Liverpool stands together like never before

We are witnessing the birth of a new Liverpool

There was a hush silence around Anfield. The clock was edging towards 90 minutes and Jonathan Walters kept the ball calmly on the penalty spot.

There was an air of expectancy around Anfield, Liverpool had been leading the game with the help of a solitary goal by Daniel Sturridge, they had absolutely barraged Stoke’s goal, hitting the post twice and Jordan Henderson missing three glorious chances by himself, but now 12 yards was the difference between the club’s first opening day win in five years and another disappointing draw.

Walters took a small run up, behind the goal there were two set of fans wishing for different end result, on the goal-line, Liverpool’s new guardian was jumping up and down trying to make his presence felt and then came the moment of judgement, Martin Atkinson blew his whistle, Walters struck the ball, Mignolet dived to his right, saved the penalty and the follow up as well and Anfield erupted, the team ran towards him, Toure, Gerrard, Coutinho, Henderson the lot and Daniel Agger, probably the most relieved man in the ground.

It wasn’t just a penalty save, it was something that had been witnessed seldom at Anfield in recent memory, team spirit. For the last five years, never has the team looked so cohesive on the pitch as well as off it, the togetherness was there for all to see.

Luis Suarez for the duration of the last couple of months had been acting moody and had expressed his desire, even the pre-match discussions involved his body language more than the eleven players walking on to the pitch but once the 90 mins flew by he wasn’t even in the conscience, his antics seem to have brought the club together, for so long we have relied on a single player dragging us through but now there seems to be more to it.

In a column by the academy coach very recently, Axle Ingelthorpe refers to Bob Paisley’s quote,”The sort of lad I’m looking for here is a kid who’ll try to nutmeg Kevin Keegan in a training match, but then step aside for him in the corridor.” And that is the quality they are trying to imbibe into the club.

On the evidence of yesterday it seems those qualities are trickling down perfectly from the captain of the club to the age groups every one participates as a team and not just superlatively talented individuals. Maybe there is a message for the Uruguayan in there somewhere.

We wax lyrical about the spirit at Barcelona and the importance of La Masia but if we look closer to him we may have it right at our door step. All great sides are built on togetherness and whether we reach the dizzying heights of Barcelona is still to be seen we can at least say we are on the right path.

By referring to the team spirit I am not alluding to Liverpool finish high in the table necessarily but we, after years of struggle, finally have a team to play with.

Another incident that re-affirms my point is when Coutinho stood up to N’Zonzi and Lucas came in to protect him, in an earlier interview Coutinho had mentioned Lucas looking after him like his son but yesterday was the best exhibition for paternal love you could get.

Whether we finish 4th, 5th or 6th is still a good few 9 months away but we for sure know that Liverpool now stand together as a team and not just a sum of its parts.