Reds 5 points clear afte a stroll in West London
Brentford 1 Liverpool 4, 17th February 2024.
BRENTFORD 1 (Toney 7)
LIVERPOOL 4 (Núñez 35, Mac Allister 55, Salah 68, Gakpo 86)
In a different century and long before VAR came along to ruin everyone’s fun, Liverpool had a trainer/physiotherapist by the name of Phil Boersma and the in-joke between myself and my travelling companion “Steve The Taxi Driver” whenever we had a spate of injuries was that we’d sarcastically lament “Has Phil Boersma been training the team again?”, and so I’m wondering on the whereabouts of the Liverpool born attacking striker of the 1970’s and Graeme Souness’ right-hand man during a period of the club’s history everyone who was present for will wish to forget in a hurry. Not me obviously otherwise I wouldn’t have raised this subject amid the flashbacks and flirtation with relegation, upheaval on and off the pitch, an injury list as long as your arm and a whole ethos of a club changed too radically and far too quickly even by the manager’s own frank admission.
I was as near an ever present match goer during the “Souness Years” as my finances and gifts from my dear old Mum would allow and whilst I’m pleased to report that Phil is 74 years young and still a living, breathing proud veteran of 120 games in a Liverpool shirt with a goal every 4 games to his name over 6 seasons at the club, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool are plagued at every turn by an ever increasing injury list that saw 2 long term looking injuries before a precautionary substitute prevented a third, and I’m thinking of calling an Exorcist with a bucketful of holy water.
Diogo Jota twisted a knee that has already cost him lengthy time away from doing what the little Portuguese master does the best, score goals and be so eerily reminiscent to Reds “God” Robbie Fowler. He was stretchered from the field of play today and not long after Curtis Jones hobbled from the field and Darwin Núñez (after scoring a deliciously cheeky lobbed goal for the Reds first today and being the best player on the park for the first 45 minutes of the game) was substituted at half-time as a precautionary measure to prevent a longer term injury. The world’s best goalkeeper Alisson Becker is now sidelined through a hamstring injury. Trent Alexander-Arnold isn’t expected to return before the Carabao League Cup Final next Sunday, and seemingly much longer. Dominik Szoboszlai is tentatively being touted for a possible return in time for the Cup Final but Thiago Alcântara is out injured, again, and Klopp’s substitutes bench is looking shorter and more youthful in age every time I dare look at it.
All such talk of injuries, plagues of locusts and the dousing of holy water rather flies in the face of a 3rd gear stroll in West London whereby Caoimhin Kelleher had a redundant first half, pulled off two spectacular saves, one of which resulted in Brentford’s only goal, and the defence in front of him had a “cigars and slippers” outing in the nation’s capital. The “Bees” of Brentford posted so little attacking threat as to be non-existent and non-combative in a game pre-match I feared for the result. But my fears were unfounded as Brentford were limp and insipid whilst the Reds of Liverpool, in their alternative all purple, were cheeky, clinical, physical and utterly ruthless in front of goal. The team’s number 9 and according to the wisdom of the internet, unable to score a goal, scored a gem of a goal as well as a pugnacious and chaos driven 45 minutes before his enforced substitution. Ryan Gravenberch, another pillioried in the internet age despite him being just 21 years of age and a player of undoubted talent he’ll barely be recognised for, muscled Christian Nørgaard off the ball for Liverpool’s second goal, a goal created brilliantly by a returning Mo Salah who’d score his own obligatory goal soon after and Cody Gakpo added a substitutes goal of his own to seal a comprehensive win and stroll on a Saturday afternoon in London.
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The Reds went 5 points clear once more at the top of the Premier League before Arsenal smashed 5 goals past Burnley to draw back to within 2 points before Manchester City rather pleasingly dropped points in the day’s late game in a 1–1 draw with Carabao League Cup Final opponents, Chelsea. So I should be more upbeat than I feel as the Reds end this February weekend top of England’s premier football league but I worry for the voodoo curse upon the club’s lengthening injury list and the fact Klopp’s thinning squad faces 3 games in 3 separate competitions in the next 11 days, 2 of which should be boastfully announced as easily winnable games and they have the hex over their Cup Final opponents from the Kings Road in recent times and within the actual competition itself.
But I worry about those damn injuries.
Long live Phil Boersma!
Does anyone know of a reputable witch-doctor or perhaps an Exorcist with a large batch of industrial strength holy water?
A final word from The Boss
“We played an exceptional game, by far the best game since I’m with Liverpool here at Brentford. By far. Dealing with all the specific situations they create and being as dominant as you can somehow be, be calm in the right moments, be direct in the right moments, use their man-marking, play against the line, all these kind of things”.
“We had to adapt our protection, obviously, in these moments. We did that and then that was done but the set-piece danger was still there. If you see the stats we committed 18 fouls, they committed four… that’s it. A very good game in strange circumstances but we are still really happy with the result.”