clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Somebody's Gotta Pay: Norwich 2 - Liverpool 5

New, 9 comments

Liverpool finally bust out and punish someone along with a performance.

Julian Finney - Getty Images

I kept saying it last season as the infuriating results started to pile up. Someone was going to pay. It started to sound more and more desperate, more and more pleading. But the possession, the chances, the style, it kept indicating there was going to be a bust out. It never really came, or if it did it was at Carrow Road as well but it didn't matter. Today's matters. It feels satisfying in a way that getting a promotion you've deserved for too long is satisfying. You wonder why you had to wait, but you're happy for the affirmation.

Liverpool weren't actually much different than they've been in every league game save maybe the Arsenal match. But finally faced with a lower opponent (sorry Canaries, but I calls 'em like I sees 'em), they were able to slip easily into utter dominance and control. 67% possession, and the death by football that Rodgers forecast long ago. Ruthless as well, which is an adjective that we haven't gotten to use with Pool nearly enough.

To the bullets:

-Let's get the one minor complaint out of the way first. The defending needs some work. Norwich had a couple chances in the first half that a better team probably would have taken (the phrase "Canadian striker" has had me cracking up all morning) and made the match much more interesting. Errors from Wisdom I'll accept. Those from Skrtel I will not. Also, quick and incisive movement can see the pressing Joe Allen passed in midfield. But that's nitpicking today and we won't worry about it for now.

-We worry about Suarez's strike rate, yet there he is with five goals in six league matches. Sure, point to the bunching of them today, but which prime striker in the league doesn't pile in a hat-trick now and then? And there is his rep coming to the for again, losing out on a clear penalty because the clueless Mike Jones gleefully waved it off to prove he doesn't buy Suarez's antics. It's getting tiresome. Someone's rep should not enter into a decision on the field. But it does, and it will continue to do so, and it will probably continue to cost Liverpool points. Thankfully, it didn't today.

-Speaking of Wisdom, there's another kid I won't mind seeing more of. You can see where he would look better in the center, but there isn't a spot there. A willing runner, strong and tough. With Kelly out for the season and Flanagan seemingly out of favor, Wisdom is going to get his chance.

-Yeah, this Nuri Sahin can stay.

-Here's why Raheem Sterling will end up a much better player than Theo Walcott if he isn't already, and why the rumors of Walcott coming to Liverpool in the past or in January are confusing to me. When Sterling got the ball that led to the move for the fifth goal, his head was immediately up and he knew his two runners were available for a pull-back and not a cross. Theo would have just charged to the byline with his pace and aimlessly hit one across the box where no one was. Oh, and Sterling's ball was smoother than the Arsenal man would have produced, likely.

-I'm now an unabashed Suso fan. As weird as that is to say about someone a full 12 years younger than I am.

-This is the Steven Gerrard we like. Much more controlled, dangerous when the chance to be is there and not forcing it.

It sounds silly to say when you have five points from six games. It sounds silly when you're still in the bottom half of the table and by a margin. But there's something bubbling with this club right now. There's a monster starting to test the strength of the bars on the cage. Maybe he won't break out until next season. Maybe not until the season after that. But I'm not the only one who feels it, right?