variants are taking a stronger grip of Britain. There’s talk of a pass to get into games. Tottenham’s cancellations seem ominous too.

Not the biggest problem, obviously, but the difference in Liverpool’s recent results between full or empty houses is noticeable bordering on seismic.

Capacity crowds have seen three Liverpool league defeats in three years. It’s an astounding anomaly, one we’d rather not put to the test again, but it’s out of our hands and in those of the idiot Johnson.

Scrapping for 1-0 wins in successive matches will be seen from the usual half full/empty perspectives. You won’t be surprised to learn I’m waiting for the hammer to fall but have proven an unreliable Jonah in the past, and hopefully for a couple more years yet.