Liverpool started off on a run of 4 games in the next 11 days against Watford at Anfield with a perfectly professional performance that saw them run out 2-0 winners on the day. Joe Allen started the scoring from a Christian Benteke knockdown for a much rotated Liverpool side in the first half.
Watford kept creating chances throughout the game but were foiled by the Liverpool defence. Simon Mignolet produced a particularly brilliant save to deny Odion Ighalo from close range. Roberto Firmino doubled the lead in the second half from a shot from just outside the box to wrap up the points.
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Here are five talking points from the game.
Joe Allen continues good run
Jurgen Klopp has had to field a number of questions on Joe Allen’s future of late. With the Welsh midfielder running out of time on his Liverpool contract, wee Joe had to spend his first few months under Klopp proving to the Liverpool faithful as well as the German manager that he does indeed deserve a new contract.
The German has come out often to emphasise on how important Allen is to the team and with Emre Can and Jordan Henderson having missed a number of games through injury, Joe has forced his way back into the team.
The trend continued at Anfield against Watford as the midfielder produced a solid performance again on the evening, this time with the relatively inexperienced Kevin Stewart by his side. Producing the goods defensively as well as offensively, Joe kept play ticking and often surged into the box to offer an outlet for Liverpool’s attacking forays.
It was from one such run that Christian Benteke found Allen in space and the Welshman slotted past Heurelho Gomes to start the scoring. He could’ve had an assist as well after putting Christian Benteke in sight of goal but a bit of hesitation in pulling the trigger allowed Gomes to parry.
With this run of form, it won’t be long before the Liverpool hierarchy get down to tying him down to a new contract.
Watford in indifferent form
Watford have won two of their last five games. That’s not bad reading for a club for its first season back into the top flight but for the Hornets, the context differs. Watford seemed really set to push on from midseason when they were hovering around the top half of the table with a position as high as 7th.
Extend that form guide to the last 12 games and it reads 3 wins, 2 draws and 7 losses across all competitions. This is the sort of form that has seen Watford slump to a position that they will seem to occupy with the season set to end.
So anticlimactic is the run Watford are on, Quique Sanchez Flores is apparently a bookie’s favourite to be sacked come season end.
This inspite of Watford doing better than expected even at this stage of the season and punching, as per most, above their weight. Regardless of whether Quique Sanchez Flores leaves at the season end or not, Watford may have been higher up the table had they kept up the pace they started the season in. Perhaps a case of, what could’ve been?
Lucas Leiva re-invented
It is perhaps no coincidence that Jurgen Klopp’s last few summons to the Brazilian midfielder has not been in his favoured midfield position but as a centre-back. Lucas Leiva has, like many other Liverpool players, found his game boosted by the arrival of Jurgen Klopp.
However, inspite of the spike up in his game, he remains far too slow to be able to keep up with the pace of midfield's driving forward with quality. As a centre-back, however, the matter is entirely different. Lucas is a tackling machine and Jurgen Klopp seems to have identified that as the perfect attribute to possess when he is in need of a defender.
Against Watford, Lucas resumed his duties as a defender. Despite struggling in the air, the Brazilian offered Liverpool much solidity as a centre-back when the ball is on the ground. His reading of the game barely let Watford do anything significant in the Liverpool defensive third and his last ditch tackling amongst other interventions make him a different sort of asset to this team.
Uncertainty around Quique Sanchez Flores’ future intensifies
It wasn’t the look of a man who was on a low that had left Vicarage Road early in the season as Watford beat Liverpool on that occasion. The result was a different one this time and Quique Sanchez Flores had the look of a man not particularly confident of the ramifications of the current set of results.
Watford are 13th on the table as opposed to an incredible 7th earlier this season when they did beat Liverpool at their home ground. It seems that they will end the season comfortably in midtable and for most folk following the club, that would be a good return for a team that has just been promoted.
However, for the club’s ambitious owners, the team should be higher up and the platform was there for Watford to have done better. Quique Sanchez Flores himself admits the team slackened off a little after achieving safety which was their primary season target.
The air around Vicarage Road suggests Flores may not be the manager at the end of the season as the owners will try to up the ante for next season.
With the recent set of results, including the one on the night and with Watford unwilling to offer insight into Sanchez Flores’ future, the noise around the manager’s uncertainty is only going to get louder as more murmurs join in.
All roads lead to Basel for Liverpool
Liverpool are going to play in the Europa League final in less than 11 days. It seems harsh therefore that they need to play 3 games and then the final. The only team left in a European competition that carries the Premier League flag has to play through a ruthless schedule before they can look to accomplish their season’s most important achievement.
The final at Basel is going to be Liverpool’s only way into the Champions League, the Reds cannot mathematically finish 4th anymore and thus must win the final to gatecrash Europe’s elite football party. The momentum though is firmly swinging them towards their goal.
Liverpool seem to possess the squad depth to move through this damaging schedule as they rolled out their B-team and picked up all 3 points against a well drilled Watford side.
One suspects, more A-teamers will make the line up against Chelsea in midweek before they take on West Bromwich Albion in their last EPL game for the season where one can again expect a similar lineup to today’s to take to the pitch.
The Anfield crowd is buzzing and a fiery traveling party is set to find their way to Basel for the big night. There’s momentum, positivity and a great buzz around this Liverpool side as they prepare to walk into the Swiss stadium with their entire season boiling down to one game.
