Back in December when we beat Spurs 5-0 at White Hart Lane, Liverpool came of age. Not only did we put to bed a long running hoodoo of failing to win at bogey grounds, we answered any doubts or reservations about our credentials of being a contender. That was one of the most dominant, effective and complete performances in a long time. We spent so many years asking what the perfect Liverpool win looks like? One that defines every principal or identity that Rodgers envisaged when he arrived here. Since then, you can answer the same question in many different ways. Arsenal at home, Everton at home, Southampton away, United way, Spurs at home.
West Ham therefore, posed a different type of question. What does it look like to win ugly?
Watching West Ham play football and launch ball after ball in to the box is like watching a rugby game entirely full of line throws. Grown men just trying to outjump grown men on the other team, except one set of grown men actually want to play ball. It can get ugly, really ugly. As a spectacle it isn’t pleasant either, but that’s what makes West Ham successful and you have to combat it. They are effective at it, you can give them that. Their tactic of deploying Carroll as their target man was their sole method of causing us any trouble. Their manager trying to convince us that West Ham play football is like listening to a magician trying to convince us his trick was magic rather than illusion.
Yet still, we needed to find that little bit extra. On a rare off day for Suarez, when the moments of magic that he’s capable of producing bounced on the wrong side of the crossbar it was evident we were going need need something else. It didn't even need to be a sublime piece of skill or an outrageous piece of luck, but simply just reward for continuously plugging away in front of their 25 yard box. We kept chipping away like a thirsty animal with its ear against a tree hearing the slow hollow echo of water. Just as West Ham were starting to believe they could see out the game, we finally found our spile to drain their sap.
Yesterday, I found myself being hassled by fans of other teams who claimed Liverpool have had an abnormal number of penalties awarded to them this season. I was asked to justify it. I replied by saying it’s pretty simple - if a foul is committed in the box it’s a penalty. Why that is so difficult comprehend is beyond me. In American pro-sports such as the NHL, it’s not uncommon to see a referee give 2 poor calls in a row to even out the error of the original call. However, to even suggest that the referee balanced out 2 poor decisions is preposterous. There is no conspiracy, or ulterior motive or hidden agenda. Liverpool win so many penalties….well because we’re just so damn good in the opposition box.
Liverpool's workmanlike performance was typified by none other than Martin Skrtel. Here was our unsung warrior, who re-enacted the role of a matador to perfection. He was assigned the role of handling the bull-like prowess of Andy Carroll, and he rose to the challenge. In fact, since a mistimed clearance away at Fulham a couple of months ago, Sktrel hasn’t put a foot wrong. The penalty given against him in the 4-3 win over Swansea appeared to be a blatant make-up call for past altercations in the box, and had nothing to do with that actual incident. Rodgers, just as he has done with other players, has turned Skrtel in to a confidence player, and one that is vastly different to the one that used to be bullied by the likes Kenwyne Jones and Christian Benteke. In fact, in our 5 defeats this season Skrtel hasn’t been bullied by any forward. If Coutinho’s goal against Spurs last weekend was a microcosm of our season, then Sktrel’s performance on Sunday was a microcosm of his season.
Liverpool have proved over the course of the last few months that we can play any type of game now. Any hand you throw at us will get trumped by a better one. If you want to come and park the bus against us, we’ll will eventually break you down through sheer grit and guile. If you want to play a game of playground shootout, we’ll score more than you will. If you want to play proper football against us, or dominate us we will find a form of resilience and hit you on the break. If you want to come at us but you're not really as good as you think you are we’ll blitz you into submission, and it'll be game over before you can blink. If you want to play 5 at the back and 2 holding midfielders, we'll find a way around you. If you want to just turn up and be utterly useless you're going to get twatted anyway. Here we saw yet another type of victory. West Ham threw down the gauntlet and challenged us to win ugly. No problem. We’ll find a way. Come with any tactics you want, turn the heat up in the dressing room, turn the pitch dry, make us park a mile way, you name it.
The analogy used in the Anfield Wrap podcast last week was perfect to describe us. We're like a boxer who just finds ways to defeat their opponent. We'll eventually find your weakness and wear you down. We can use the right hook, the left hook, the jab, the uppercut, go the 12 rounds, you name it, but we'll eventually find a way. This wasn't a knockout, rather a 12 rounder lasting the full distance which we won on points.
The captain summed it up perfectly post game when he said "we've got some steel and got some lads who want to roll their sleeves up and dig in". The hallmark of champions. With every fleeting game you find yourself repeating it over and again. Moments of inspiration masked as moments of trepidation that turn out to be game changers. That was exactly the recipe in this game. A dogged display is sometimes just as important as an attacking masterclass. At the end of the day when we look back it's performances like these that we need in our locker, and ones that contribute just as much to winning a title.
This is a proper football team now, just oozing confidence. Watching Liverpool is a spectacle these days. We play with so much vigour, panache and style. But it’s good know that we can grind out the wins when we need to. We may well need more of them in the next 5 games.
9 wins in a row! 9 fucking wins in row. I remember those dark days of Hodgson’s era when we couldn’t string back to back wins. It’s strange that when you mull it over, even in those days we hoped it would come good, because as Liverpool fans we always do. Had we known that a few years later we’d be witnessing a revival in such scintillating fashion, we would have burnt our hands in glee. The thought of transporting myself to that time, even for a moment, petrifies me. Images of those dark days scare me. Rodgers put that right. He put back to back wins right, then he put 3 wins on the spin right, then he put 5 in a row right, and now he’s put 9 wins in a row right. If this isn’t vintage Liverpool, I don’t know what is.
