I was too angry to write about it straightaway, another goalless draw for us. Not quite as boring as the United draw, but equally as infuriating. Against United, despite having a majority of the possession, we did not make David De Gea make a relevant save, against Everton though we had chances; chances we did not take. The main culprit on Sunday was unfortunately Mo Salah, it seems crazy to call out your top scorer but it has been to be done. Salah has 17 Premier League goals this season, and frankly, it should be at least 20. Two guilt edged chances fell to him at Goodison Park; one in the first half and one in the second. The first good chance for him came, when Fabinho produced a great piece of anticipation and played him through, Salah took too many touches of the ball however and by the time he shot, the angle made it easier for Jordan Pickford to make a save. The second chance came when Joel Matip who had a decent game, when on a mazy run that Eden Hazard would have been proud of. Matip then tried to thread a pass through, the pass was deflected and fell to Salah. Salah again had a slight hesitation, and whereas in the second part of last he would have found the net, he allowed Michael Keane to make a very important challenge and the ball went out for a corner. Everton somehow survived again.
Fabinho also had a half chance when van Dijk headed a ball back across the box, but he was challenged just as he was about to connect with the ball, so Liverpool left still with only one league defeat all season, but like United the knee jerk reaction was it felt like a defeat. Manchester City are now in the ascendancy, Manchester City with a superior goal difference to Liverpool are one point clear at the top of the table. Liverpool got no favours on Saturday afternoon from Bournemouth, as in their home game against City, they only had 18% of the possession and could not even muster one single shot at goal. Laughable really, especially as we know how good they can be on the counter attack, but they had absolutely nothing to show on Saturday. If Liverpool had taken their opportunities on Sunday in the Derby, we actually would not care, but instead we are again dwelling on what might have been. We should not have to rely on favours from other teams, but that is exactly what we have to do now. The title is now out of our hands, and though my mind has already conceded, my heart refuses to give up. City will drop points in their 9 remaining games, and this to my disgust means having to cheer on Manchester United when they play them at Old Trafford towards the end of April. The issue is however, when City do drop points, are Liverpool going to be clinical enough to make them pay for it?
I still believe, but my head hurts, my mind is doing overtime. We have only lost one game this season; and it was away to the defending champions, but yet we lay one point behind them. Four draws out of the last six league games is just not title winning form, it in fact reminds me of the 2008/09 season. Ten years ago we only lost twice, but failed to win the league, letting Manchester United win their third title in a row. Made worse by the fact this particular title triumph took United level with us now overall with 18 top division titles. Too many draws added to Rafa Benitez' famous 'facts' rant left us with a sour taste in our mouths. Fans my age or older, will be all too familiar with us failing from a good position, this makes it all nonetheless hard to take if we cannot win the league for the first time since 1990.
What we must do however, is put things into perspective. If you told any Liverpool fan in the summer that after 29 games we would be 1 point off of a Manchester City side, who accumulated over 100 points last season, then we all would have bitten your hand off. Liverpool have been underwhelming in the domestic cups, but the only excuse there is they drew Premier League sides at the first stage of both the League and FA Cups, but the position in the league table should not be snarled at. Even if you are a Klopp admirer, you can disagree when it comes to some of Klopp's lineups and substitutions, this is fine. On Sunday, bringing on Lallana and Milner, when you have Keita, Shaqiri and Sturridge on the bench, just did not cut it. Saying that, Klopp had nothing to do with Salah missing chances he gobbled up last season and the fact Liverpool were at times sloppy in possession.
Burnley are actually the worst opponents Liverpool could have had right now at Anfield. Sundays early kick off will be one where the crowd will start raising the decibels, as if it was a European night, but if Liverpool fail to score in say the first 25-30 minutes, then things will begin to get awkward. Burnley will come and play a low block, and they will be physical. They roughed us up in the 3-1 win earlier in the season and with survival not guaranteed, they will make it hard for us. They drew first blood last season at Anfield, and despite after one or two chances after we levelled, we almost lost the game at the end from an inability to clear two set pieces. That game of course, we did not have Virgil van Dijk, we do now, but even still; the line we hold at set pieces, despite it been quite successful, really does get my heart going. Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood need to be watched, and then there is the likes of James Tarkowski coming up from the back. If Liverpool are vigilant, then we can win this, but if we are tidy when we have the ball and are ruthless like we were at home to Watford, we can really boost the goal difference. Burnley will be stubborn compared to Watford, but a first half goal I believe will break them, we just cannot afford to be needing a late goal. Liverpool cannot be in a position late on trying to avoid another draw, this is inconceivable, regardless of City's result on Saturday against Watford in the late kick off.
@DubulDee
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