Revenge Is Sweet
Loving it. As Manchester City's title bid crashes and burns around them following a third straight league defeat, we gained some sweet, sweet payback for Sunday. Admittedly, it doesn't make up for the lack of silverware, but thrashing one of the best teams in the league always shows the potential that this side has to offer, even without the rested Daniel Sturridge.
And funnily enough, it was Adam Lallana at the heart of the carnage, scoring the first goal, helping to create the second and assisting the third. The first goal was a smart pass from Milner, but it was a lovely, jinking run from Lallana before he pulled the trigger. It was a top draw finish, but maybe one that Joe Hart should have kept out.
If Liverpool's first was a lovely goal, the quality only got higher, as Lallana once again went on a run, before deftly backheeling to the delightful Firmino (who continues to add to his personal goals and assists tally with the rollicking 2016 that he's having, nobody has more in the Premier League than his combined tally of 10) and his clever pass saw Milner in on goal after a sensational first touch, and Joe Hart was helpless.
And it was Firmino himself who took the ball under control and broke a dreadful City offside trap after magical work from Lallana after he picked up the loose ball and fired confidently past Hart to put the game, and City's title race, to bed.
Some more stats about how wonderful a player Firmino is turning into now that he's settled into English football (and as I've been saying since August, you need to give foreign players who aren't fully fit having come back late from a World Cup time to adapt to the Premier League, funny that isn't it?): only four players had a better average of Firmino's 176 minutes per big chance created: and two of them are Mahrez and Ozil (the others being Shaqiri and Deulofeu) and that makes him better than Payet (210), Coutinho (248), De Bruyne (259) and Sterling who has a pathetic (832).
Now obviously this is only one stat, and one that paints Firmino in a positive light, but his Premier League average Whoscored rating is now 7.24, and that includes nine games up front with an average of 7.87 (with six goals and five assists), compared to an average appearance off the bench (where he has made six appearances) at 6.35, and before I stop waxing lyrical about Firmino, Squawka has his him as the second best player in Liverpool's team this season, behind Couts, despite registering two more goals and two more assists.
Anyway, this was exactly the kind of display that Liverpool needed to show that there is a lot of potential in this squad and that if they can tweak key areas, like goalkeeper and central defence and keep their key players fit and firing, then there is every chance that we can have a good few years under Klopp.
North London Flop
With Manchester City getting battered, and of course Leicester unfortunate to drop points the previous night, as they were unable to breach West Brom's defence in the second half, with the game finely poised at 2-2, although not for the want of trying, this was the perfect opportunity for Arsenal and Spurs to gain some leverage on them; for Spurs to go top and Arsenal to pull it back.
I confidently predicted that if Leicester dropped points in their fixture, that Arsenal would do likewise, and sure enough, with the pressure on, Arsenal once again bottled it. With things going so well after a brilliant goal from Joel Campbell, an exquisite sliding volley, Arsenal looked set to close the gap at the top. And I'm sorry, but 1-0 at home to Swansea when you're one of the title favourites, and you throw it away? This is why Arsenal cannot win the title, they have an ability to bottle it that never ceases to amaze me. It was Wayne Routledge and Ashley Williams who scored the goals to condemn Arsenal, who remain six points behind Leicester now, to defeat. Arsenal lack leaders in their team, mentally strong individuals who will step up when the going gets tough. You could argue that for a moment of lunacy by Danny Simpson, they would also be out the title race, languishing with City in the race for 4th. As for Swansea, this is a terrific result that hopefully pulls them clear of the mire that is going on below them. With Norwich, Newcastle and Villa all losing this weekend as predicted to Chelsea, Stoke and Everton respectively, and Sunderland picking up an expected point against Palace, this was a real opening for the Swans to move clear of the drop.
And just briefly while we're on the subject of the bottom, lots of credit to Bournemouth, who pulled off a sensational win against Southampton to also put some distance between themselves and the three teams wedged on 24 points, they're now just 8 points away from that magical 40 point mark, which would surely be enough to see them stay up.
As for Spurs, it's slightly different. They were not at home to one of the league's strugglers. They were away from home at a West Ham side who look absolutely red hot this season. And this was a win that kept West Ham one point off Man United, and moved them within a point of Man City, who admittedly have an easy game in hand. Once again for West Ham, it was an early goal from Antonio, just as it was at the weekend, and although their opposition were significantly tougher than at the weekend, they managed to hold on for all three points.
I said before the match that fatigue had to set in for Spurs at some point, and maybe that point was last night as West Ham looked more energetic and more dangerous throughout and Spurs never looked like scoring. However, unlike for Arsenal, there are no symptoms that this is a chronic problem for Spurs and hopefully they'll be able to jump back on the horse. The big problem now for Spurs is that they've still got Europa League to contend with in March and they can't send out a weaker team to face Dortmund or they'll get slaughtered. This is a huge few weeks in Spurs season and Pochettino has to get his team selections right. Do they go for Dortmund and rest players in the league, or do they go for the league and rest players against Dortmund? Or, do they continue to mix and match as they go, which could see them lose out on both? It's a big call for the manager to make.
And finally, in the Premier League, Odion Igahlo turned from hero to villain for Watford as he missed a hat-full of golden chances to put United to the sword, only for the Old Trafford club to hang on in there, and steal the points late on with a sublime free kick for United, who did well to take all three points. And that's not to say that they didn't deserve it, as shots wise they were even and possession wise controlled the game. It's just that most of the good chances fell to Igahlo, and if you can't score goals in big games, then you don't deserve to win those games. United creep up the league table again, level on points with City (despite the aforementioned game in hand), and they're maybe still in with an outside shot of Champions League football.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Bayern lost. To quote Klopp: "Hahahahaha."
- Konta and Watson going well.
- Mercedes continue to look strong.
- Juve beat Inter on pens.
- And Leamington won 1-0! Play-offs!
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