I was a moderately huge Star Trek fan as a kid. I’m old enough to have started with the original series when it was in syndication. We had a grand total of seven stations at that time, two of which were local Detroit stations that basically ran nothing but reruns of hit 60s shows and some local stuff like Sir Graves Ghastly. One of those shows that was in regular rotation was Star Trek (no subtitle.) While I appreciated the SF nature of it, even as a kid, I could tell that it was kind of goofy, overall. But the one element that enthralled me was the character of Mr. Spock. Leonard Nimoy had such gravitas at the time and it was clear that he was right, whether by knowledge or logic, every time he spoke, such that there was basically no hope in arguing with him. I aspired to that, which later led to a long existence on the earliest (and later) forms of the Internet, arguing with whomever would come to battle. In terms of emulating Spock, the closest I could come was the eyebrow thing.
It was a sign that he was in mild disbelief over what he was seeing or what someone had said or whatever events were taking place around him. I didn’t consciously pick up the habit, but it’s one I carry even now when someone says something ridiculous or intriguing or when I can’t quite believe what’s in front of me. I had that reaction for the first 15 minutes of our match tonight with Sparta Praha, as not only did we jump out to a 4-0 lead in that span, but it was also so obvious that even playing the match was borderline absurd because there was no chance that Sparta could even make a contest of it; to say nothing of actually threatening the inevitable result of the tie. Sparta manager, Brian Priske, was commendably honest in his assessment afterwards:
None of that typical Moyesian crap about how they could’ve done thus and so if they hadn’t made a couple mistakes and yadda, yadda, yadda. Priske just straight up admits that they were utterly outclassed because Liverpool is a Champions League club that should be playing there. It’s something we knew at the beginning of the season and something that’s only been reinforced every week in the Europa League. Mo knew it at the end of last season. And this is neither a rhetorical revel in the glory of how good this squad has become nor a reference to how imbalanced the state of European football has become, as the gap between the haves and the have-nots, both within leagues and especially between nations, grows ever larger. It’s actually kinda boring and it’s not just the fans who are affected by it. You could see it with virtually every goal celebration that’s been made through the group stages and through this round. They’ve mostly been pretty sedate because our players know that they’re not being challenged here and there’s no sense in getting really excited about a contest that they’re almost predestined to win.
Now, that’s going to change some in the quarterfinals if we end up against someone like Bayer Nevergonnaloseagainkusen or Milan or Benfica. But it won’t be that much of a change if we end up against an overmatched Roma or Marseille or Atalanta side. The only other club we could be matched up against is, of course, David Moyes’ West Ham, whom we’ve played twice already and beaten by a combined score of 8-2, which isn’t too far off the 11-2 we just handed out to Sparta. Granted, that’s another Premier League side, so it’s a much different ask than playing someone from the Czech Republic. And, of course, unlike Sparta, the factor that may end up making both legs still incredibly boring is Moyes’ tendency to bunker in and wait for the sky to fall, rather than running at us and taking the risk of being routed like this evening. Now it’s probably your turn to give me the Spock eyebrow, since I’m talking pretty disdainfully about what’s still considered a major trophy to most and which is the only one that Jürgen hasn’t won with us. So, yes, I realize I’m being kind of a wet blanket here, just as I was (and always will be) with the League Cup. But the genuine challenge to me is winning the league; only moreso in this day and age of the Premier League effectively already being the “European Super League.” Everything else kind of pales in comparison. As a kid, my image of science fiction was kind of won over by Star Wars, too, because it seemed grander in scope. (Only later did I realize how bad the script was.) Maybe years from now I’ll look back on this, too, and see more from it than I’m giving it credit for at the moment. But, at this particular moment, it’s pretty underwhelming. One might even say “Illogical.”
