The Anfield Wrap

Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Liverpool 4 Tottenham Hotspur 0 in the 2024-2025 League Cup semi-final second leg…

WE get to choose.

There is a fundamental thing to remember about the game – we decide what matters. I mean, theoretically none of it does. None of it is truly important. But we know that isn’t the case, or at least we engage in the collective delusion that it isn’t. We decide it matters, you are reading this after all.

And regardless, I mean 60,000 people in a location with cameras and a worldwide broadcast means something matters. It is, immediately, as per DeLillo, an act of history. But there. Precisely. We get to decide. People get to decide.

Every year before a ball is kicked we all collectively decide that this is the least significant of the competitions. And this remains the case. Of this and the two games that follow, this is the second most significant, but nothing compared to next Wednesday.

Next Wednesday is everything. Because we have decided that the league matters most and games against local rivals matter most.

We get to choose. The game is belief and emotion tied together with string, and money, and those television cameras.

There is this thing that has happened for me in the Carabao Cup in three of the last four seasons – it has suddenly, from nowhere, mattered. Because of belief, and emotion, and love, and wanting to tell people to just fuck off. That we decide. That we choose. That this is our turf and we want it to be.

That happened in 2021-22 against Leicester City and Diogo Jota did the decent thing. Then he did the decent thing after a nascent Arsenal failed to show the requisite humility after a goalless draw at Anfield.

That happened in 2023-24 in the final before your very eyes when Liverpool’s weakened side grew weaker on paper, but through an act of love and belief dragged themselves to the most unlikely and romantic of wins. Because Virgil van Dijk did the decent thing.

Suddenly, we chose. We get to choose. We decided and we get to decide.

When the final whistle goes away at Tottenham back in January, Liverpool have decided, as have I. I want these taught a lesson. I want them shown who is boss. Liverpool have chosen. Virgil van Dijk has chosen.

The way Arne Slot’s Liverpool play means they get to choose the rules of engagement for every game. They decide what the field will look like, what the circumstance is. Every game will be Liverpool’s at the moment. The question is when this will become crystal clear and what terms and conditions will Liverpool choose.

Today, Liverpool set a tempo which Tottenham can’t cope with and then they turn the screw. By about the hour mark, I have never seen a side so dominated when only 2-0 down. I began to wonder if they would ever get out of their own half with the ball under control.

Everything was Liverpool’s. They were better set up, physically stronger, more confident, and just better at football. Every Liverpool player would win his own personal battle unless it involved Archie Gray or Dejan Kulusevski, at which point it would break 70/30 in Liverpool’s favour.

They hunted Tottenham in packs, bullied them and then displayed superiority over and over. Virgil van Dijk went out of his way – *chose* – to make a fool of Evertonian legend Richarlison time and again. Van Dijk had a point to prove and a team to lead.

Through the whole of this season he has been magnificent, the best player in his position by a distance. The man with the most poise, the most certainty, the man who sets the tone.

Van Dijk is both the best stopper and the best starter. He is a deep-lying playmaker. He calls every shot in the first 60 yards of the pitch; chooses if Liverpool play quickly or slowly, chooses where the attack should be directed. He fulfils so many roles – one may as well be spiritual leader.

This is his Liverpool as much as it anyone’s and his round of applause when the game is won is insufficient. He should be carried off by a selection of the crowd.

Salah is the playmaker for the attack. Today was a great demonstration of it. The ball is constantly moving his way and Darwin Nunez is his Emile Heskey. There was a point, second half, when Nuñez should probably go left but instead he awkwardly sorts his feet out and works it to the man in charge.

Salah is the best right winger, the best number 10 and the best number nine on the pitch. Pass the ball to Salah and we can discuss your options later.

The penalty is Souness ‘84. So is the mentality. There is no higher praise.

Cody Gakpo, at the minute, looks like John Barnes. There is no higher praise than that either. The opposition know what he will do, but the technical ability and pace mean they cannot do anything about it. He is also in the habit of scoring opening goals and this is the greatest habit in football.

We get to choose. And since going 1-0 down at Nottingham Forest what we have chosen is excellence. This side is the best team currently playing the game on the planet and they feel like they have more gears to go through.

It’s testament to them, but testament to the coach. Ryan Gravenberch, Conor Bradley and, Curtis Jones all look like better footballers who are enjoying their football, their role, their lives. Liverpool have opted into all of this collectively, a culture of excellence. Slot has thrown every gauntlet down and they have picked every gauntlet up.

All of this means Liverpool get to choose. Tonight reinforces that. They get to choose where the finish line is for the league title.

The Carabao Cup final will be played on their terms, Newcastle a puncher’s chance. And we get a reminder that our attitude to the domestic cups before a ball is kicked speaks of a way of life Newcastle supporters or Evertonians would give their right arm to have.

