5 Talking Points from Liverpool vs Watford
No easy games
One thing that makes this league special is the quality of the players every team has at their disposal as the Premier League attracts top players from all over the world. This makes every team dangerous and gives them the potential to cause problems on any given day. Liverpool was able to collect the three points with a clean sheet and continue their great start to the season. Perhaps an easy game on paper as the Reds faced a Watford team in turmoil and in deep threat of relegation. You only have to look at our opponents and how they have lost points in games like these to know that the three points Liverpool got were extremely valuable. Leicester lost points at home to Norwich just this week, helping the gap to go up to 10 points. Style points do not matter in this league, the key is to get the three points and move on to the next week. This team has the mindset and determination to get the results. It might not be pretty or comfortable at times but they find a way which is a key sign of a champion.
The lunchtime kickoffs
The early kickoffs do not help this team and more importantly the atmosphere at Anfield. The fortress was quiet throughout the game. The play on the field did not give much at times to get the crowd riled up and Watford was smart enough not to cause situations that would invite the fans to wake up.
Let’s hope we do not have many more of these as the team always seems to start slow and do not have the regular game environment at Anfield.
First CB and now the CDM positions getting thin
Liverpool is starting their only two healthy senior CBs at the moment with both Lovren and Matip out. The loss of Fabinho not only eliminates him as a potential replacement to play in defense. The Reds might now have a much more serious problem in filling Fabinho’s CDM spot with Gini going out with an injury this week. This leaves only Henderson as a possible replacement to play in that spot as he played the position for a long time prior to Fab’s arrival. Llana is another option as Klopp used him in this spot quite a few times in preseason but the situation is far from ideal. This makes winning and extending the lead we have even more valuable at the moment as the team is doing this while going through several key injuries.
Why are some fans never happy?
When you read some of the groups and posts online, you would think the Reds lost the game. I can’t tell if it is the unrealistic expectations of beating every opponent by 4-5 goals or some people would rather find something to complain about as opposed to enjoying the win but STOP IT ALREADY!. This team has 49 points out of a potential 51 and fans are bitching about Salah not scoring early, the number of clean sheets, certain players not getting enough time etc. Trust Klopp in terms of the lineups he uses and how he spreads the minutes as he has done a great job of rotation so far despite several injuries he has to plan around.
A great end to a great week
What a great week this was for the Reds. A win against the Red Bulls midweek helped them top their group in Champions League followed by the great news of extensions to the boss and our vice-captain Milner. Three points to cap off the week while Leicester City losing points to extend the lead to 10 points on top of the league. Still too early to celebrate anything but almost halfway into the season now and our momentum does not seem to be slowing down.
P.S.
I am trying to stay away from making VAR a talking point as it can potentially be one every week. In summary, as harsh as it can be, I did not have any problems with the calls in this week’s game. As VAR is needed to make the calls right, it definitely takes away from the excitement of the game as it is hard to celebrate now. I did not see the Mane goal even a potential situation as it happened to be honest. The beneficiary was my dog Stitch who got his snack for the goal even though the goal got overturned. Lesson learned, will have to wait for VAR on every goal before issuing snacks