Take a deep breath, Liverpool. Titles are won on days like this, when the pistons never quite get pumping and the man Real Madrid want no longer resembles the real deal.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will end up the unwelcome focus this week as Liverpool failed to win at Anfield for only the third time under Arne Slot. Out of sorts and too often out of position, he was a neat symbol for Liverpool’s levels dropping several notches – and their coach, surprisingly, getting out-thought.
Ruben Amorim put a target on Trent’s back and it worked perfectly. Balls over the top gave Liverpool problems and Alexander-Arnold looked isolated as Mohamed Salah prowled further up the pitch, barely giving him the defensive cover he craved. Combine those tactical tweaks with his own carelessness and it was a recipe for disaster for the most talked about player of the transfer window.
Real’s mischief-making bid last week, on reflection, did not do him any favours. While Virgil van Dijk (imperious again here) and Salah retain the sympathy of the Kop – who continue to unfurl banners urging Fenway Sports Group to cough up for their new contracts – the relationship with Alexander-Arnold is becoming more complicated. There is a sense his exit is simply a matter of time as Spanish confidence grows.
Did that impact him here? Slot said it did not but like the rest of his team he played as if he had other things on his mind.
Indeed after scoring 14 goals in their previous three games – 11 in the dismantling of Tottenham Hotspur and then West Ham United over Christmas – Liverpool carried the look of a team who had bought into the idea that Manchester United were simply there for the taking at Anfield.
Before the game, as rumours swirled that the overnight snow might cause the match to be called off, it was home fans that were desperate to get it on while the visitors hoped to delay the supposedly inevitable. Turn up, turn them over? It did not take long for that theory to be exposed as Slot’s side looked decidedly ruffled.
But before anyone prods the red alert button, Liverpool’s misstep here might actually work in their favour. Previous dropped points – think a late lapse at Newcastle United last month – resulted in the team responding emphatically.
Their response to losing to Nottingham Forest in September was an eight-game winning run.
This was not a defeat, though, and there were a couple of spells when Liverpool returned fire on their bitter rivals. In the second of those – prompted by Cody Gakpo’s superb leveller – the Reds almost escaped with the three points thanks to Salah’s coolly hit penalty.
They even came close to snatching it after Amad Diallo’s goal when Van Dijk eluded a sea of defenders, only to steer his header into André Onana’s grasp. A win would have been unwarranted, on reflection, but a draw should not be viewed as a disaster.
After Arsenal dropped points to Brighton & Hove Albion again on Saturday, there was the chance to go eight points clear with a game in hand. That Liverpool ended it with status quo preserved – and a nagging sense of disappointment – is a testament to the understated magic Slot has conjured.
They have been so effortlessly excellent that when things do not quite go to plan, it jars. But this felt like further proof that the only team that can beat Liverpool to the title this season is themselves.
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