We don’t know we’re born.

But not knowing that, we should choose to live. Revel in these moments when the power is all Liverpudlian, when this weird city off to one side has a football team powered by a worldwide support which makes us punch above every weight. We get to choose and agency is such a luxury.

There is still a long way to go, but the suspicion is that Liverpool have kicked for home. They have decided to make their move.

We get to choose.

Liverpool.

Neil

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‘TIS the season.

And it’s developing into a season where all sorts of goodwill is coming at The Reds from all sorts of angles.

This weekend was just the latest in a litany of gifts. Defeats for the Manchester teams, a draw for Chelsea, and Ange Postecoglou deciding that the best way to beat Liverpool was to crack on with his usual gung-ho tactics rather than shoring everything up. Cheers, mate.

The Tottenham manager says he’s so bored with stating the obvious about his injury issues that he’s not going to bother answering questions about it anymore. In that spirit, I’ll try not to remind him that he celebrated a victory against Liverpool last season despite two charitable red cards, a last-minute own goal and the astonishing incompetence of the officials.

Ange didn’t seem to have a problem with any of those things at the time and painted it as anything but a jammy win. His players even had the gall to do a lap of honour to celebrate their lottery win. They didn’t feel in the mood this time.

I really wanted a big win there to wipe away the stain of last season, but I didn’t expect that.

I feel for the manager to some extent. This league is so fast and so brutally cruel that it’s often hard to get a toehold, never mind consistency. You can go from (just) getting past Manchester United midweek only to get Liverpool on Sunday. And Liverpool took his side to the cleaners.

Arne Slot seems to be managing things a lot better. He too has been under a certain amount of pressure given the draws with Newcastle and Fulham, and the nagging doubt of a leaky defence.

He was keen to point out that not all is rosy in the garden as we keep conceding. I agree with Carragher on this. Maybe that’s a good thing. There’s always something to work on. Without hard work and improvement, wins just become vanity until fate bites back.

A 3-6 scoreline is a statement signed in monoliths. It’s a tennis score. It’s a nonsense. It shouldn’t happen. Spurs away should be one of those games where a point is a fair result. It shouldn’t be a hammering. Liverpool have walked away from Tottenham Hotspur now. Liverpool made the idea of jeopardy in that fixture a nonsense.

Arne Slot won’t be thinking that. Arne Slot will be thinking about Leicester City. Arne Slot will be thinking about those conceded goals. Arne Slot won’t be thinking about May. But it’s difficult for us not to.

Four points clear, a game in hand, six ahead of Arsenal, Forest and Bournemouth with more points than Manchester City (though I’m still not falling for any of this calamity talk – everyone has been burned before, everyone knows the pain) and The Reds just keep winning and winning.

If only the contracts were sorted. They have to sort them out.

There was a moment in the run-up to the first goal when the ball was squared to Trent. The world could see Lucho’s run but Trent doesn’t have the same view. He isn’t high on the gantry and somehow has to put the ball exactly where it’s needed to give us a chance.

I didn’t even celebrate it. I merely nodded like it was a computer game. That goes there and then that will go there. 1-0 Liverpool. That’s what Trent can do.

There was a moment in the second half when Spurs were breaking on the left. One of their lads cut in dangerously and it looked like another goal was forthcoming. Virgil van Dijk didn’t. Virgil van Dijk stuck a boot out and calmly guided it out for a corner. A corner he knew he could handle.

Virgil van Dijk can do calm in the same way Fraser Forster can do fraught. You need calm at the back. That’s what Virgil can do.

There was a moment in the second half where Mo Salah went past Billy Liddell’s record in the all-time goalscoring charts. Even my Blue Dad would have been made up with that. Justice of the Peace Billy Liddell once fined my Dad £25 for after hours drinking and the old man bore a grudge.

Billy Liddell’s goalscoring feats were and are remarkable. Mo Salah’s gone past that and wants more. That’s what Mo Salah can do.

A 3-6 scoreline is a statement.

You shouldn’t have statement games. Managers don’t like them as they tend to mean recalibration of expectation. Arne Slot will see the game as just three more points on the road, but points that are totally irrelevant now. Only Boxing Day matters.

But that’s to him. Liverpool annihilated Spurs yesterday. Liverpool annihilated a challenge. Liverpool made the league sit up and groan.

Liverpool can do that.

‘Tis the season.

Karl

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Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Tottenham Hotspur 3 Liverpool 6 in the 2024-2025 Premier League season…

MERRY Christmas. Joy and goodwill to all.

So much joy. So much goodwill today in North London. Ladles of the stuff as the game exploded all over everyone.

