ARNE SLOT’S not wrong when he says everyone wants to watch Liverpool. Who wouldn’t?
Because it is now high drama all the way with them.
ReutersLiverpool secured a narrow 2-1 win over Everton in the Merseyside derby[/caption]
GettyA stunning strike from Ryan Gravenberch set the Reds on their way[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialHugo Ekitike then scored a second through Jordan Pickford[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialIdrissa Gueye did net to halve the deficit after the break[/caption]
ReutersBut Arne Slot’s defending champions were able to hold on to the lead[/caption]
The Prem champions were as magnificent on occasion as they were menacing almost every time they got the ball.
There is something electrifying about them now especially going forward.
You can’t, actually, take your eyes off them, either when they are full-flow in attack or, indeed, when they start to lose the plot as they all but did for a fourth time this season, against David Moyes’ ambitious, improving and above all gutsy side.
The openers from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike were sterling examples of fantastic finishing, the build – up play for both stunning, decisive and above all rapid.
Manchester City dominated the Prem for so long thanks to their mesmerising possession football.
Slot’s machine does it differently. Close your eyes for a second and you can be blown away.
And to think among those who WERE very much enjoying watching Liverpool in the first half were Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong – £260million-worth of star ability starting on the bench.
The talent now at Slot’s disposal is scary-good.
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Remember, before £426m was spent on a re-model this summer he could already rely on Mo Salah, Dominic Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and last season before his tragic death, Diogo Jota.
Now going forward at least they are better still – fast and furious, far more direct than City and it could be argued far more exciting too in the way they go for the throat without any fear of losing the ball.
So no wonder Liverpool are creating a stir all across Europe and beyond.
What true football fan wouldn’t want to turn up or tune in to see the story lines they create?
For often no one – and for sure not even Slot, knows what the next twist will be.
Until the 10 minute Everton Moyes will have been pleased with his troops as he no doubt prayed that a miserable sequence of not having won with of his previous 22 visits to Anfield would finally come to an end.
His second coming has been marked by a massive improvement in fortune and results, Everton having shown signs that the not-so-grand old days are leading to a bright new future.
But that feeling of calm was before Salah dinked one forward for Gravenberch, half a pitch ahead of his midfield holding role, to let the ball bounce in front of him before delivering a stupendous volley that Jordan Pickford never had a hope of stopping.
The Toffees were two down by the 29th minute, Ekitike claiming his fourth goal since his £69m entrance from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Once again the flow of the move was unstoppable, once again Moyes could not point the finger of blame at any of his players.
Alexis Mac Allister got industrious in the engine room before touching forward for Gravenberch.
The Dutchman’s pass was the perfect invitation for his new team mate and Ekitike accepted with aplomb, his finishes effortless and elegant, Pickford left for dead again.
But Slot’s side do, indeed, love a drama.
They seem to want their viewers to be transfixed to the end of every game going into this 247th Merseyside derby.
The latest was only a couple of days earlier, skipper Virgil van Dijk rescuing the winner as part of a new, compelling series of late shows.
And so it was that Moyes men, having refused to stop believing despite the stunning goals that had conceded, worked their way slowly but surely back into the game.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had missed with one opportunity between those strikes by Gravenberch and Ekitike, firing wide from Jack Grealish’s excellent lay – off.
But Idrissa Gueye most certainly didn’t miss in the 58th minutes as he collected the strike that he and his team mates most definitely deserved.
As has been the case so often already this season, Grealish as again involved, sending over a pin-point cross for Ndiaye to touch back and veteran Senegal international Gueye, 35, produced a finish to match either of those by Liverpool.
The ball smacked high into Alisson’s net and for the fourth time this campaign the Reds fans, while still watching, were now doing so through their fingers.
Slot had to respond, first introducing Wirtz for Cody Gakpo and Curtis Jones for Mac Allister, then Isak emerged for Ekitike.
In the end there was no need, this time, for a red shirt to come along and give his side a last-gasp victory, not that there weren’t nerves in the seconds before the final whistle.
Slot was able to emerge with a fifth Prem success in a row for the first time under him – a perfect start for a fantastic but also a fragile side that keeps riding by the seat of its pants.
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