8 Feb 2014

'Best football I've seen' - Johnson, Hamann etc hail 5-1 Arsenal annihilation

What a scoreline! Liverpool have smashed some top teams this season, but beating Arsenal 5-1 is an absolutely stunning achievement, and a landmark result that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the great LFC victories of the past.

Liverpool have put teams to the sword many times in the past, and victories that stand out include:

7-0 hammering of Spurs in 1978; the majestic 5-0 demolition of Nottingham Forest in 1988; the 9-0 massacre of Crystal Palace in 1989; the 4-0 annihilation of Man United in 1991; the 4-0 hammering of Real Madrid in 2009; the 4-1 drubbing of Man United the same year, and, of course, the 9-0 aggregate obliteration of both Spurs and Everton this season.

Today's 5-1 victory stands shoulder-to-shoulder with any of those results, and it's destined to go down in history as one of the Reds' greatest victories. LFC players past and present are understandably delighted. Here is a selection of post-match reaction:

Jordan Henderson

"Intensity a big part of our game and getting ball back quickly when we lose it, and I think we did that well. We've just got to keep doing that"

Martin Skrtel

"We just wanted to start the game well and show we were ready for them. It doesn't happen very often that I score goals, but I'm happy as I helped the team get three points"

Dietmar Hamann

"Excellent game from LFC. Electric home form, great to see how they blow teams away. Long way to go but 4th spot ours to lose now"

Michael Owen

"Liverpool so impressive yet again. Impossible to rule them out of the title race in my opinion".

Neil Mellor

"What a brilliant result from Anfield earlier! Beating the team who were top of table 5-1 and Suarez didn't even chip in with a goal"

Glen Johnson

"First 20 mins was the best football I have seen. Great performance from the lads. M Skrtel man of the match for me"

Simon Mignolet

"Great stuff from the whole team today! Also the atmosphere in the stadium was incredible! Roll on Wednesday"

Jordon Ibe

"Great result for team today, and so happy to have got on today".

Robbie Fowler

"A joy to watch today"

Jason McAteer

"Brilliant. There's nothing better than liverpool in full flight and at it".

Liverpool will inevitably be talked about as title contenders again, and that's great, but realistically, the squad is not consistent enough to achieve that (IMO). This was the same team that couldn't beat West Brom last week, and it's increasingly clear that the players only seem to raise their game to this type of level in the prestige matches.

Why can't the team start with this intensity in every single game? Why didn't we see the same level of application, passion and energy against West Brom; or Hull City; or Southampton; or even Man City and Chelsea over Christmas? And will the Reds go into the game with Fulham with the same attitude, or will it be another West Brom, with more dropped points?

Whatever happens, this 5-1 victory is another fantastic result in a season filled with memorable moments, and Chelsea, Man City and Spurs will not be looking forward to their imminent visits to Anfield, that's for sure.

As Hamann suggests above, a top four place is Liverpool's to lose, and it would be an absolute tragedy if the club didn't achieve that goal, but winning the title? It's possible, but not very probable, and given the main goal of Champions League football, the Reds are right on track to achieve this season's objective.

When all is said and done, what more can anyone ask for?

* Man of the Match: Martin Skrtel. Honourable mention: Raheem Sterling.

* Best Moment: Coutinho's through-ball for Sturridge's goal. Utter perfection. The Brazilian delivered a similar ball in the second half too after ghosting past several Arsenal players. Genius passer at times.



Author:


80 comments:

  1. We kicked the ball real nice today, fellas. Real nice.

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  2. That was unreal. Happy as anyone else but we really should not think about the title because it will hurt us along the way, like it did when we were top a while ago, forget about it. The other concern now is fulham, will it be another villa wba performance after thrashing a top team? Must focus not to happen, cant afford losing more stupid points at this stage, I guess everybodys question of the day is: why cant we play every game like that?!

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  3. Lol watch now he predicting a 4-1 win to fulham on weds!

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  4. All teams will drop silly points like we did at West Brom. Look at Chelsea against West Ham recently and City against Norwich today, and they have managers who have been about a lot longer than BR. We won't be the last team to drop silly points this season. It's a strange league this year.

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  5. All plaudits (deserved), all rewards (earned).

    We got some moments of good fortune to help our momentum but WOW, such was the beating, Arsenal are returning to London not by a coach but in an ambulance.

