“Champions” (volume 1)
“Díaz the Destroyer!”
Chapter 3 of my third book on the Mighty Reds of Liverpool FC was an obvious joy to write as it concerned the utter demolition of Manchester United! So early in the season too, but this 3–0 away victory at Old Trafford set down a marker for the triumphant season that followed, each and every game of which is contained within the book (available in hardback and paperback) linked below, together with a link to my original article and then the entire article reposted in full beneath.
I hope you enjoy (how can you not enjoy reading about a 3–0 trouncing of Manchester United?!) and should your finances allow, please consider helping and supporting an indie author. Thanks.
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
MANCHESTER UNITED 0
LIVERPOOL 3 (Díaz 35 and 42, Salah 56)
At just a little after the 23rd minute this afternoon, Sky TV’s resident and now undisputed number one football commentator Peter Drury intoned “a quarter of the game has gone by in a blur” and he was mathematically correct if nothing else. He was also thematically correct too if I’ve correctly taken the footballing meaning of his statement — Nearly 25 minutes had passed by in a blur of raw emotions only this fixture truly earns, a scatter gun of end-to-end football, a promising and competitive game developing, Dominik Szoboszlai for the away Reds of Liverpool and Kobbie Mainoo for the home team “Red Devils” biting into tackles before starting another counter-attack with an incisive pass forward. The game was structured in form yet free-flowing on the actual pitch. Trent Alexander-Arnold had scored and asked a TV cameraman for a dance and a wet sloppy kiss to celebrate only to be denied by that dreaded eye in a dystopian sky, VAR. Manchester United had collectively just shaded the opening 25 minutes and had a real semblance of control in the game. Then Arne Slot’s Liverpool turned it on and turned the screw, minute by minute, on as comprehensive a 3–0 away victory in the Premier League as you could wish to see.
From the quarter mark onward the Reds, in their always pleasing white and black away kit, took complete control of the game through the energy of Dominik Szoboszlai (again) and Ryan Gravenberch’s ability to “pop up” constantly in areas of the field to snag a loose ball, pass to a teammate, and grab control of proceedings once more. The 22 year old Dutchman created Alexander-Arnold’s ultimately disallowed goal on 6 minutes but it was he who intercepted Casemiro’s dreadful forward pass on 35 minutes and a “really purposeful” performance so far according to Peter Drury, before releasing Mo Salah for a delicious cross that Dominik Szoboszlai evaded for the screaming Luis Díaz to head home behind him. The goal had been coming, capping 10 minutes of intense pressure from the Reds who had collectively found their feet in the game and none more so than Colombian wizard and “Man of the Match” Luis Díaz who simply barged a woeful Casemiro off the ball, released his footballing gains to Mo Salah and continued his run into the penalty area to meet an insouciant pass from Salah with an even better finish. From the time Díaz picked the pocket of Casemiro, the ball travelled a third of the pitch, from Alexis Mac Allister to Salah’s sublime cross, to Díaz’s spectacular strike, in 6 or 7 seconds and never left the green grass of Old Trafford.
Liverpool were “fizzing away” to quote Peter Drury for a final time and simply started the second half as they ended the first, in complete control of the game. Alisson Becker was called into action for the first time on 51 minutes by a long range effort from Joshua Zirkzee and the Dutchman would also trouble the big Brazilian in the Reds goal on 63 minutes with a header from point blank range that gave rise to a far better save, brilliant even from Alisson, than anyone on TV commentary gave it credit for at the time but no matter, the greatest goalkeeper in the world does this sort of thing for fun these days and especially so when his team are 3–0 up at the home of their fiercest rivals and cruising to victory with nearly half an hour still to play.
The game was over and indeed up for a bedraggled Manchester United when on 56 minutes Kobbie Mainoo was bullied off the ball by Alexis Mac Allister, his simple pass released Dominik Szoboszlai and the Hungarian’s relay pass was swept home by the Egyptian King, Mo Salah. It was a carbon copy of sorts of the Reds second goal: the determination to bully an opponent off the ball, find a teammate, move the game at pace with one touch passes, and first time majestic goals of the highest quality.
The Reds in the Away End were magnificent all game as they ran through their celebratory song book as the “Theatre of Dreams” emptied all around them. Mocking chants received a regular airing as to the woeful plight of their hosts today, their silent and beaten fan base and especially a song of triumph taken back from the custody of their Mancunian rivals in previous decades.
Who the fuck are Man Utd?
Who indeed.
I see a team in trouble with a long, long season ahead of them.
The Reds have 3 wins from 3 without conceding a goal from an unchanged starting XI who all desperately want to see their name on the pre-game team sheet. The performances of Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai are testimony to this, but Trent Alexander-Arnold’s sterling displays aren’t far behind, Ibrahima Konaté is stronger every game next to his skipper Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah is assisting goals when he isn’t scoring them and then there’s a Colombian magician by the name of Luis Díaz who is in the form of his Reds career, and not just for his crucial goals. When involved in the game, the 27 year old from Barrancas plays the game his way and to his own footballing beat, a slow, slow, quick quick slow of an immaculate first touch and head up for the next pass or his own run forward to the edge of the opponent’s penalty area. Busy dancing feet but ultimate control (that word again), where is my next pass, my next run, my next first time finish fizzing into the bottom corner of an opponent’s net?
Today was the first real competitive test of Arne Slot’s Liverpool and they cruised to victory with half an hour left to play.
“His name is Lucho,
He came from Porto,
He came to score, came to score
Came to score, score, score
La, la, la, la-la!
La, la, la, la-la!
La, la, la, la!
La, la, la!
La, la, la, la, la!
Luis Diaz
He’s from Barrancas
And he plays for Liverpool…”
Arne’s Afterword
“I think everything you want to see as a manager you saw in this game. So, there were difficult moments for us — I think United started really well and we conceded one or two corner kicks in that moment. But we fought ourselves through those moments and then we got the disallowed goal but there was no negative reaction at all, we just kept on playing afterwards: scoring three, we could have scored more, two important saves from Ali in the second half. So, everything was there and maybe the one that was most important is that the work-rate was incredible by all of them without the ball, and that makes it a very positive day today”.
“I normally don’t use the word ‘proud’ but what I think we did very well in all three games is, like I just mentioned, the work-rate without the ball. So, we try to press the opponent as high as we can but if they play through or over our press, I see everybody working really hard to make sure we don’t need Ali and sometimes we do and then it’s a good thing that we have a real good goalkeeper. What impressed me most today was the way we played with the ball because I know what we can do without the ball, but the way we played with the ball was I think also very good today”.
“Today we played with United a very good team with a lot of quality, so it impressed me that we could keep a clean sheet, although today we also needed our goalkeeper in two moments. A good start, let that be clear, but still a lot to prove”.
Thanks for reading.