VICARAGE ROAD — Throughout his time as Liverpool’s No 9, Roberto Firmino has been venerated as the most selfless of the front three, willingly occupying a supporting role to the other two.
It seems fitting then that even on a day in which he scored a hat-trick – his second in the Premier League – and provided an assist, that the frosted-tipped frontman was still not the headline maker as Liverpool laid bare the size of the task facing Claudio Ranieri at Vicarage Road.
Once more, Mo Salah was the main topic of conversation after Liverpool’s five goal demolition job of Watford at Vicarage Road, after supplying the assist of the season for Sadio Mane and scoring another goal of the season contender to add to the collection.
Firmino will have expected as much and he didn’t seem too put out by it in any case, as he walked off the pitch at full-time, match ball tucked carefully under his arm and trademark toothy grin spread across his face.
“For me, he’s the best [player in the world],” Jurgen Klopp said afterwards of Liverpool’s No 11. “Maybe people just now are seeing it but it was always there.”
It didn’t take a manager of Klopp’s attention to detail to decipher Claudio Ranieri’s first gameplan as Watford manager. Xisco Munoz’s 4-2-3-1 shape was sacrificed for a 5-2-3 that had two obvious objectives; frustrate Liverpool and hit them on the counter. It didn’t work. Ranieri attempted to build a yellow wall in front of the visitors; alas, it was seemingly made from butter rather than bricks. Watford’s resistance began to melt away almost instantly.
Liverpool won the first of nine corners inside the opening 60 seconds, they were a goal in front within 10 minutes and by the 17th minute had enjoyed 89 per cent possession. At times it looked as though they were playing at double speed to that of their hosts and it was Salah’s determined, driving runs that set the tempo.
Poor Danny Rose, making only his sixth competitive start in 15 months and deployed in an unfamiliar position as a left-sided central defender, was left to fend for himself against the league’s most in-form player. Salah sped ominously past him twice in the early stages and then almost shoulder barged him into the Graham Taylor stand before sending a sublimely weighted outside of the boot pass spinning into Mane’s path for the opener.
Firmino, Liverpool’s only available Brazilian in Hertfordshire with Alisson and Fabinho rediverted to Madrid, made it 2-0 before the break, 3-0 shortly afterwards and 5-0 with the final kick, all three finishes converted from a combined 12 yards out. But it was the fourth goal, scored by Salah, that was the highlight. The reaction of the fans was a giveaway. Whereas each of Firmino’s goals were immediately met with a rendition of his “Si señor” ditty, there was a momentary pause of disbelief after Salah’s strike had tested the resistance of the side netting before the elation kicked in.
For mere mortals, it was a once in a season piece of brilliance. For Salah, it was the second such goal scored in as many matches. This one came against far inferior opponents to the last against Manchester City and was slammed in with the left, rather than right foot, but otherwise it was almost identical. Immaculate control, nimble footwork, ruthless finish.
Dennis Bergkamp famously finished gold, silver and bronze in Match of the Day’s goal of the month competition at the start of the 1997-98 season. On this form, you wouldn’t put it past Salah emulating the Dutchman’s long-standing feat; two down, one to go.
Klopp, like a father accused of doting on one child more than another, refused to rank the two in order of preference. “I like them both,” he said with a chuckle. When asked whether Salah “looks like Lionel Messi” in his current guise, Klopp replied: “No, he looks like Mo, actually.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3FUhGWR
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