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  6. You always bring it down Jamie.....are you a Liverpool fan?

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  7. Jamie, you say we only save this kind of performance for prestige matches yet only Man city have scored more goals. How do you class a performance? Is it by goals or the way we play? If we win by 3 or 4 goals i'd say that qualifies as a good performance............ And we have done that quite a few times this season. Remember this is all being done when key players have been missing during the season, so again i can't really agree about the squad not being up to it. It's not the best squad in the league but it's a very good one that doesn't creek when key players are missing. Like all squads, it can be improved on but it's not as bad as some would have us believe.
    Wasn't it last season when some people on here had a go because we couldn't beat the teams above and around us...................... How things change.
    We all have very fond memories of that Rafa side but to me this side as a whole beats that squad hands down. You couldn't lose key players in the Rafa squad but you can in this squad. We would all pick most of Rafa's team when selecting a starting 11 but for me it's what happens when that starting 11 can't be selected and other players have to come in to replace them............ Just my opinion.

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  8. Any team that's 6 points off the top of the table in February with a goal difference of +30 with 25 games played, with home games to come against their rivals, is in the running for the title. I believe we will end up second, but wherever we finish, we are contenders this season, make no mistake about it. All the others will drop points, not least against us.

    Chelsea have a tough run of games coming up. West Brom and Fulham away -- Fulham is a tougher fixture for them than for us -- Spurs and Everton at home. In amongst that they have Galatasaray twice, and City in the cup. For us it's Fulham and Southampton away, Swansea and Sunderland at home, with the friendly against Arsenal on Sunday as well. We'll pick up a couple of points over Chelsea by mid March I would expect... then the fun really starts!

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  9. Don't be silly mate...the article really talks LFC up..its all true and its pretty positive.

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  10. fck you jamie i dont respect how you spell your name and every article you write has a negative slant

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  11. great performance today. Sterling has been the reason for our great form of late. his desire to consistently put pressure on his man, something i think he developed from playing with Suarez, has been world class. Against Spurs he was all over Kyle Naughton. put his foot in on every challenge. he never stopped running and in the end he got his goal from Suarez assist. since then he has been the only player to consistently turn up every game for Liverpool. hasnt had a bad game since. he was excellent against Cardiff after that, he was excellent against City and his link-up play with Luis Suarez that game was class and has improved more and more ever since Sterling joined the 1st team and we really relied on him and Suarez. Sterling grabbed an assist againt City, and a goal which was wrongly ruled offside. he was decent at chelsea, played good against Hull City. was MOTM against oldham. was MOTM imo against Stoke. played well at Villa and West Brom as well. games where other players failed to turn up.


    Sterling reading of the game has been the highlight. he seems so focused and almost knows how to win fouls, free kicks and penaltys like Suarez. but unlike Suarez, Sterling does it the right way. he will only try to win the penalty if there is nothing else on, and this is where his reading of the game is spot on. once you can read the game well, your natural ability should show. there was even a time in the match when it was close to the throw in line and there was nothing on for sterling and he knew he wouldnt beat 3 players in such a close space so instead put his body in front of the ball and waited for the challenge, like suarez, and won a FK. genius.


    nice to see Ibe come on and very happy we never signed Konoplyanka. Sterling is much better, younger and already PL tested. and will only improve for sure.


    Look at the effect of signing world class players like Suarez. Sterling has learnt so much from him and its only a matter of time before Sterling is doing the Suarez Panna down the RW!


    YNWA

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  12. Sch-wiiiiiing. Brendan Rodgers, we salute you. That was some seriously sexy football today.

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  13. I couldn't believe my eyes. I think the two best moments were not even the goals but suarez's volley and free kick! Still waiting for this to sink in. It could've been more which reflects how dominant we were.

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  14. was just about to put the highlights on my favourite porn channel they knocked it back ,they wont show anything to do with rape!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  15. john henry said the soccer was great .............!!

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  16. t just hope we get a fully glen Johnson back soon this left back puts the shits up me, any news on Enrique ???

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  17. Have to give a big shout out to aly cissokho. In the reverse fixture he was exposed by a lackluster performance as well a bad formation line up but today he was fantastic and solid throughout the game. It was a wonderful team performance worthy of the great teams of yesteryear. My moment of the match was coutinho magnificent dribble and through ball to henderson reminded me of kaka through ball for milan's 3rd goal in the 2005 champions league final in Istanbul.

