Bit of both tbh. Pool played well I will say. Looked more upto pace and fitness than Barca. Who have looked hot a miss in pre season. Would not take to much from a friendly though.
I was really curious about the bolded all weekend. I never got to see the game until last night. Just highlights late on Saturday evening. Never did buy into Barcelona being further behind. They have the Super Cup Friday, and La Liga starting a week after so it's a minimal week and they just don't do 'friendlies.' They'd just mullered Leicester through the week in a game they could of doubled the 4 they did score. And we know for certain their #9 doesn't know the meaning of
not going full pelt
every game. Sunday morning mooching around social media I was reading Arsenal/ Tottenham/ City/ Everton/ United fans in massive numbers trying to pull it down and L'pool fans overreacting to a Barca side that wasn't interested/ be the same old L'pool when the season starts etc etc. And then when people who had been at Wembley began to tip up in Mainz late morning/ early afternoon, the committed lads you know and trust to tell it like it is; they were gushing abut how well we'd played and how we just didn't allow Barcelona to play.
So I was real curious as to just what did happen and just what to take from it. Suspecting it would be a bit of both sides of the above spectrum. So I watched the full game back last night .....
Liverpool's performance was fantastic. To do that to the best team in the World, both in possession and out, was staggering. They just couldn't cope with the pressing game, and how quickly that transition to attack was. The fluidity of movement within that press completely nullified their creation and stopped Barcelona being Barcelona. Even the last half hour of the first half when they got control and had a few chances, L'pool still had a couple of great ones themselves. When was the last time Barcelona lost a friendly 4-0? ****, when was the last time they got such a humiliation in their last warm-up game a week before their season starts? To do that to that side was staggering to see to me when most everyone else across the Country was expecting the reverse and Barcelona to show Liverpool what they are missing to compete at the very top and humiliate them.
That is probably the first time we've trully seen what a Jurgen Klopp side is all about with the shape and purpose he's striving for. There's been flashes in destroying Chelsea and City. Taking Utd out behind the woodshed on the biggest stage of all, Europe. The comeback against Dortmund. But now, with the pre-season to SERIOUSLY work with them, we're starting to see what this team is evolving into. The flexibility of movement and invention, and the belief in what they're doing is right, was on show in glaring technicolour Sunday. From 4-3-3 through 4-1-4-1 through 4-5-1, all changing seamlessly and with different personnel. Pinning L'pool down to a set formation is getting harder and harder. He wants a uniformity of approach, rather than a uniformity of system. Players that all know what's expected and have bought in to what their role is however we flip and will work as hard wherever they're asked to play. We now don't just press superbly, it's what we do with it when we win it back and how much more confident they are in possession there from last year. This team can now totally close out a midfield. They know when to hold onto it and when to move confidently forward with it. And the pace it's happening at when they do go forward is frightening. I was worried about the lack of a controlling midfielder after it became clear Dahoud wasn't going to be sold. But there's now so many options for the two in Can/ Henderson/ Grujic/ Wynaldum/ Lucas/ Kev Stewart who we've maybe sold short and has had a beast of a summer that it probably won't matter. With the likes of Henderson and Stewart and Can showing the can drop into a deeper one. And when you've the options ahead of them in a three, the need for that specialist is lessened by the the way all three interchange. Lallana inside again Saturday was fantastic. When he's not stuck wider having to worry about his pace, he looks what he is. One of the most technically gifted and quick thinking players the league. And when he's got the pace of Mane ahead, along with Origi and Wynaldum breaking, his assists should start to really bump up. Talking of Mane, and Barcelona, he's our new Suarez. Someone you can just give it to with confidence and let him go. If in doubt, hit Mane over the top and let's see what happens? That threat in behind we just haven't had until now. Inside or out.
I've been talking post every friendly this summer with the preface of remembering it's just a friendly and ultimately means little. And the weekends games really don't in terms of either scoreline.
But to do that against the best team in the World who had no answer. That was staggering however you cut it. And that was a real statement of intent for the coming year.
Underestimate this Liverpool side at your peril!
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