Since the first leg I've had an insatiable thirst for stuff to read, watch and listen to with regards Liverpool FC. I've trawled RAWK, TAW, Guardian, Telegraph, BBC, ESPN, New York Times, christ - I even logged onto Twitter for the first time in months. This thirst has meant I've been exposed to some utter shite, some decent stuff, some good stuff, some thought provoking stuff. All sorts really. Nothing's come close to the quality of that OP though. Seriously Babu - you should be free lancing or sharing this stuff with websites and professional new outlets. It kicks the shit out of most of the lazy, narrative driven nonsense that's flogged as part of subscription based websites, or included in national newspaper football sections. Truly a reason to love RAWK.
With regards the game - it is not over. It will be tough, City are a fantastic side. These aren't caveats, these aren't offerings up to the gods "of the jinx" I mean it. However, we're a very, very good team too. I've been saying it all season, I've been saying it since Christmas last year, even when some of the resident bell-ends on here were slating Klopp and the lads for our January/February 2017 blues. We've got a team full of character, a group of lads who’ve been trained as a team, who work as a team, who fight for each other as a team. A team who like each other and want to win and lose together. To grow together, to succeed together. One of the reasons City are so good is they have a lot of these qualities too. It’s why we’re two of the best teams in Europe. Don’t fear it lads. Don’t fear celebrating this team and group. They’re fucking great. They may not win the league, they may not win the Champions League, but there gonna give every little fucking bit they’ve got to try. And above all? We’ve got a team full of quality. All over the pitch.
This game boils down to whether we score, and if we do, when, and then, how City handle the next 20 minutes. So far this season we’ve scored 3 in 20 and 3 in 30 minutes against them. United did it to them for the second time in a week. If we get one inside the first 20 – how are they going to cope with that? Are they gonna be able to handle the swarm that follows? For what my almost completely irrelevant opinion is worth, I reckon IF we score, then we score another inside 20 minutes. Can we score? Yes. Regardless of Salah starting/being fit. We’re the top scorers in this competition. We’ve scored away goals for fun this season. We’re built to play against teams who attack us. I was just as confident before the first leg that we could score multiple times in the away leg as I was that we could at Anfield. Nothing has happened to change that.
Team selection is essentially already done. Karius, Trent, Lovren, VVD, Robertson, Gini, Milner, Ox, Mane, Firmino, Salah. Solanke will start with Firmino left and Mane in the Salah role, if our Egyptian King isn’t ready. We’ll need big performances throughout the side, but has this team ever failed to show their character? To show their fight? Once or twice they’ve had off days – but they fight to the end.
The tie isn’t over. But we can kill it early. I’m gonna go balls on the line and say 2-0 to the mighty fucking redmen.