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  18. Missed out on the forum today. Just one word. WOW

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  19. Suarez haven't scored much in last 7 matches, has he? 2 goals? But his contribution is still priceless. He can play anywhere like Gerrard. Both can be a good backup for Mignolet I reckon. Haha.

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  20. Friendly for us and cup for Chelsea?

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  21. BR should sack him

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  22. I think comments such as: "This was the same team that couldn't beat West Brom last week" and that the players only raise their game for the prestige fixures are all wrong.


    First and foremost: WBA has taken points of Everton and Arsenal at home as well. Secondly, Liverpool has won 15/25 games so far this season. Clearly not all those games have been against Prestigeous opponents.


    Third, Liverpool played with energy against both Chelsea and Man City. I assume you acutally saw the games? I follow football for a living and I must say.. It really seems you do not Jamie.


    Regarding your "energy in all games statement". Really? You may want to factor in some teams park the bus and let us have the ball 65% of the time. That's a different ball game buddy.

    Come on man, you can do better!

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  23. Disagree on the Man City match intensity comment. Apart from Chelsea, we're the only team that has given them a game at the Etihad.

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  24. Suarez's 25 yard volley was an absolute thunderbastard

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  25. "LFC" put on a show.
    If only they would play with that intensity most of the time,the title would be theres.On and up from here LFC,no more hiccups,please.

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  26. Art of negotiation. Don't take the p@ss out of the person you are negotiating with.
    Once that had happened it was dead in the water. If they had offered 45 or 50 it would have happened.
    FSG showed fight and that was good for the future. Sets the scene for others who may try. Don't take the p@ss.

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  27. Suso got lucky there. Almost conceded a penalty.

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  28. Coutinho in that deeper role could be one of two tactical changes that are currently AS GOOD as two new signings for us. They are like two £20m signings!!!!!!! Gerrard switching role coupled with us now playing COutinho alongside Henderson is complete luck as it was primarily down to injuries. However we've found a chemistry in the engine room and all without either Allen or Lucas.

    When Chelsea won Mourinhos first league title they were struggling until injury forced Mourinho to play Robben and Duff on the flanks with Drogba alone up top. It did so well Mourinho scrapped his favoured diamond midfield with two strikers.

    out of our current injury crisis we've mixed and matched and found possibly a better version of Modric in Coutinho and Henderson is only regular assists and goals away from being real class.

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  29. The reason why it was perceived as cheeky is because everyone knows release clauses are not meant to be disclosed. If it was 40 million they could have just offered 40. Adding a pound was arsenal mocking that they knew about the clause and thinking we would have to accept despite the cheekiness. have you ever heard of any club offering a pound over a release clause?

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  30. the loss to west brom was down to the foolishness of Toure and Mingolet. there goal was out of nothing. Against Villa it was again Mingolet's fault why we lost as Benteke's goal was just a complete howler. Against City we were very good but against Chelsea not so good. City scored from a corner and a lucky goal from Negredo, due to poor keeping from Mingolet. against Chelsea however IMO we were poor. our goal was very lucky from Skrtel that day and it was in similar conditions to todays match, in we scored in the first minute. we struggled to score that match and Chelsea opened us up on many occasions. i think where we've dropped points this season where we havent played well was at Southampton at Anfield, Arsenal in Emirates and Chelsea at Bridge. they were all very lacklustre performances, especially at Southampton who left our ground 3 points and we failed to score. that game still hurts me now very much, although i still think Sturridge should have had a penalty and after that we probably would have wrapped up 3 points. against Hull City i think there defensive set-up was absolutely perfect and we just couldnt break them down no matter what. the 5-3-2 formation really worked against our side throughout the 90 minutes. we scored from a Stevie FK. we were tactially outplayed so that defeat i can accept somehow.

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  31. Soccered the shit out of Arsenal.
    Play-offs here we come!

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  32. West Brom match ended 1-1.


    Just sayin ;-)

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  33. Have you already forgotten last week and the week before against Villa? Really average performances, especially compared to Everton and Arsenal.

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  34. Love the way sturridge gives countiinho loads of credit for his goal because he realises phil doesent have the confidence he has :).he did it against united and did it today, great goal great celebration great guy. Cheers Chelsea ;)

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  35. I'm with you. If Bale went for £100m, then Suarez is on par.

