Jurgen Klopp described the victory over Crystal Palace as a
“dirty win”. It was certainly a gritty performance – a lacklustre first-half
display required a big response in the second half, and the players duly came
out with enough determination and persistence to finally grab a winner in the
closing stages. There have been more convincing wins over the course of the
season, but in many ways this one was the biggest indicator of how far the team
has come under Klopp’s tenure: Liverpool have always had a big scoreline in
them, but in the recent past have often struggled to show an ability to drag
themselves back from behind against the ‘lesser’ teams. That said, it will need
to be the ‘other’ Liverpool who report for duty on Wednesday night: Manchester
City are anything but a lesser team, and it will take pure firepower to blow
them away.
The trip to Selhurst Park was never going to be an easy game
for Liverpool. Not only have Palace become something of a bogey team in recent
times, 12:30 kick-offs have also proved difficult for the current crop of
players. Perhaps it is something to do with the high-intensity tactics that
Klopp demands – regardless, there were plenty of reasons to fear that the three
points would not be straightforward. So it proved: the early kick-off was
actually beneficial in that it gives the team slightly more rest prior to the
massive match against City, but sure enough it seemed to take the team a while
to get going. Alexander-Arnold is still a teenager – it showed that he might
rather still be in bed, as he was repeatedly skinned by Wilfried Zaha in the
early stages. It was this that led to the goal. A Benteke flick-on was not
anticipated by the promising youngster, and Zaha nipped round him and reached
the ball before an onrushing Karius could get there. A penalty was correctly
awarded, and Milivojevic slotted it away with characteristic coolness. Liverpool
could have had a penalty of their own moments later, after Sadio Mane flung
himself down following contact in the box, but in general chances were hard to
come by in the first period.
Fortunately, the second half saw a highly pleasing response.
Liverpool were level inside ten minutes, the much-maligned Mane finally getting
some luck as he poked home at the near post to make it 1-1. Palace came on
strongly after this, but Klopp’s men weathered the storm – Karius should take
credit for an important save, and it must be said that the referee deserves
some thanks for bizarrely failing to show Mane a second yellow card for a
handball. Perhaps wisely, the Senegalese winger was withdrawn shortly
afterwards – his replacement, Oxlade-Chamberlain, had a very positive impact.
He was notionally a straight swap for Mane, but it was clear that he enjoys a
more central role; he drifted inside regularly, and his driving runs from there
caused the Palace defence a headache. Another change, this one enforced, was
also key: Lallana’s terrible luck with injuries continued, but Klopp responded
with a masterstroke by replacing him with Lovren and switching to three at the
back. The full-backs, freed from their defensive shackles, were given a new
lease of life – both of their Palace counterparts were terrorised, as Alexander-Arnold
in particular put in a series of teasing crosses. In the end, though, it was Robertson
who made the telling ball. He found Mo Salah in the middle, who showed his
typically unerring composure to sit down Mamadou Sakho and slot it past the
keeper for the winner. His debut season has got to the point where it defies
description. His latest record at least does some sort of justice to the impact
he has had: Salah has now scored in the joint-most league games in a single
season, with six matches still left to play.
The focus now shifts to midweek, where everyone will be
hoping that Salah can reproduce his mercurial form on the European stage.
Indeed, everyone will have to be at their best in order to overcome Guardiola’s
Manchester City: a strong case can be made that they are the best team in
Europe right now, and nothing short of two perfect games is likely to be good
enough over the course of the tie. Still, the players can take encouragement
from the fact that they know they are capable of beating City – Pep will not
simply discard his philosophy in order to try and handle Klopp’s lethal front
three, and in any case he does not have a defence capable of containing them,
so there are bound to be gaps left in behind as a result of City’s expansive
style. The Anfield advantage could also play a part in the first leg. Guardiola
admitted last time out that his players got caught up in it: any advantage
Liverpool can get is welcome, and the stadium is bound to be buzzing for the
first European quarter-final in nearly a decade. It is vital that the team
leave Anfield either level or ahead – ideally City would be prevented from
notching up too many away goals, but in a tie that is likely to turn into a
frenzied shootout this should not be a factor that serves to inhibit
Liverpool’s play.
In many ways, this should be a more enjoyable game than the
Palace match. The opposition is both much better overall and defensively less
compact – this means that we are better equipped to play against them, but also
go in with much less expectation. There will of course be some level of stress:
the tantalising prospect of a semi-final in the greatest competition in club
football awaits the winners of the tie, so the yearning for a win is intense.
However, ultimately, victory or defeat in this matchup will not tell us too
much about the overall continued progression of the club: City’s state-funded
project effectively lives or dies by rapid success on the biggest stages,
whereas Liverpool’s sustainable project remains on track regardless of what
happens. Trophies are coming, and hopefully coming soon – whatever the result
in this huge tie, that will not change. All that said, victory would be a huge
moment not only in the club’s season but in its history: this could prove to be
a turning point in our long journey back to the very top.
-
@JamesMartin013