It is the best game you know, especially on days like this. I used to think that was actually cricket, but football has edged ahead especially because of days like today. Today is the purest distillation of so many of the good things of the game, brio and gusto and other things ending in o.

Christmas isn’t halfway. Everyone else on 17, Merseyside on 16. Christmas isn’t halfway, but Liverpool are top of both piles on Christmas Day. Top and clear.

Today they came up against this league’s most unique challenge. Tottenham Hotspur are a better side than 11th, but also just an odder proposition than anything.

I like them. When I don’t like them is when they drop points against poorer sides. Their entire outlook is about facing you up 11 versus 11 and saying go on then. The issue when they face Liverpool is we can go: “Yep, absolutely. We’re better. Have a big bowl of this.”

First hour today, Liverpool were immense. Big bowls being doled out everywhere. They had hard lines being punished for their only lapse, but got themselves to 1-5 by being simply better in every area.

The only question mark was Dejan Kulusevski versus Andy Robertson, but the former is the best attacking midfielder in the country and he still ultimately comes off second best.

It’s Liverpool’s game. My favourite goal is Dominik Szoboszlai’s. Because he deserves it. Because we deserve it. Because it cuts their windpipe. But also because I like its vagaries made of flesh.

Trent Alexander-Arnold plays it into an area. It isn’t an aimed ball, but one that has been discussed; worked on. Szoboszlai’s header is the ideal. But it is into an area. Discussed. Worked on.

So much of football isn’t surgical, but is percentages. These are, in lots of ways, the best bits. Mo Salah holds and holds, waiting for the moment and then the moment is there, then Szoboszlai nutmegs the keeper. Then his teammates are delighted because they love him and they love the moment.

Szoboszlai’s tempo was the game’s tempo; Liverpool’s tempo. That’s the perfect trick and that he gets the 95 is almost the perfect compliment. He is the metronome of choice.

I say I love that Szoboszlai goal, but then I love the Joe Gomez punched pass. I love the Szoboszlai square ball. I love the Diaz through ball for Gakpo for what becomes the fifth. I love the Andy Robertson tackle when if he doesn’t make it, all hell can break loose behind him.

I am left supporting football as a close second to Liverpool. Indeed, let me tell you what I think about Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulesevski. I adore them.

Against any other side you could make an argument that the fourth and fifth goals are stat padding. They aren’t important. But this is the aforementioned Postecoglou Tottenham. You need to finish them, and then finish them, and then finish them. That’s what Salah does, what he provides. He ensures the game is Liverpool’s, as he has so often.

In this season, this top of the league at Christmas season, this season when all the smart punditry class argued we’d get our comeuppance, it has been Salah who has led the fight to make the point that there will not be any comeuppance for us. We’re too good, too well run, too many great players. We’re Liverpool and you can have a big bowl of that too.

Salah among the greatest. Literally surpassing Billy Liddell. My grandad’s favourite player surpassed by my favourite player.

Liddell was everything at Liverpool for the longest time, making laughable the idea that Steven Gerrard or even Mo Salah carried the club in comparison. He was who everyone paid to see. The very best in a lean era. The sole shining light when it was dark.

Salah is the very best in an era of plenty. The shiniest star. Which is harder? Which is more impressive? Which is easier to score through? So many clubs haven’t had players who have scored as many as Liddell or Salah. This club has had both and with Salah there is even more to come.

Even despite Salah, it still needed more from Luis Diaz. His the first goal and the last, and his performance marvellous. But then whose wasn’t? The right back passes the ball like a dream. Alexis Mac Allister is first to everything that matters when the game is live. Ryan Gravenberch is just a rock.

They are top and they are top for a reason. They are the best ones.

This game this week was like this beacon of stress and opportunity. We see enough over the 90 to understand why. These are capable of scoring against anyone. The goals come in a different order and maybe they never come at all.

But where this weekend ends up is where I wanted to be. Where I expected to be. Where we should be. Four clear of Chelsea and five clear of our biggest rivals – Arsenal, with everyone else in the distance. It’s Christmas and we have been the best side so far.

I’d love to give you a smart one liner. I’d love a lyric. Delight in a reference. Maybe even a carol in a clever way. All I have is the obvious…

Come and adore them.

Liverpool came through for me today when I most needed them. Come and adore them. We know, more than anyone, that being top of the pops Christmas Day doesn’t mean we’ll get what we want in May, but it is better than the alternative. The scent of silver on our fingers. The sound of silver in my ears. Talk to me.

Into these.

All my love. All my goodwill. All my joy.

Neil

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Looking back on the big talking points from the Premier League weekend, as Arsenal overcome Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur batter Everton.

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Below is a clip from the show – subscribe for more on Arsenal, Aston Villa and the rest of the Premier League…

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