    Only problem is I don't see anyone paying that much - hence if Suarez does leave it will be nearer the £70m mark and go to Real Madrid.

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  36. I bet Michael Owen would have loved to have given it to Piers Morgan after their twitter sniping earlier in the week.

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  37. Nope. And i haven't forgot the games against Hull away and Southampton at home. Neither have i forgot that we were top at Christmas and are 6 points behind the leaders.
    You don't hit the top at christmas by putting in "average performances".
    If you really want to highlight a few games in over half a season and call the performances "average" then that is up to you, but i think you'll find all top teams have off days.
    I look at the money spent by the teams above us and don't call what we have done this season "average".

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  38. Did I say what we have done this season is average? No. They're your words!


    All i'm saying is that there have been some pretty average performances this season, especially the two games i mentioned, which we should have been winning. We seem to be a lot more up for the big games than the games we are meant to win. If we dont get an early goal and the other team defends really deep can struggle to get a result.

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  39. The clause apparently wasn't a buyout clause, but more of a if-a-bid-comes-in-for-more-than-x-amount-you-have-to-tell-me clause.

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  40. Yeah exactly mate. Jaimie said it was a buyout clause when it wasn't. seems to be picking at LFC at every oppurtunity.

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  41. Were Arsenal being cheeky or were they being disrespectful? I lean more towards the disrespectful side, if they really wanted to Suarez, they would have done more than assume that the clause was a buyout clause, they would have done their research, they didn't, in doing that, they didn't take us seriously and disrespected us.

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  42. What would be a realistic clause is 70M for clubs outside the Prem, like Real Madrid or Bayern Munich and something closer to 100M for Prem clubs.

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  43. Please clarify your opinion Peter because i'm really confused. Do you think we have been average on the whole this season? Do you think we have only raised our game in the prestige matches? Please remember we lost the 2 games after Christmas in prestige matches and please remember that We lost to Arsenal in the away fixture earlier in the season. Also if we are counting Everton in with the prestige matches then remember we drew the away game earlier in the season.

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  44. Even if Suarez didn't understand the clause, and it proves that it wasn't a buyout clause, just a let him know clause, then his agent would have had to know the ins and outs of the clause, afterall, that is part of an agent's job. I believe that this was Arsenal who had heard through the media or something that he had a clause, assumed it was a buyout clause without doing their homework. Very few buyout clauses state over a certain amount, they generally state for an amount, so for instance a buyout clause would be for 40M, not for more than 40M. The latter just doesn't make sense, if however a player has a clause where if a bid comes in for more than 40M, they have to let the player aware of it, that makes more sense and it turned out, that's exactly what the clause was all about.

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  45. Sorry for the confusion, i did use a lot of big words.


    I think we look a lot more up for the big games. Most of our performances this season have been pretty good, but then we have other games against weaker opposition that we just don't look interested, such as the WBA and AV games. There have been 10 games this season that we have draw or lost. And in a lot of these games we've looked pretty poor.


    The two "Prestige" games that you mentioned over christmas, although we didn't win them we were still pretty good (and up for it) in both games.

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  46. One point, we bossed Man City away, we were better than Chelsea away to them in my opinion

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  47. I can't believe it!!! So so sooo happy!!! Champions League we are coming!!! Please continue like this!!! Three points against Fulham please!!!

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  48. Big words or not, i still don't see your point. Please go back and read all my points.
    We were top before we played the 2 "prestige games" after christmas. We got zero points in 2 "prestige matches" and get 2 points in two "average" games.

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  49. Well i can't explain my point in any more simple English.


    I dont give a fuck about what position we were in at christmas. The performances in the big games were good (even the two that we lost at christmas). The performances against some of the shit teams have been pretty average. How better than that do you want it explained??? We are inconsistent.


    The discussion is not about where we were in the league at christmas, its about the team not looking up for it in some of the games against lower opposition.

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  50. Refereeing school matches on weekends doesnt mean you an expert.
    The games against Villa and West Brom were absolute howlers bought about by poor defending.

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  51. good game indeed but i rather share some goal at WBA last week...

