Derby Rules
There are a lot of reasons – or excuses – one could bring up to justify the outcome today. Torrid weather conditions generally favor weaker teams, for example, because such conditions introduce an additional and significant random element to any game. Throwing Konate in out of necessity right off an injury spell on the sidelines because Gomez (who was in terrific form) got injured himself in the last outing played a key role. The Frenchman was fairly poor throughout.
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A bigger one was what could arguably be considered the worst showing of the season so far by a Liverpool player. The contract situation does not really seem to influence the performance of either van Dijk or Salah. But Trent Alexander-Arnold’s head was clearly not in the game today. I was expecting Slot to replace him with the spirited Bradley at half time, or at the latest the one-hour mark. But that didn’t happen and when it did, it was too late. Between Trent’s shambolic outing and Konate being rusty, and combined with a brilliant performance from my man-of-the-match (oh, how I hate to say this), United’s Amad Diallo, who took full advantage, it cost Liverpool two points in the end.
It could easily have been all three.
Even so, the gap in form and quality between this Liverpool and this United side is as massive as it has ever been. Which is where that X-factor comes into play:
Derbies have their own rules.
It’s why United keeps playing spoiler to Liverpool (and for that matter, City, like last season).
After a sleepy first half, when Martinez scored a fantastic opener, the Reds woke up and finally started to dominate the game. Fifteen minutes later they were up by one. It started with Gakpo doing Gakpo things. Later, a justified VAR intervention leading to a Mo penalty taken with conviction. You could be forgiven for relaxing a bit and thinking “we got this.” But then Diallo equalized on a chance from nothing. It was at that point a draw became the most likely outcome.
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Like most everyone else, I thought before the game that Liverpool would win. And it did look like in better conditions, they might have. It still took an outstanding (in context) performance from United (and another player worth noting, their captain Bruno Fernandes) to pull off an unlikely draw, which will make their camp happy but does say a lot about where both teams are.
Which leads me to this: it’s important for us fans to stay grounded. This wobble shouldn’t have a huge effect on the title race and Liverpool still have it all in their hands. There’s no denying, however, that this result really sucks precisely because of this particular opponent.
I guess it keeps the title race interesting for everyone else. Oh, Joy.
