Before the game, I thought with the extra rest we had going into it, and the fact they were feeling sorry for themselves after going out of Europe, they would be there for the taking. On the day itself, I missed the first half hour, and by the looks of things, the team didn't turn up for half an hour either. By the time I did get to see it, neither side had a shot on target in half an hour. I wouldn't say it was enthralling entertainment the rest of the day. It was a slugfest where the finishing and defending from both sides was a shocking standard for this level, so you can see why both sides are way behind the leaders.
Credit to James for the penalty. His penalty record is top notch, so unlike Klopp I never doubted he would put it in, and he took it very well. At the time live, I thought he had timed his challenge perfectly to stop a tap in before half time, while when the ball dropped to Lallana at first, I thought he would be offside. It seemed he thought it as well. He still should have scored anyway, and probably would if we were winning 4-1 as we were last year.
Hard to know whether it was a point won or not, while we could have won, we were also hanging on towards the end. But it's 6 games unbeaten now against them, so competing against them is no problem on the pitch, despite the considerable gap in financial resources. It's the clubs who spend fractions of our budget who we have trouble against.
We're next in to bat in the derby, and with those below us having 2-3 games in hand after it, three points is essential to keep them in their place.
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