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  52. Title talk is absurd. The players need to be realistic and keep grounded - focus on staying in the top four. Everton are not far behind and playing well. a win today and they are breathing down Liverpool's neck. It is hard to believe this is the same side that were lamentable against West Brom, and very average against Villa. The team has huge potential - too be brilliant, or put in more West Brom performances in upcoming away games against the likes of Fulham. If Rogers can't keep them playing like this against all sides, and not just the top ones. then top four will still look precarious

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  53. The plastic fans who kept slating Brendan (in HIS FIRST SEASON AND HALF For crying out loud!) seem to be VERY quite under their rocks these days!
    I wonder if they'd still prefer Martinez or Laudrop??!!
    Muppets! The lot of you; And you know who you are...

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  54. Absolutely mate, yet I get the feeling he isn't quite appreciated as much as he should be.

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  55. haha, that was basically one cult figure on here, and he never comments anymore!

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  56. Villa game wasnt good, I agree. Against WBA we controlled the game pretty well without creating havoc.

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  57. 5-0 against spurs, 4-0 against toffees, 5-1penalt against gunnerss............. still we would not get too carried away

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  58. Why did my comment get moderated Jaimie, I wasn't insulting?

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  59. I dont see how you don't see my point, i've spelled it out clearly in both of my comments above!

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  60. Do you remember someone who once came on here who called you a "keyboard bully". Very,very nice guy. Didn't agree with all his opinions but could have a really nice debate with him....... And to be honest i miss his input.
    Well you started to get insulting a few posts back so it doesn't surprise me that Jamie "moderated you".
    You have a nice day and we will end our debate here.

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  61. I really cant see where I have been insulting in any way. I have stated my opinion in each of my comments, I think pretty clearly on both occasions. Sorry you cant see what I am saying, I have gone back and re-read them can don't see how i can make my opinion any clearer. Anyway, glad to end our debate, if that's what you call it.

    And no, I don't remember getting called a keyboard bully by anyone.

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  62. Love your comments, you sum up how i feel about it. We have only took 3 points from the teams above us and if you look at the fixtures away to Everton and Arsenal where we only took 1 point then i find it hard to see where we raise our game in the prestige fixtures.
    I really can't see there point.

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  63. Compare our performances to the other teams in the top four; you could be describing any of them. Given the lack of a dominant and truly consistent team, the title seems open to any of the sides in the current top four. There's no need to kid ourselves that it's impossible. We have a chance and there's nothing wrong with recognising that.

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  64. Just adding to what you have put here. At the time we played Southampton they were in and around us. Not a prestige match but it was game against a team around us........ Do we class that as a big game at time?

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  65. That Coutinho moment was very good but not even his best of the afternoon. There was a point when he picked up the ball in a tight area not far from our box dribbled away from players and set Hendo off on goal. I was raving about that all day. Now I'm hungover as hell. A great day.

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  66. That was my moment of the game too. There were quite a few sexy moments but that was my favorite.

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  67. Imagine if someone had said at the beginning of the season that we would beat Spurs, Everton and Arsenal by 13 clear goals. Would you have believed it? Incredible stuff.

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  68. Mig was not to blame for the WBA goal, Touré was 100%, go watch it again,

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  69. Peter - Your comment wasn't moderated; it just got caught by the word-filter. unfortunately, it catches innocuous posts too sometimes (even my posts get caught). It's a necessary evil to stop spam/trolls etc. It should be live now.

    You're a much-valued poster, and you haven't been insulting. Plus, I sincerely doubt anyone called you a 'keyboard bully' in the past. I read every single comment posted, and I don't remember ever seeing that (and I pretty much have a photographic memory)

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  70. You have a photographic memory, dont be so negative, :)

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  71. Brilliant win, unbelievable,
    off topic, watched Ilori play his first game for Granada, really impressed, made an odd mistake but overall, what a prospect we have, some here say wasted money, after seeing him, I think a great investment, Ilori v Espanyol can be found on youtube.

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  72. Great performance, just hope we don't throw all the hard work away like we did after a great win against Everton, with the 1-1 against Albion. Fulham up next, they will go defensive and make us break them down, so not going to be as easy as we think. 5-1 against Arsenal takes your mind off our inconsistency and transfer woes, so NO moaning from me today! Makes a change, lol.

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  73. Sterling shoot the keeper and than scored on a rebound, did not pass to Aspas for the sixth, not one good cross.. Was outstanding defensevly, but Coutinho was even more so...

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