Slot Wins the Baldassico
If you told me in the summer that, on the eve of December, I would be sitting here after Liverpool beat City going 11 points clear of them, nine clear of the Gunners and Blues in joint second place, and yet being disappointed at our finishing, I’d be splitting my ribs. But the truth is, just like with Los Blancos midweek, a 5-0 scoreline would have done this game justice. It won’t matter in the Champions League. It might matter in the Premier League when the season is over.
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If you asked him, I’m pretty sure our skipper would agree.
He was a few inches short in total across three attempts from having a hat-trick. The first was a brilliant fingertip save from Ortega, the second was a shocking (for Virgil) miss and the third was only slightly less so. In the first half of the second half, when City had all the momentum, it looked like all those misses might spell ruin. The main reason they didn’t was that very same Virgil, and even more so, my eventual man-of-the-match, the always underrated, overdelivering Joe Gomez. Virgil pretty much deleted Haaland, but that left Gomez to do everything else, including covering for a defensively poor Trent Alexander-Arnold who was made a farce of by Doku. And Gomez did just that. Every time City looked dangerous, there he was collecting one ball after another and even more importantly, launching them to safety rather than indulging in risky behavior.
It was a masterclass in keeping your head on.
With the back taken care of, Liverpool could launch wave after wave at the shambolic City defenses, and I’m pretty sure Pep will be relatively happy with the final scoreline, as it left City with a semblance of self-respect. When the Reds first breached, on a ridiculous pass from Trent to Mo and an even more ridiculous assist from Mo to give Gakpo the easiest of tap-ins, it looked like it was going to be the first of many. It wasn’t to be, and the Reds needed a late penalty for Mo to put the game to bed.
It should have been over long before then.
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That penalty would not have materialized without the industrious, explosive nature of Nunez, who reinvigorated the Reds when he came on. He kept doing the same thing in front and in back throughout the rest of the game, and it’s this quality that makes him so useful, especially in games that need a shakeup. Good contribution from him. It was also wonderful to see Harvey come on for a few minutes, and due to Liverpool’s remarkable Champions League campaign so far, he will have a good opportunity to work his way into match sharpness.
Go ahead, stare at that league table. Rub your eyes in disbelief. Barring a total collapse in December, this is starting to look more like 19-20 than any other recent season. Newcastle away and the Merseyside Derby are next. I won’t be able to watch the first of those due to other obligations, but the Zebras aren’t clicking at the moment, and the Toffees are in shambles. And so, even as this is recognizably a jinx, the gap looks only set to grow.
So you know… because superstitions are fun…
Here’s to 13 up on Christmas.
