Maybe it is unrealistic to expect that sort of commitment across every match of the season, but today's effort was SO much better than many of the games this season. That is what made the biggest difference for me today.
That and Joe "I've got Haaland in my pocket" Gomez. Immense for Joe today.
Terrible missed call by Anthony Taylor and the assistant re Bernardo Silva mugging Mo. Jürgen mentioned that he and Pep had agreed the ref was allowing some ridiculous challenges to go both ways. Taylor apparently told both teams before the match he wasn't going to call much and I suppose he meant that, but you cannot let that challenge (or the one on Fabinho for the rightly disallowed goal) go without a whistle. Let those go and it's Aussie Rules or American football.
(Jürgen is going to be suspended though, I guarantee it).
Said Fabinho would have to play much better today for us to have a chance and I think he definitely did that, although he is still having too many loose touches. Good game from him though.
Harvey Elliott put in a shift, helping defend on the right, and lively in midfield/going forward.
Nunez was effective with his running in the latter part of the game but what a bad decision when he missed/ignored Salah for what would have spared us the anxiety of the final few minutes.
It should be noted that on the breakaway play where Salah had his shot saved by Ederson, Mo did the EXACT same thing in ignoring Diogo Jota who was available for a tap in if Mo had just touched it over to him.
The awareness from Alisson and Mo on the goal - state of the art stuff. A moment to savor.
As many have already pointed out, if we are to be a factor in the title race, we must keep this kind of focus and intensity going forward.
For the rest of today though, I just want to enjoy a special performance and result.
Logged
