Out of the cup at the King Power Stadium, the game drab, and a performance of tedium. At last a return to winning ways, including ropey defensive displays. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly... Another week reviewed at the world's favourite football club, Liverpool FC.
The Good
Without a doubt, the three points taken from Leicester City on Saturday. A welcome result after recent performances. Goals from Mohamed Salah, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson were enough to keep the visitors ahead despite a fightback from the hosts.
A penalty save from Simon Mignolet midway through the second half, prevented the Foxes from levelling the score. A show of character and tenacity has been long overdue from Liverpool as their last two results saw them dumped out of the Carabao Cup and languishing in mid-table in the league.
A first start of the season for Coutinho was made all the sweeter for his spectacular free kick in the 23rd minute beating Kasper Schmeichel and extending Liverpool’s lead. The contribution would have no doubt pleased the section of the Reds support who supported the club’s stance in rebuffing the advances of Barcelona - and likely irking those (myself included) who felt the club should have sold him.
So - for the moment at least, Liverpool are “in the running” in fifth place on 11 points with Tottenham and Watford. Two behind Chelsea in third and five points behind both the Manchesters in first and second. City and United respectively.
Reasons to be cheerful? Probably not. Positive? Perhaps.
The Bad
The comments from Jürgen Klopp this week. Among them that "It sounds like we have no points and are completely the worst team in the league." OK, so they’re not the worst team in the league, that’s for sure. However, the comments in the press and among fans are all relative.
The relativity is in comparison to the seasons expectations, and the fact that the team has the worst defensively than any of the current top ten teams. The next worse being Watford. I saw a stat in the last week that Liverpool have lost 20 points from winning positions, this year alone. You can only imagine what could have been...
No disrespect to the Hornets but if your team has a record similar to one that finished 17th last season then either your expectations are way too high or seriously underperforming. The latter in the case of Liverpool. So it’s alright for the manager to say people are overreacting, but onlookers just react to what they see.
The Ugly
The S*n newspaper. The worst in living memory has surpassed itself again in claiming that Dejan Lovren gave them an interview regarding a theft he suffered during his holiday earlier this year.
The club moved to put the record straight immediately, as club Supporter Liaison Tony Barrett went on record to confirm no such interview had been given to any English paper on the subject which happened in June of this year.
This is no surprise coming from this load ofgobshites. What amazes me is that they quote the Croatian and make out he’s given them an interview. The depths to which this trailer trash disguised as a news will go to, to make a headline simply knows no bounds.
It’s fair to say that Lovren has his detractors among the Liverpool faithful. However, I don’t believe he merits this. It’s a clear attempt by some to make difficult times even worse for player, club and fans.
That’s probably as ugly as things get here. I move on.
The coming week sees Liverpool travel to the back of beyond... Or Moscow I think it's called for the Champions League match against Spartak Moscow. A win, although ideal isn't vital at this stage in my opinion - just don't loose! They have another four games after that to cement qualification.
On Sunday, Klopp and his men travel to Newcastle to take on Rafa Benitez's Newcastle side who seem pretty strong so far on their retur
Dejan Lovren hasn't given any interviews to any English newspapers about an incident that happened in Croatia.
— Tony Barrett (@TonyBarrett) September 24, 2017
On to the Premiership. Yesterday's loss excepted of course. So as they say on Tyneside... Howay the Reds!
Follow Ben in Twitter: @MrBengreen