Jota and Núñez fire Reds 5 points clear in the Premier League
Bournemouth 0 Liverpool 4, 21st January 2024.
BOURNEMOUTH 0
LIVERPOOL 4 (Núñez 49 and 90+3, Jota 70 and 79)
In an almost carbon copy of the stormy weather conditions that greeted the two teams in the Carabao League Cup back in November, today was the very epitome of that sporting cliche of “grinding out a win” and following the dictionary definition of a “forgettable” first 45 minutes, the Reds did just that to end the weekend 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Although entirely forgettable, the Reds in their change strip of white and green quartered shirts just shaded a first half of very little adventure from either team and entirely dominated by the calm assurance and ball control of Alexis Mac Allister in arguably his finest half of football in a Liverpool shirt. Whether it’s the number 6 position as described by manager Jürgen Klopp or the more Mediterranean inspired central pivot, English described defensive deep lying play maker or my all time favourite description as the much decried “water carrier”, Mac Allister was excellent in a half of football to forget before the supreme footballing masterclass that followed.
All four goals were true gems, started and ended by Darwin Núñez and sandwiching two sublime strikes from Diogo Jota that, with perfect symmetry, brought each striker’s seasonal goals tallies to a perfectly formed ten. The first on 49 minutes had everything the Reds needed today: a long ball from Ibrahima Konaté brilliantly chest controlled by Curtis Jones before a first time pass to Diogo Jota was immediately replicated by the Portuguese striker into the path of strike partner Núñez to guide home a first time shot into the corner of the Bournemouth net. Jota started the move for his first goal from the Liverpool half of the field before sprinting forward as first Núñez bullied for control of the ball before Cody Gakpo laid a perfect pass into his running stride and a fizzing shot into the near post bottom corner. Nine minutes later Jota would have his brace of goals and whilst there was more than an ounce of luck as he immediately missed his kick before rifling the ball home, there was no luck in the build up as, via substitutes Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo and the industrial runs of Darwin Núñez and Conor Bradley, Liverpool swept forward in a goal scoring wave that effectively ended the game as a contest with 11 minutes remaining. The cherry on the footballing cake came in injury time and again it was a simple if sublime move from Mac Allister to Joe Gomez and a brilliant cross to a marauding Núñez to sweep home a majestic fourth goal and through the wind and rain of a stormy south coast, the Reds now enjoy a 5 point lead at the top of England’s Premier league.
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Remarking on my always popular Twitter page after full-time, I have no idea how he does it, but the beautifully bearded man from Stuttgart continues to drag his team, his “boys”, from one game and one victory to the next, and even in spite of the injuries that continue to plague his transitional and evolving team. Jürgen Klopp yet again called upon 20 year old Conor Bradley and the Irishman was only beaten to the “Man of the Match” award by the goals of Diogo Jota and the overall midfield display of Alexis Mac Allister. Joe Gomez was fantastic again as an emergency left-back with Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas still missing with long term injuries and sitting on the sidelines with Joël Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara and Dominik Szoboszlai. Mo Salah has also sustained a hamstring injury at the African Cup of Nations, Wataru Endō is away at the Asian Cup and yet again today’s team sheet was littered with teenage substitutes as Klopp’s squad is currently spread far and wide, and as thin as can be.
But the Reds go marching on and although a resurgent and newly crowned Club World Champion Manchester City team have a game in hand, Liverpool have a 5 point cushion at the summit of English football.
Fulham away on Wednesday and barring defeat, they’ll book a place at Wembley in late February for the Carabao League Cup Final.
A final word from The Boss
“First half, so let me say it like this, I spoke a couple of times about periods when we had five games in thirteen days, stuff like this; really tough. Now we had 11 days off, we trained five days of these 11 days and we lacked rhythm. I don’t complain about it, it’s our fault, but it’s really tricky, but the other team had the same situation. At half-time we had two or three situations we could show the boys how it should look and it helped a little bit with the position change of the front three. But in general we showed them where the spaces are where we could play and how important it is if we really push up to win the ball back high”.
“Now the second half was our start, it’s the other way around. In the moment we find rhythm, we are strong, I have to say, that looks then really, really good. But without rhythm probably nobody is strong. We should start games better but it’s anyway about 98 minutes… it’s about winning the games in the end. As long as we stay in the game pretty much everything what happens in the game is allowed. We don’t have to perform for 98 minutes [at an] absolutely top level. It’s pretty rare. Today step by step we found a way in the game and won it”.
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