LFC Forever 2017/18

Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal

MotM- Emre Can

It's a hard choice again, even Gary Nevile on Sky Sports struggled to pick. So here's my choice (unusually) given in numbers

Emre Can's 84 minutes:
10/13 duels won
3/3 dribbles completed
2 tackles
2 interceptions
2 clearances
2 key passes
40/44 accurate passes.

I woke up checked twitter and saw people with blue ticks saying Karius is going to start. I just couldn't believe it, went on Liverpool Echo, they're saying the same (in fact they have about 5 articles on it. The team sheet confirms it when that comes out. The people on Sky Sports leading up to kick off are even more baffled than I am like since when to keepers need a rest?! Since when do you want to disrupt it when a keeper is doing well and put in the guy who has quite a few mistakes to his name in a Liverpool shirt?!

Clearly I was focusing on the wrong thing. Once again I should've been focusing on the attack and trust them to keep the keeper bored with his role. I know I wanted and asked for getting straight back to the Hoffenheim game play but I didn't expect it to be quite so easy again. We must like teams in blue at the moment.

10 minutes and we would have our first goal if it wasn't for Cech's ability to get down and Salah's love of firing at the keeper. There was lots of this!

It doesn't take long though. Firmino glances in Joe Gomez's floated cross, it's  I thought it wasn't going to go in because it was really, really headed down but it went in and we got where we were supposed to be with how we've started again.

Dad told me to open the window so I missed the Karius letting Welbeck get a touch of the ball when he was meant to be distributing it. I'm happy to have missed that!

Welbeck is the first to be booked after catching Moreno he went to clear the ball. Then Ramsey goes past Gomez, who clumsily pulls he back to give away a dangerous free-kick. He's booked. Good punch from Karius from the cross.

Salah has one in the net but he's well offside. Way!

Arsenal goes building pressure and then Liverpool pick them off. It's a brilliant break from Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and then Sadio Mane, who curls it into the bottom corner. It's two! I hurt my foot a bit celebrating that one and I don't even know how. Oh Mane Mane! He's loving making us sing!

Half time! Shots: 10-2 Pass accuracy: 86%-82% Chances created: 8-1 Possession: 52%-48%

Second half has to be different, right? It can't just all be about us. Well Arsenal swaps Ramsey for Coquelin to try to get a grip they couldn't find in the first half.

So close to a third! Salah just hasn't found a finish today and he charges through on goal but is denied by Cech. Jordan Henderson's follow up is over the bar...

Oh no Arsenal corner, oh it's no trouble! Suddenly Salah steals the ballfrom Bellerin and he is OFF running 60 yards, he has to do it, he has to put it in the net this time, come on this time, he's  charged the length of the pitch to score and it is in! Massive goal! It's three and I can't believe we just scored from a corner and I mean an opposition corner, how's that for defending?!

That's our front three hat trick scored!

Giroud and Lacazette are put on. Oh no, not supersubs! Not in our game!

Mane is played in and his shot is saved by Cech... only just, it almost trickles over the line, if only that ball had rolled just that bit faster! When Bellerin went in to clear I was sure just for a second he'd sent it into his own net, it would've been that kind of day for Arsenal after we've been winning battles all over the pitch.The Reds have been absolutely superb, the Gunners a disgrace.

Mane gets his rest and Sturridge is on. Excited as ever to see Studge get to come on the pitch, backwards of course.

I didn't expect much of him, you know what you're getting with Sturridge these days, it's not the speed that Mane's giving so maybe he'll find a way to be part of the game, maybe it'll feel like a massive drop off. A long ball goes his way and he doesn't even really try to get there, he's not getting to that, he's sensible with his limitations. He knows where he needs to be.

Firmino's skill near his own box is excellent, Emre Can in midfield is superb, he sets Salah and and his cross is brilliant, and Sturridge takes hold of the chance. That's 4! Sturridge is on 99! That's the loudest cheer of the game and not because that's number 4 and there's no way Arsenal are gonna find 4 in 12 minutes! It's one of those days!

Gary Neville on Sky: "Arsenal have players who don't think they should run back when the ball goes past them" Very true, it seems they don't really want to play. One of the Sky Sports people commented sell them all and I'm like but they can't do that in what 4 days, unless some of them wanna come our way and are very much willing to put the effort in for us. 

We kept a clean sheet! In fact Arsenal had just as many shots on target as they did goals in the net. We freak out about Karius and then he only had to do a punch or two!

Ooh I can go watch all the Arsenal match videos Liverpool accounts have been posting now and enjoy them without the fear. That's three wins in a row against Arsenal and it's same old, same old for them!

Next up (after the international break) Man City away, Saturday 9th September 12:30

Sterling cleverly got his red card suspension in yesterday. I disagree with that second yellow because one it's been pretty good when he's returned and two, he got in trouble for celebrating at the end of the match in like the last minute, going to the fans and in that it was only him who got in trouble for it when most of his team were doing exactly the same as him and it's a sad thing if that's the way football's gonna keep going, getting punished for going to the people who that goal means a lot to. But then he got his first yellow card about three minutes earlier so it was silly going for a big celebration.