Stumbling Through

It feels like it has been ages since I last wrote one of these; it’s nice to be back to premier league action following the international break.

And what a game to come back to. Derbies are always special affairs, and the Liverpool derby, in particular, is one where the chance of having more red cards than goals is quite significant. It could have easily been one of those today after James Tarkowsky “left one” on Mac Allister in a tackle that was reminiscent of that other tackle, when Pickford almost ended Van Dijk’s career. Pickford, for his part, seems to have a derby fairy, one that allows him to freely do things like that or, say, wildly kick the knees out from under Nunez as he did towards the end of the game. To add insult to injury, it was Nunez who ended up with a yellow card.

Thankfully it appears like no one ended up with a lasting injury.

Beyond that, the game was far more one sided than the scoreline suggests. Everton had the best chance in the first half, but Liverpool otherwise dominated the game. For that once chance, Beto will be kicking himself for hitting the post after an unexpected error from Van Dijk where he completely misjudged the ball, leaving the former alone against Kelleher. Coming unexpectedly as this opportunity did was indicative of a night to forget for our skipper, especially in the first half when he suffered a series of atypical, albeit small, errors. If you want to know what an off night looks for Virgil Van Dijk, this is it. He wasn’t bad, per se, just sort of average, but he is usually so consistently excellent, this kind of performance stands out.

Still, in the end, Everton never came truly close again after that miss.

In this part of the season, with the number of games dwindling rapidly for Arsenal to hope that Liverpool stumbles, the way in which the Reds secure the points they need to get over the finish line matters less. But it must be said that the team, especially the midfield, still looks tired and leggy. The impression, at least for me, is that Liverpool will make it, but they won’t look imperious doing it as they did getting themselves to this position. Exemplifying this, it took the one player who actually looked fresh and hungry to carry the team through today, my man-of-the-match Luiz Diaz. Diogo Jota looked fairly up for it, too, and his clever finish for the only goal was sharp. Perhaps that’s as it should be, because right here, right now, is when the true winners show up.

Still 12 up at the top, now with one less game to go. My prediction is that Liverpool will receive an honor guard at Stamford Bridge, which will take Arsenal stumbling more than the Reds.

So yeah, just get ‘er done, boys. Don’t matter how. It doesn’t have to be pretty.

But for heaven’s sake, and at least according to my TV, I have a plea: can Anfield be Anfield again? It seemed awfully quiet out there today, at least in the first half.

Surely that isn’t helping.