Liverpool 6 – 1 Sparta Praha
Hey, at least they’re not as bad as Norwich City-! I mean, they were a whole .06 xG better and we were a whole .08 worse, so… that’s the logic of numbers, I guess? Of course, as I’ve stated many times before, numbers only tell part of the story, especially if they’re at least mildly theoretical, as most xG formulae tend to be. No, this was strictly an “eye test” game and said test probably indicated that it really shouldn’t have been played. But Jürgen clearly looked at it as a way to get more warm-up time for players like Dominik Szoboszlai before Sunday’s match with Man United in the FA Cup and get more experience time for players like Bobby Clark, James McConnell, and debutante Mateusz Musialowski. The liberal substitution pattern was all the evidence needed, since everyone played about as limited a time as you might expect, except for Mo Salah, who ended up doing the full 90 because Bobby got injured part way through the second half. Of course, if there’s any player on this squad that you’d be pretty sure could play every three days for the entire season, it’s Mo. The other full 90 that was mildly unexpected was Andy Robertson, but he also spent much of the second half at centerback when Kostas Tsimikas came on. The lead official, Artur Dias, recognizing the futility of the proceedings, also added no extra time to the first half and only 1 minute to the second half, despite three goals and a dozen subs.
Because, really, it was just getting out of hand. It’s a rare sight for a captain to gather his whole team around him in the first fifteen minutes, as Ladislav Kracji did, and encourage them to try to work together, since they were already down, 4-0. But, again, to their extreme credit, they just kept playing their game, even while a bit shellshocked.
They didn’t bunker in and try to stop the game from being played aka you never go full Moyes. They’re still clinging to the top of the Czech league playing their way and this was the way they were going to play at Anfield, too, which can’t do anything but earn my respect, even if mixed with some degree of pity.
I can’t imagine that many of them ever expected they’d make it to the second tier of European competition, only to be staring down an opponent like Mo. In addition to being outclassed, their squad was also pretty young, so there was likely an element of that dream experience (“We’re in the UEFA Cup knockout rounds! At Anfield!”) turning into a bit of a nightmare. I mean…
Yeah. On a side note, the funniest responses to that tweet were all from Man City fans, complaining that it wasn’t even slightly impressive. It must be rough trying to be a fan of FC 115, knowing that everything you’re worshipping is built on sand. Incidentally, another assessment has Mo creating nine chances in this match, which would be the most by any player in a Reds shirt this season.
The City fans’ reaction is like the converse of the Darwin Núñez critics, except that they were trying to tear something down, rather than prop it up. With every match, he’s looking more and more like the player that is worth every penny we paid for him. But the strength of the performance really came in the middle third.
There was basically nothing they could do to stop Dom and he covered a lot more ground, similar to his performances back in the fall when everyone was comparing him to a certain other #8. I think he’s come through his baptism of fire in the form of both the increased intensity of the Premier League and a bout with injury likely encouraged by that intensity. Now that we’re in the home stretch, I think he’s going to be more important than ever.
But, of course, he was far from alone. Not only did Bobby pick up his first senior goal, but he controlled his space and constantly probed forward, just like we’d expect out of any of our 8s. That air of hesitancy that’s often colored his previous appearances is now in the past.
And then, of course, there’s the least hesitant midfielder on the squad, even when he is playing on the front line. That’s seven goal contributions in Harvey Elliott’s last nine appearances (six of them being starts; so a goal or assist every 91 minutes.) He’s put in a lot of minutes lately, so I’m not expecting him to be starting against ManU, but he also fits the super sub role, which he was to such a delightful extent earlier in the year and it’s great to have those kinds of players in the squad.
Something like the ultra-reliable DM who can also deliver killer passes like this one. Wataru Endo’s stats don’t jump out at you for this one (4 recoveries, 1 interception) because he only played the second half and Sparta were having so much trouble even entering the middle third in the first place that Wataru really didn’t have to get that involved. Even so, I wanted to include this pass because it’s amazing.
So, enough of all of those slightly inflated superlatives. Sunday we’re at ManU in the FA Cup which is a game that we should win and is a nice primer for the trip we have to make there for the league match in three weeks, which we also should (and need to) win. After this, we’re stuck in an international break until Brighton comes to Anfield on the 31st. The upside to that is it gives our still lengthy injury list some time to shorten, as Jürgen mentioned today that he’s expecting Ibrahima Konaté, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Curtis Jones, and even Diogo Jota back by early April.
Extra Time 